A Japanese finance ministry employee on a night out with colleagues lost documents containing the personal data of 187 people suspected of drug smuggling, local media say.

The employee, who has not been named, reportedly drank nine glasses of beer during a five-hour-long night out with co-workers in Yokohama, south of the capital Tokyo, on 6 February.

Local media said that he did not realise he had lost his bag until after he got off his train ride home in Sumida, another city near central Tokyo.

The finance ministry has said it was “deeply sorry” for the incident that “significantly undermined public trust”, according to public broadcaster NHK.

The bag had contained documents which had the names and addresses of 187 suspected drug smugglers and recipients of marijuana seeds, the ministry said.

It had also contained business laptops with the employee’s personal data.

The employee, who is assigned to the customs and tariff bureau, was not named in the NHK report.

The BBC has reached out to the finance ministry for comment on Tuesday, a public holiday in Japan.

Alcohol has long been seen as a social lubricant for thousands of years in Japan, where business deals and difficult issues are discussed over bottles of beer and sake.

It is believed that drinking alcohol creates a more relaxed environment for such discussions.

Neha Satpute and Akshay Pise felt ready to welcome their first child.

Having worked in the US for more than a decade, the Indian couple who are engineers on H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers, expected their son – due on 26 February – to be born an American citizen.

Employed at a large tech firm with a supportive parental leave policy, they had carefully built their life in San Jose, California.

But President Donald Trump recently threw a wrench in their American dream by announcing a rule that would deny automatic US citizenship to children born to temporary foreign workers. Until now, birthright citizenship had been a given regardless of parents’ immigration status.

Two federal judges have blocked the order, which means the ruling cannot take effect until the cases are resolved in court, although there remains a possibility of a higher court overturning any decision.

The looming uncertainty, along with the multiple lawsuits and legal challenges, have left Akshay, Neha and thousands of others in limbo.

“This impacts us directly,” says Akshay. “If the order takes effect, we don’t know what comes next – it’s uncharted territory.” Their biggest question: What nationality will their child have?

Their concern is valid, says New York-based immigration attorney Cyrus Mehta: “US law has no provision for granting non-immigrant status to a person born here.”

With their baby’s due date fast approaching, they consulted their doctor about an early delivery. The advice? If all goes well, they could induce labour in the 40th week, but they’ve chosen to wait.

“I want the natural process to take its course,” says Neha. Akshay adds: “My priority is a safe delivery and my wife’s health. Citizenship comes second.”

Dr Satheesh Kathula, president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), reached out to obstetricians of Indian origin in the US after media reports of families seeking early C-sections. Except for “a few instances in New Jersey”, most doctors reported no such inquiries.

“In a country with strict medical laws, I strongly advise against preterm C-sections just for citizenship,” said the Ohio-based doctor. “Our physicians are ethical and won’t perform them unless medically necessary.”

US citizenship is highly coveted, especially by skilled H-1B visa holders. Indians are the second-largest immigrant group in the US.

Immigration policy analyst Sneha Puri warns that a birthright citizenship order would hit Indians hard – more than five million Indians in the US hold non-immigrant visas.

“If enforced, none of their future US-born children would get citizenship,” she told the BBC.

South Asian parents-to-be are flooding online groups with concerns about the order’s impact and next steps.

Trump’s executive order says it does not affect the ability of the children of lawful permanent residents to obtain documentation of US citizenship.

But Indians in the US face the longest wait of any foreign nationality to receive a green card conferring lawful permanent residency.

Current US rules mean that the number of green cards given to people of any one country cannot exceed 7% of the total number of green cards awarded.

Indians receive 72% of H-1B visas annually. According to the Cato Institute, Indians made up 62% of the employment-based backlog of people waiting for green cards – that’s 1.1 million – in 2023. Indians receiving employment-based green cards today applied back in 2012.

In his report, Cato’s director of immigration studies David Bier warns: “New Indian applicants face a lifetime wait, with 400,000 likely to die before getting a green card.”

In contrast, most other immigrants get permanent residency within a year, speeding their path to citizenship.

If implemented, Trump’s executive order would also affect undocumented migrants in the US, whose US-born children had previously automatically gained citizenship – and who could then go on to sponsor their parents to apply for a green card when they turn 21.

Pew Research estimates 725,000 undocumented Indian immigrants in the US as of 2022, making them the third-largest group. In contrast, the Migration Policy Institute puts the number at 375,000, ranking India fifth. Unauthorised immigrants make up 3% of the US population and 22% of the foreign-born population.

The main concern for Indians on H-1B or O visas is their children’s quality of life.

Such visa-holders must leave the US periodically to have their visas stamped in a US embassy abroad. Those who return to India for this purpose frequently face delays in getting an appointment for this purpose.

These immigrants don’t want their US-born children to endure the same bureaucratic struggles.

Waiting in the green card queue for several years, Akshay is aware of the ease US citizenship brings.

“We have been here for more than 10 years. As I see my parents getting older, it’s very important for me to have citizenship. Travelling becomes tricky for us with coordinating visa stamping timings, and now with my baby it might be more difficult,” he said.

Many physicians in the US oppose Trump’s decree, highlighting the role foreign skilled workers play in providing vital services.

Dr Kathula says Indian doctors in rural areas such as North and South Dakota are crucial. “Without them, healthcare would collapse. Now, they’re in limbo about starting families,” he said.

He is calling for the process of getting a green card to be sped up and for these workers’ children to be granted birthright citizenship because of their parents’ contributions to America.

Trump’s order has also heightened anxiety among Indians on student and work visas, already aware of their precarious legal status. The one guarantee – their US-born children’s citizenship – is now in doubt.

San Jose resident Priyanshi Jajoo, expecting a baby in April, is searching for clarity on potential changes. “Do we need to contact the Indian consulate for a passport? Which visa applies? There’s no information online,” she said.

Counting the days until her son’s arrival, Neha said the uncertainty was an additional source of anxiety.

“Pregnancy is stressful enough, but we thought after a decade here it would get easier – then this happens on top of everything,” she said.

Her husband Akshay adds, “As legal, tax-paying immigrants, our baby deserves US citizenship – it’s been the law, right?”

Chelsea striker Sam Kerr has been found not guilty of causing racially aggravated harassment, after calling a Metropolitan Police officer “stupid and white”.

A jury at Kingston Crown Court cleared her in relation to an incident in Twickenham, south-west London, on 30 January 2023.

Ms Kerr, 31, said she was “antagonised” by officers after she was taken to a police station by a taxi driver following a dispute.

The Australian international, who made the comments to PC Stephen Lovell, did not deny using the words “stupid and white” but denied it amounted to a racial offence.

Ms Kerr gave a thumbs-up to her legal team before leaving the courtroom with her fiancée Kristie Mewis.

Ms Kerr and Ms Mewis had been out drinking when they were driven to Twickenham Police Station by a taxi driver who complained that they had refused to pay clean-up costs after one of them was sick and that one of them had smashed the vehicle’s rear window.

Judge Peter Lodder KC said: “I take the view her own behaviour contributed significantly to the bringing of this allegation.

“I don’t go behind the jury’s verdict but that has a significant bearing on the question of costs.”

During the trial, Ms Kerr said she regretted the way she expressed herself but added: “I feel the message was still relevant”.

She denied using whiteness as an insult and claimed: “I believed it was him using his power and privilege over me because he was accusing me of being something I’m not.

“I was trying to express that due to the power and privilege they had, they would never have to understand what we had just gone through and the fear we were having for our lives.”

It can now be reported that Ms Kerr’s legal team attempted to get the case thrown out at a preliminary hearing, arguing there had been an abuse of process by crown prosecutors.

Ms Kerr’s lawyer Grace Forbes said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had violated its own guidance, adding that a “loophole” in the victims’ right of review scheme was used to justify prosecution proceedings a year after the alleged offence.

During the trial, it was put to PC Lovell that he only provided a statement alleging that Ms Kerr’s comments had caused “alarm or harassment” after that decision.

In his first statement to the CPS, the officer made no mention of the “stupid and white” comment having an impact on him, the jury was told.

A second statement from PC Lovell was provided in December 2023, mentioning the alleged impact.

He read a section of the statement to the court, which said the comments made him “shocked, upset, and (left) me feeling humiliated”.

The charge was authorised later in December 2023, almost a year after the incident.

Canada will give a “firm and clear” response to the latest trade barriers planned by US President Donald Trump, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trump says he will levy a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium products entering the US from 12 March, meaning both sides have a month to negotiate. Canada is the top exporter of both metals to the US.

Since returning to office last month, Trump has announced a wide range of these tariffs to try to protect US jobs and industries. Economists say they are likely to raise prices for ordinary Americans.

The new tariffs were “entirely unjustified”, Trudeau said, as Canada found itself in a second trade standoff with Washington in a matter of weeks.

Canada was “the US’s closest ally”, he added.

A range of metal-exporting countries are scrambling to make a deal in response to the tariff on steel and aluminium vowed by Trump.

The US imports six million tonnes of Canadian steel products and more than three million tonnes of aluminium products per year – more than from any other country.

Canadian metal exports were making North America as a whole “more competitive and secure”, Canadian Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne argued on Monday.

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Canadian provincial leaders, too, have condemned Trump’s plan. Quebec’s François Legault said his province alone sent millions of tonnes of aluminium to the US per year – asking whether Trump would prefer to source the metal from his rival, China.

Federal official opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre, said he would issue matching tariffs targeting the US, if elected as Canadian prime minister.

The head of the Canadian Steel Producers Association warned that a range of sectors could be hit, saying similar measures by Trump during his first term had damaged industry in both countries.

“We have steel that they need and they have steel that we need… we need each other,” Catherine Cobden told CBC.

Tariffs are taxes charged on goods imported from other countries. Companies that import goods from abroad pay the tariffs to the US government.

Economists warn that they are likely to raise prices for US consumers, for example if sellers choose to raise prices after paying higher duties on imported goods.

US businesses dependent on imports have also raised concerns, but Trump says his plans will boost domestic production. On Monday, he said his plan was “a big deal, the beginning of making America rich again”.

The taxes themselves – which Trump also used during his first term in the White House – are key to the returning president’s economic vision. He is also seeking to address a trade deficit, which means that the US imports more than it exports.

Trump’s allies also say he sees such measures as an essential negotiating tool when he wants another country to do something for him.

Since returning to the White House last month, Trump has already been in one trade standoff with Canada and America’s other neighbour, Mexico.

But he agreed on 4 February to delay for 30 days his threat of 25% tariffs on all goods arriving from both countries. The postponement came after his two neighbours vowed action to tackle illegal migration and the flow of drugs to the US.

Both countries delayed their own retaliatory measures at the same time.

Canada and Mexico are some of Trump’s top trade partners, along with China – which Trump has targeted with a 10% tariff on all goods entering the US. That tax has already come into force, and China has hit back with measures against US goods.

In addition to his other, delayed plan to target Canada and Mexico with specific tariffs, Trump has also hinted he could levy taxes on goods imported from the European Union “pretty soon”.

Asked in recent days about the threat of retaliation from his trade partners, Trump said: “I don’t mind.”

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A teacher has fatally stabbed an eight-year-old girl at an elementary school in South Korea, in an incident that has shocked the nation.

The female teacher, who is in her 40s, confessed to stabbing the student in the central city of Daejeon, police said.

The girl was found with stab wounds on the second floor of a school building at 18:00 local time (09:00 GMT) on Monday and was pronounced dead at hospital. The teacher was found beside her with stab wounds that police said may have been self-inflicted.

South Korea’s acting president Choi Sang-mok ordered an investigation into the case on Tuesday and urged authorities to “implement necessary measures to ensure such incidents never happen again”.

Some locals laid flowers and a stuffed doll at the gate of the school, which was closed on Tuesday.

In a police briefing, Yook Jong-myung, head of the Dajeon Western Police Station, said the teacher was currently recovering in hospital, adding that she had a wound on her neck that had been stitched.

The Daejeon education office earlier said the teacher had requested a six-month leave of absence citing depression on 9 December, but had returned to school just 20 days later after a doctor assessed her as being fit to work.

During her time off she had suicidal thoughts, Mr Yook said, citing testimony the teacher had provided to police.

Days before the stabbing, the teacher had displayed violent behaviour, including putting another teacher in a headlock, the education office said.

Two officials from the education office had visited the school on Monday – the morning of the stabbing – to investigate that earlier altercation.

After the attack on the co-worker, the education office recommended that the teacher be put on leave and be separated physically from the other teacher.

She was made to sit beside the vice principal’s desk so that she could be kept under close watch.

She had also not been teaching any classes since her leave in December, and did not have any contact with the eight-year-old student, the official said.

According to the testimony given by the teacher to police, she was “annoyed” that she had not been able to return to teaching a class.

She told them she had purchased a weapon on the day of the attack and brought it to school – adding that she had planned to kill herself along with a child.

The testimony went on to say that the teacher did not care which child it was, and targeted the last to leave. She managed to “lure the child into the media room” before attacking them, it said.

The student was reported missing on Monday evening, after a bus driver informed the school that she had not arrived to be picked up that day.

South Korea is a generally safe country with strict gun control laws. But in recent years, it has grappled with several high-profile crimes, including stabbings.

“It pains me to see such incidents because a school should be our safest space,” said acting President Choi. “I offer my deep condolences to the victim’s family who suffered great shock and agony.”

Instances of hate speech against minorities jumped 74% in India in 2024, peaking during the country’s national elections, according to a new report.

The report, released on Monday by Washington-based research group India Hate Lab, documented 1,165 such instances last year, adding that politicians like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were among the most frequent purveyors of hate speech.

Muslims were targeted the most, with 98.5% of recorded instances of hate speech directed against them.

The report said most of the events where hate speech occurred were held in states governed by Modi’s party or larger alliance.

The BBC has sought comment on the India Hate Lab report from several spokespersons at Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Over the years, BJP leaders have often been accused of targeting India’s minority communities, especially Muslims.

The ruling party has rejected allegations of Islamophobia and hate speech levelled at it by rights groups and opposition leaders.

On Tuesday, its national spokesperson reiterated this stance, telling CNN that the country had a “very strong legal system which is structured to maintain peace, order and ensure non-violence at any cost”.

“Today’s India does not need any certification from any ‘anti-India reports industry’ which is run by vested interests to prejudice and dent India’s image,” Jaiveer Shergill said.

But the party was accused of using hate speech during the heated election campaign last year. The prime minister himself was accused of using divisive rhetoric that attacked Muslims. In May, India’s Election Commission also asked the party to remove a social media post that opposition leaders said “demonised Muslims”.

According to the India Hate Lab report, 269 hate speech instances were reported in May 2024, the highest in the year.

Christians have also been targeted by hate speech, but to a lesser extent than Muslims, the report says.

Rights groups have often said that minorities, especially Muslims, have faced increased discrimination and attacks after Modi’s government came to power in 2014. The BJP has repeatedly denied these allegations.

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The lab’s report said that hate speech was especially observed at political rallies, religious processions, protest marches and cultural gatherings. Most of these events – 931 or 79.9% – took place in states where the BJP directly governed or ruled in coalition.

Three BJP-ruled states – Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh – accounted for nearly half of the total hate speech events recorded in 2024, the lab’s data showed.

The ruling party was also the organiser for 340 such events in 2024, a 580% increase from the previous year.

“Hate speech patterns in 2024 also revealed a deeply alarming surge in dangerous speech compared to 2023, with both political leaders and religious figures openly inciting violence against Muslims,” the report said.

“This included calls for outright violence, calls to arms, the economic boycott of Muslim businesses, the destruction of Muslim residential properties and the seizing or demolition of Muslim religious structures.”

When a prominent Saudi trans woman posted her suicide note on X, her friends and followers were devastated. The note, viewed by millions, said a lawyer in the US – where she had been trying to claim asylum – had persuaded her into returning home to a family and country that would not accept her identity.

The BBC World Service has identified this man as Bader Alomair, who has worked at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington DC, evidence suggests. He is linked to controversial returns from the United States of several other Saudi students – including two later accused of committing murder during their time at university.

Mr Alomair has not responded to the allegations raised in our investigation.

Eden Knight was from one of the Middle Eastern kingdom’s most respected families. After moving to Virginia in 2019 on a Saudi government scholarship to study at George Mason University, Eden made the decision in early 2022 to transition from presenting as a man to presenting as a woman, by wearing feminine clothes and taking female sex hormones.

Eden found a community on X and Discord where she felt accepted and started to grow a following online. In one post, she shared a picture of her Saudi ID photo next to her new feminine look and the post went viral.

Being transgender in Saudi Arabia is not tolerated by society or government – we have spoken to several transgender Saudis, now living outside the kingdom, who told us about the harassment, and in some cases violence, they had experienced.

Returning to Saudi Arabia could therefore have been difficult for Eden. We understand her student visa expired at around the time of her viral tweet so she decided to seek asylum in the US to stay there permanently.

Eden said she was messaged by an old friend who put her in contact with an American private investigator, Michael Pocalyko. He offered to help with her asylum claim, and mend the relationship with her family – according to another friend, Hayden, who Eden was living with in Georgia at the time.

Other friends have shared messages with us from Eden, which say Mr Pocalyko told her she needed to move from Georgia to Washington DC to lodge her claim.

According to the final message she posted on X, in late October 2022, the private investigator met Eden off the train in the US capital. He was accompanied by a Saudi lawyer named Bader, she wrote.

“I genuinely was optimistic and believed this could work,” Eden said in her final post. She said Bader put her up in a nice apartment near Washington DC and took her sightseeing.

But over time it seems she began to question his motives. Eden wrote to friends, in messages shared with the BBC, that Bader was “detransitioning” her. She told them that Bader tried to throw out all of her feminine clothing and told her to stop hormone therapy.

Eden also told friends that Bader advised her she could not apply for asylum in the US and that she must return to Saudi Arabia to do this. A US immigration expert said such advice would be incorrect.

In December 2022, Eden messaged friends to say: “I am going [back to Saudi] with a lawyer and wishing for the best.” Her suicide note on X makes clear that the lawyer in question was someone called “Bader”.

It was not long before Eden was telling friends that returning was a mistake.

She messaged them to say her parents had taken her passport and the government had instructed her to close her X account. Eden told friends she had evidence her parents had hired people to get her back to Saudi Arabia, though she never shared that evidence.

“The lawyer that was helping me with asylum was working with my parents behind my back,” she told one of them.

Over the next few months, Eden’s friends say, she lost any hope of escaping Saudi Arabia.

She worked in a junior position at a tech company and in public assumed her original male identity. Eden messaged a friend to say she was trying to continue taking female hormones, but that her parents repeatedly confiscated them. Eden told friends that she suffered constant verbal abuse, and sent them a video – which we have seen – that she secretly recorded of a family member shouting that she had been brainwashed by Western ideas.

Eden took her own life on 12 March 2023.

We wanted to find “Bader” – the lawyer who Eden accused of detransitioning her and persuading her home, to ask him more about the events running up to her death.

We searched for lawyers of that name in the DC area, and one came up: Bader Alomair. There was limited information about him online, but an outdated directory for professionals working in Riyadh gave his full name in Arabic – which in turn led us to an inactive Facebook account showing a photo of him at Harvard Law School.

In texts Eden sent to friends, she mentioned her lawyer had been Harvard-educated.

Then, a source shared a crucial photo – taken by Eden from the apartment Mr Alomair had installed her in. We were able to geolocate it to a residential block on the outskirts of Washington DC.

One person there told us he had known Eden and had seen her with Mr Alomair.

He said Eden owned feminine clothing, jewellery and make-up, but would have to hide it when Mr Alomair came over. He made her cut her hair and told her not to shave, the witness said.

We repeatedly tried to contact Mr Alomair, but he did not respond. When we visited the address listed on his DC Bar registration, we saw a man matching photos of him get into an SUV and drive away.

We followed, noting the car’s unusual number plate – its code indicated the car was issued by the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington DC, and that the vehicle’s owner was embassy staff.

Mr Alomair’s role in the embassy was to support Saudi students in the US – a lawyer who previously worked with him told us.

We discovered news articles highlighting instances of Mr Alomair helping those left homeless by a hurricane in Florida, for example. But we also discovered his assistance had extended to more controversial situations.

On 13 October 2018, two Saudi students were questioned by US police over the death of an aspiring rapper in North Carolina – stabbed, reportedly after an altercation with the pair.

Some two months later, Abdullah Hariri and Sultan Alsuhaymi were charged with murder, but by then had left the US.

Just four days after the stabbing, Mr Hariri was on a flight back to Saudi Arabia, an email shared with us suggests. It includes details of the flights home which our source told us Mr Alomair organised for both Mr Hariri and Mr Alsuhaymi.

Neither student has ever commented publicly on the case.

Mr Alomair was sent an invoice for the flights a month later, another email shows, which our source says he would have needed to get reimbursement from the Saudi embassy.

Another source says he has worked with him to represent dozens of other Saudi students in the US against charges ranging from speeding to drink-driving.

“Bader would come to the meetings with an Arabic form headed by the Saudi embassy for students to sign [which] promised to pay back legal fees to the Saudi government once they returned home.”

The source told us the students would appear at their first hearing but vanish before any subsequent hearings, though we do not know if Mr Alomair had any role in this.

In 2019, the FBI warned that Saudi officials likely facilitated the escape of Saudi citizens from US legal proceedings.

“The FBI assesses that Kingdom of Saudi Arabia officials almost certainly assist US-based Saudi citizens to avoid legal issues, undermining the US judicial process. This assessment is made with high confidence.”

Sources have told us Mr Alomair continues to live and work in the US. He owns multiple commercial properties around Washington DC and in August 2024 appears to have set up a new law firm in Virginia, where he is a named partner.

Michael Pocalyko, Bader Alomair and the Saudi embassy in Washington DC did not respond to our questions.

We contacted Eden’s family to ask if they wanted to take part in this story but they did not respond.

BBC 100 Women names 100 inspiring and influential women around the world every year. Follow BBC 100 Women on Instagram and Facebook. Join the conversation using #BBC100Women.

New Zealand has accused the Cook Islands government of a lack of transparency over its plans to strike a partnership deal with China.

The tiny Pacific Island nation’s leader, Mark Brown, is this week making his country’s first ever state visit to Beijing in order to sign the agreement.

However, New Zealand says it was not properly consulted over the plans, leading to what Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has described as a “dispute”.

The Cook Islands is hugely reliant on New Zealand under a longstanding “free association” agreement that provides it with defence and financial support. China’s growing influence in the Pacific has challenged the US and its allies, who have held sway for years.

“We value our partnership with New Zealand and we expect the same respect,” Brown said at a press conference last week. He was due to travel to China on Monday.

“Disagreements, although difficult, are an inevitable part of international relations but they should never define the entirety of our engagement.”

He has denied any dispute, saying “engagement has been consistent, respectful and open” and that the Cook Islands has the right to forge its own path as a self-governing country.

China’s foreign ministry said that both countries were important partners and that it was ready to work with the Cook Islands to “achieve new progress”.

“The China-Cook Islands relationship is not targeted at any third party and should not be subject to or be disrupted by any third party,” said spokesman Guo Jiakun.

Beijing has had diplomatic ties with the Cook Islands since 1997 and is one of its development partners.

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Under their 60-year-old agreement, the Cook Islands is self governing in “free association” with New Zealand. The two countries are expected to consult each other over issues of defence and security. Brown says the new agreement with China will cover areas including infrastructure, trade and tourism.

Deep deep-sea mining is also expected to be part of the deal. Brown believes that mining valuable minerals on the seabed could be a game-changer for the Cook Islands, creating huge economic wealth.

However, the practice, in which China is a major player, is controversial, and critics believe it will exacerbate climate change – to which the Cook Islands are already vulnerable.

Luxon said on Monday that while New Zealand had “very good relations between the Cook Islands and its people”, in this case there had not been transparency.

Asked at a press conference whether he would consider putting aid to the Cook Islands on hold, as it recently did for Kiribati due to a diplomatic snub, Luxon said he would wait to see what was in the deal.

Under the free association agreement Cook Islanders can live, work and access healthcare as New Zealand citizens – benefits some fear they could lose if relations between the two countries further sour.

There has also been criticism from some that Brown and his government did not consult the public about the China deal first – something Tina Browne, the leader of the Democratic Party, has described as “insane”.

Both she and fellow opposition leader Teariki Heather, from the Cook Islands United Party, say they have lost confidence in Brown’s leadership.

That is despite his recent U-turn on a controversial proposal to introduce a separate passport for Cook Island citizens, while also allowing them to retain New Zealand citizenship. Wellington rejected the plan last year.

The Cook Islands is not the first Pacific Island nation to strengthen its ties with China. The Solomon Islands signed a security pact with Beijing in 2022, while countries including Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea also have close relations.

A Swedish woman has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for committing genocide and war crimes against the Yazidi people after she joined jihadist group Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

Lina Ishaq, 52, was found guilty of holding three Yazidi women and six Yazidi children as slaves in Raqqa between 2014-2016 in September last year.

It is the first time IS crimes against the Yazidis, one of Iraq’s religious minorities, have been tried in Sweden.

Ishaq joined IS and moved her family to Syria in 2013. She is already serving jail sentences for taking her two year-old son to Syria and “failing to prevent” IS from using her 12-year-old son as a child soldier. He died in 2017, aged 16.

Ishaq forced her prisoners to wear a veil and practise Islam, and she physically assaulted them.

“The convicted woman was part of the large-scale enslavement system which IS introduced for Yazidi women and children,” said Stockholm District Court presiding judge, Maria Ulfsdotter Klang.

“She has acted independently in maintaining the enslavement and deprivation of liberty of the victims and contributed to trafficking them further.”

The Yazidis are an ancient religious minority based largely in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq.

In early August 2014 IS invaded Yazidi settlements in the Sinjar region launching a genocidal campaign against them.

Over a period of three years about 5,000 Yazidis were killed by IS and half a million people were displaced.

More than 6,000 women and children were taken captive and held as slaves. IS members tortured their detainees and subjected them to strategic sexual violence aiming to eradicate the Yazidi people, according to the UN.

Lina Ishaq was born in Iraq to a Christian family, who moved to Sweden when she was a child, Swedish media report. She converted to Islam prior to her marriage.

Along with around 300 other Swedish nationals, a quarter of them women, Ishaq joined IS in 2013.

When the so-called IS caliphate began to collapse in 2017, Ishaq fled Raqqa and escaped to Turkey. She was extradited to Sweden in 2020.

Sweden is now home to around 6,000 Yazidis.

Dawood Khalaf, chairman of the Yazidi association in Skaraborg has said Ishaq’s prosecution has helped build trust between the community in Sweden and local authorities.

“I know women who have been called for questioning by Swedish police who have not dared to testify for fear of being handed over to IS,” he told public broadcaster SVT. “After this indictment, the picture has changed.”

Ishaq’s lawyer Mikael Westerlund said Ishaq still denied the charges and would consider an appeal.

The Israeli military has said an elderly Israeli man was killed during Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel and that his body is being held hostage in Gaza.

Iraq-born Shlomo Mansour, 86, was abducted by gunmen at his home in Kibbutz Kissufim. His wife, Mazal, managed to escape.

The military said the decision to confirm Shlomo’s death was based on intelligence gathered in recent months and was approved by an expert committee of the ministry of health.

His name is on the Israeli government’s list of 33 hostages to be released by Hamas during the first phase of a ceasefire deal that is coming under growing strain.

So far, 16 living Israeli hostages have been freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails since 19 January. Hamas has also handed over five Thai hostages.

The remaining 17 Israeli hostages – two children, one woman, five men over the age of 50, and nine men under 50 – are supposed to be released over the next three weeks. Both sides have said eight of those hostages are dead but not named them.

On Monday, Hamas warned that it would postpone the scheduled release of the next group of three this weekend unless US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators addressed what it said were Israeli violations of the deal, including delays in allowing in shelters and medical supplies.

The threat prompted US President Donald Trump to propose that Israel cancel the deal and “let hell break out” if Hamas did not release all the hostages by midday on Saturday.

Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said Hamas’s move was a complete violation of the ceasefire agreement and told the Israeli military to prepare for any possible scenario in Gaza.

• Latest: Israel pledges ‘relentless action’ to return hostages as Hamas rejects Trump’s ‘threats’
• Hamas says it will postpone hostage release, blaming Israel
• Paul Adams: Why the Gaza ceasefire is under growing strain
• Trump faces showdown with Jordan over Gaza plan

Shlomo Mansour was born in Baghdad and as a child survived the Farhud pogrom against the Iraqi capital’s Jewish community in 1941.

He emigrated to Israel with his family at the age of 13 and went on to help found Kibbutz Kissufim, where he worked in the chicken coop and eyewear factory.

On 7 October 2023, hundreds of Hamas-led gunmen stormed the Israel’s Gaza perimeter fence and attacked many nearby Israeli communities, including Kissufim. They killed about 1,200 people were killed and took 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.

Shlomo and Mazal – who had five children and 12 grandchildren – fled to their home’s safe room that day, but a group of gunmen fired at the door and were able to break it open. Mazal hid in the bathroom, but they found Shlomo, handcuffed him, and took him out of the house.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had informed the Mansour family that he was then murdered by the gunmen and that they took his body back to Gaza as a hostage.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and his wife, Sara, sent their heartfelt condolences to the family following the “bitter news”.

“We will neither rest nor be silent until he is returned for burial in Israel,” he added.

“We will continue to take determined and relentless action until we return all of our hostages – the living and the deceased.”

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents some of the hostages’ relatives, said: “We share in the profound grief of the Mansour family.”

On Monday, in response to Hamas’s threat to postpone the next hostage release, the forum called on mediators to help restore and implement the ceasefire deal effectively so that the remaining 76 hostages are brought home.

“Recent evidence from those released, as well as the shocking conditions of the hostages released last Saturday, leaves no room for doubt – time is of the essence, and all hostages must be urgently rescued from this horrific situation,” it warned.

The Israeli government was furious at the emaciated state of Eli Sharabi, 52, Ohad Ben Ami, 56, and Or Levy, 34, who were paraded in front of a crowd in Deir al-Balah before being handed over to the Red Cross.

An Israeli doctor who treated Mr Sharabi and Mr Levy said they were in a “poor medical condition”, while a hospital official said Mr Ben Ami was in a “severe nutritional sate and had lost a significant amount of his body weight”.

Meanwhile, the family of another hostage, Alon Ohel, 24, said on Sunday they had received their first indication in 16 months that he was alive from Mr Levy and Mr Sharabi, who were held captive along with him.

“Since his kidnapping, Alon has been held in harsh conditions in Hamas’s underground tunnels, without daylight or access to basic human necessities,” a statement said.

“We have been informed that Alon is wounded in his eye. Additionally, he is being held in particularly severe captivity conditions, with serious food shortages.”

The Ohel family also urged the Israeli government to advance negotiations with Hamas on the ceasefire deal’s second phase, which should see the remaining living hostages released, a permanent ceasefire, and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

More than 48,200 people have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the 7 October attack, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Yu Hyuk was just nine years old when he started begging on the streets of North Hamgyong, one of the poorest provinces in North Korea, nestled along the northern border with China and Russia.

Besides begging, he ran errands for soldiers and sold foraged mushrooms. Sometimes he stole food out of sheer hunger: once he snatched a lunchbox that sat unattended at an underground station. Inside was a scoop of spoiled rice.

This was just “part of everyday life” for many North Koreans, he says, adding that his own life was so consumed with survival that it left little room for dreams.

But dream he did. Later on this year, the 25-year-old will debut in the US as a member of a K-pop boy band.

1Verse (pronounced “universe”) is made up of five members: Hyuk, Seok who is also from North Korea, Aito from Japan, and Asian Americans Kenny and Nathan – all prefer to go by their first names. They are set to make history as the first K-pop boy band to debut with North Korean defectors.

Hyuk was born in a seaside village in Kyongsong county and raised by his father and grandmother, after his parents broke up when he was just four.

Later, his mother fled the North to settle in the South and reached out to him in an attempt to get him to join her. But he refused as he was close to his father and did not want to leave him.

Hyuk says his family was “not extremely poor” to begin with, but the situation quickly deteriorated after his parents separated. His father didn’t want to work and his grandmother was too old, so Hyuk was left to his own devices to survive.

Eventually, his father persuaded him to join his mother, and in 2013 Hyuk escaped from North Korea.

It took months for him to arrive in the South, after going through several countries. He has chosen not to reveal specifics of the route, as he fears putting other future defectors at risk.

Once in the South, he lived with his mother for just a year, before moving to a boarding school with his mum’s financial support. However, he struggled to cope with South Korea’s fiercely competitive education system, as Hyuk had barely finished primary school before his defection.

Writing was the one thing he found solace in, he says.

He started with short poems alluding to his past life in North Korea. “I couldn’t openly share what I’d been through, but I still wanted to make a record of it.”

At first, Hyuk believed his story couldn’t be understood by others, but was encouraged by friends and teachers in his school’s music club – and eventually found his passion in rap.

Growing up, music had been a luxury, let alone K-pop which was something he had barely heard of. But now, he channelled his thoughts of feeling lonely and of missing his father into music, referring to himself as “the loneliest of the loners” – a line in Ordinary Person, a rap song he composed as a part of a pre-debut project.

Hyuk graduated from high school aged 20. Afterwards, he worked part-time at restaurants and factories to support himself.

But it was in 2018 when he was featured in an educational TV programme that his luck changed. His unique background and rapping talent caught the eye of music producer Michelle Cho, who was formerly from SM Entertainment, the agency behind some of K-pop’s biggest acts. She offered him a spot in her agency, Singing Beetle.

“I didn’t trust Michelle for about a year because I thought she was cheating me,” Hyuk says, adding that defectors are often targeted by scams in the South.

But gradually he realised that Ms Cho was “investing way too much time and money” for it to be anything but genuine.

Kim Seok, 24, also defected and arrived in the South in 2019, though his experience was vastly different to that of Seok’s.

Coming from a relatively better-off family, Seok lived close to the border with China and had access to K-pop and K-drama through smuggled USBs and SD cards.

Due to safety reasons, we are unable to reveal much more about his life in the North and how he came to the South.

Both boys were described by Ms Cho as “blank canvases”, adding that she had never encountered trainees quite like them.

Unlike Aito and Kenny, who had been immersed in music and dance from an early age, Hyuk and Seok were complete beginners.

“They had absolutely no grasp of pop culture,” she said.

But their ability to “endure physical challenges” astonished Ms Cho. They pushed through gruelling hours of dance practice with such determination that she was worried they were “overdoing it”.

Apart from music and dance lessons, their training also covered etiquette and engaging in discussions, to prepare them for media interviews.

“I don’t think they were used to questioning things or expressing their opinion,” says Ms Cho. “At first, when a trainer asked the reasoning behind their thoughts, the only response was, ‘Because you said so last time’.”

But after more than three years, Hyuk has made remarkable progress, she says.

“Now, Hyuk questions many things. For example, if I ask him to do something, he’ll reply ‘Why? Why is it necessary?’ Sometimes, I regret what I’ve done,” says Ms Cho chuckling.

But what do the other two boys think of their bandmates?

“I was kind of afraid at first because North Korea has a hostile relationship with Japan. I thought North Koreans would be scary, but that turned out not to be true,” says Aito, who at 20 is the youngest of the four.

Kenny, who spent much of his life in the US, adds that there were also small cultural differences that have taken him time to get used to.

“Korean culture is very [communal] in that you eat together… that was a culture shock [to me]”, he said. “I usually don’t like eating with people, I prefer Netflix in my ear. But their joy comes from being collective.”

Late last year, the band added a fifth member, Nathan, an American of mixed Laotian and Thai heritage to the group.

They aim to debut in the US later this year – a decision that the label hopes could attract more American fans.

Dozens of K-pop groups make their debut each year and only a few, typically those managed by major labels, become popular.

So it’s still too early to say if 1Verse will go on to resonate with audiences. But Hyuk has big dreams, hoping that it might be possible one day for his fellow North Koreans to listen to his songs.

With human rights activists often sending leaflets and USBs containing K-culture content via balloons and bottles towards the North, this may prove to be less of a pipe dream than it sounds, though Hyuk also has his worries.

To avoid being seen as a vocal critic of North Korea, he refers to his homeland as “the upper side” in interviews and avoids mentioning North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Kim has in recent years been ratcheting up his crackdown on the inflow of K-culture. Since 2020, the consumption and distribution of such content has become a crime punishable by death.

A rare video obtained by BBC Korean last year, believed to be filmed in 2022, shows two teenage boys publicly sentenced to 12 years of hard labour for watching and distributing K-dramas.

One academic says it would cause a “stir” in North Korea should 1Verse’s music become a hit.

“If a North Korean defector openly embraced their identity and went on to become a world-class activist, I think that would cause a stir in the North,” said Ha Seung-hee, an academic specialising in music and media at Dongguk University’s Institute of North Korean Studies.

But his main motivation, Hyuk says, is to prove that defectors can be a success.

“Many defectors see an insurmountable gap between themselves and K-pop idols. It is hardly a career option for us,” said Hyuk.

“So if I succeed, other defectors might be encouraged [to] have even bigger dreams. That’s why I am trying my hardest.”

A decision by US President Donald Trump to place a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium imports has left some of the US’s major trade partners scrambling to make a deal.

The US is a major steel importer, importing nearly a quarter of the steel it uses, according to data from the American Iron and Steel Institute, which adds that its dependence on aluminium is even greater.

Its neighbours Canada and Mexico, as well as some allies in Asia are among its main suppliers.

Trump has said his latest tariffs will take effect on 12 March “without exceptions or exemptions”.

With just over a month to go before the tax kicks in, here is how some countries have responded.

As one of the largest suppliers of both commodities to the US, Canada has a lot to lose.

“Canada has extra reasons for irritation as they are the largest steel supplier and one of the largest aluminum suppliers to the US,” says Deborah Elms, a trade expert with the Hinrich Foundation.

Canada’s industry minister François-Philippe Champagne has slammed the decision, calling it “totally unjustified”.

In a post on X, he said Canadian steel is being used in key US industries including defence, shipbuilding and energy, adding that this made “North America more competitive and secure”.

He added that Canada would “defend our industries as we have always done and always will” and warned that Canada’s response would be “clear and calibrated”.

Though Trump has said he will not consider any exceptions, it seems like he may set this rule aside for Australia.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had spoken on the phone with Trump and that the US leader was considering an exemption.

Calling Albanese “a very fine man”, Trump had earlier explained that the US runs a trade surplus with Australia.

“The reason is they buy a lot of airplanes. They’re rather far away and they need lots of airplanes,” Trump said. “We actually have a surplus, it’s one of the only countries which we do.”

But despite being the world’s largest exporter of iron ore – a key steelmaking raw material – Australia’s exports of steel itself are not as significant.

According to Albanese, Australian steel accounts for about 1% of US imports, though its steel is used by a major US military shipbuilder.

The UK has said the government “will take a considered approach” and will speak with the US about the details but wants to be clear it will be working in the national interest.

However, the BBC understands the UK will not retaliate immediately, and Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she “strongly believe[s] that a deal can be done”.

The trade body UK Steel has said in a statement that the tariffs would deliver a “devastating blow” to their industry.

“The US is our second-largest export market after the EU. At a time of shrinking demand and high costs, rising protectionism globally, particularly in the US, will stifle our exports and damage over £400m ($494m) worth of the steel sector’s contribution to the UK’s balance of trade,” Gareth Stace, UK Steel’s director general, said in a statement.

“It is deeply disappointing if President Trump sees the need to target UK steel, given our relatively small production volumes compared to major steel nations,” he said, adding that there was a danger that other countries could “redirect” steel to the UK market to avoid US tariffs.

On Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen responded by saying “unjustified tariffs on the EU will not go unanswered”.

“They will trigger firm and proportionate countermeasures. The EU will act to safeguard its economic interests,” she said. “I deeply regret the US decision to impose tariffs on European steel and aluminum exports. Tariffs are taxes – bad for business, worse for consumers.”

According to trade group Eurometal, the US was the second-largest market for EU exports of iron and steel.

Trump imposed tariffs on both the UK and the EU during his first term but those restrictions were later relaxed by the Biden administration.

India’s Steel Secretary Sandeep Poundrik has reportedly claimed that Trump’s tariffs will not have much of an impact, pointing to the fact that India exports only a small fraction of its steel to the US.

“How much steel do we actually export to the US?” Poundrik said at an industry event, according to a PTI report.

“We produced 145 million tonnes of steel last year, of which 95,000 tonnes was exported to the US. So, how does it matter if out of 145 million tonnes, you are not able to export 95,000 tonnes?”

But not everyone shares this sentiment.

The chief of the Indian Steel Association (ISA), Naveen Jindal, has said he is “deeply concerned” that US restrictions could lead steel makers to dump their steel in the Indian market at lower prices.

These tariffs are “expected to slash steel exports to the US by 85%, creating a massive surplus that will likely flood India which is one of the few major markets without trade restrictions”, he claimed.

South Korea is a major steel exporter to the US, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Its steel is used by homegrown firms like Hyundai, Kia, Samsung and LG, all of which have factories in the US and Mexico.

On Tuesday, Trade Minister Cheong In-kyo said South Korea would “actively consider” whether there was room for negotiation with the US – a day after the industry ministry held an emergency meeting with steelmakers.

In 2018, when Trump similarly imposed a 25% tariff on all steel imports, Seoul was granted a waiver in exchange for a yearly import quota.

It’s unclear what deals might actually be cut or waivers granted over the next month, but Eswar Prasad, an international trade policy expert at Cornell University, says in the long run, US trading partners may seek to diversify away from the US by selling their products elsewhere.

But he also says that “Trump’s drastic actions have put the rest of the world on the back foot” because of the US economy’s strength relative to most of its trading partners.

Wendy Cutler, vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, says that while the US’s trading partners may seek appeasement in the short term, they could still decide to hit back in the long run.

“While overtures may be made to work with the Trump team to avert the tariffs, our partners may conclude that tariffs are coming so fast and furious, negotiations are not a durable option,” she says.

Three Ghanaians have told the BBC of their involvement in the fighting between Islamist insurgents and the military in neighbouring Burkina Faso, describing scenes of sometimes indiscriminate violence and bloody battles.

“We are always with the dead. In some battles, I’ve seen 40, 50 or 100 dead people,” one of the men told the BBC.

The three, all in their late thirties or early forties, said they had fought in Burkina Faso multiple times since 2018. They crossed the porous 550km-long (340-mile) border between the two countries, without being detected by the security forces.

They denied being primarily motivated by religion or being trained by the jihadists, saying they went to fight to defend civilian communities with whom they had strong family and ethnic ties.

“My elder brother, his wife and children were all killed by the [Burkinabe] army. It pains me a lot. The military came to their community in the forest. They killed all of them, a whole household, including 29 people,” one of the men said.

But another of the men did articulate religious zeal, saying: “If you die while fighting with the jihadists, then you are driving to jannah (an Islamic word for paradise), on the path of the righteous.”

Challenged over whether they had taken part in civilian attacks, the men were divided.

One denied doing so, but another conceded that he did.

“Some local people support the military in attacking us, that’s why we have to kill them too,” he said.

“You know… I’m not happy to fight like this. The number of people we kill, the people the military kill, it’s very bad. But this fight has entered our blood,” he added.

All three spoke on condition of anonymity.

The BBC was unable to confirm their claims but they showed us pictures of weapons, described the location of recent conflicts and named jihadist commanders in Burkina Faso.

The BBC was put in touch with the men through contacts at cattle markets in northern Ghana, where jihadist groups are alleged to be recruiting fighters.

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

And the Netherlands Institute of International Relations think-tank, in a report released last July, said the jihadists had “minimal success” recruiting in Ghana.

However, the men offered a different perspective, telling the BBC, in claims that could not be verified, that people from “all parts of Ghana” and from “many” ethnic groups were joining the insurgency in Burkina Faso.

“Some are fighting for jihad. Some are doing it for business,” one of them said.

The financial incentive comes in the form of the plentiful livestock that the jihadists steal from communities driven out of their villages.

“When we attack a community, we take their animals: sometimes 50, sometimes 100,” the BBC was told by one of the men.

The cattle are allegedly brought to northern Ghana, and sold at markets.

The trafficking across the border was confirmed to the BBC by cattle dealers.

It is thought to have become a major income stream for groups like Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate that is the most active jihadist group in Burkina Faso. It also operates in Niger and Mali.

The West African region was described by the UN last year as the epicentre of global jihadist violence.

Aid agencies say that over the last decade some two-million people have been displaced by the insurgency in Burkina Faso and tens of thousands killed.

Ninpoa Nasuri is one of the thousands who have fled to Ghana to escape the violence.

She told the BBC her husband was killed in front of her in 2024 during a raid on their village in eastern Burkina Faso by fighters from JNIM.

“They grabbed the men, and they beat them to death. My husband was a farmer. He had nothing to do with the government militia or the conflict,” she told the BBC.

Other refugees described similar acts of violence by the Burkinabe military.

“Some of the people they were killing were aged 80, aged 90. These people can’t hold a gun, can’t fight with anybody. They killed them for no reason,” Saafiya Karim said.

Ghana has so far remained largely untouched by the insurgency, although some attacks have taken place in neighbouring Togo and Ivory Coast.

In a recent statement to Ghanaian journalist Mohammed Eliasu Tanko, a man calling himself a representative of JNIM said the group had no interest in launching attacks in Ghana.

“They (JNIM fighters) are not allowed to take any action against Ghana. This is a clear and certain statement. JNIM do not seek war against Ghana,” the man, known as Ansari, said in the statement, which the BBC has seen.

However an upsurge in communal violence in one part of northern Ghana has raised concerns that the jihadists are trying to exploit the conflict to their advantage.

The town of Bawku is embroiled in a decades-long struggle between different ethnic groups for control of the local chieftaincy. More than 100 people are thought to have been killed in clashes since fighting intensified in last October.

“The evening in Bawku is always [one of] gunshots and fierce exchanges. People use AK47s, M16s, all kinds of automatic rifles,” a resident told the BBC.

JNIM smugglers are accused of selling weapons to both sides.

“We understand they are supplying weapons that they have taken from the military in Burkina Faso. They do this by relying on the trucks that travel up to Niger and back carrying onions. They hide the weapons inside those trucks,” Tanko told the BBC.

“One intelligence officer confirmed to me this was the new way they are bringing firearms in. And the Ghanaian security are ill-equipped to be able to detect these vehicles coming through, putting Ghana in a very critical situation,” he added.

Ghana’s Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah did not respond to a BBC request for comment.

President John Mahama, who took office in January after winning December’s presidential election, visited Bawku last month in an effort to promote peace between the rival groups. However, gunfights continue to be reported.

Ghana’s governing party spokesman Sammy Gyamfi told the BBC that ending the violence in Bawku was the government’s “number one priority”.

“The violence is already spreading and if care is not taken it’s likely that insurgents from the wider region can take advantage of this conflict,” he said.

The three men the BBC spoke to said they did not rule out the possibility of the insurgency spreading.

“This thing can go to any place, or to any country. It didn’t exist in Togo but now the attacks are happening there. If they can go to Togo, they can get to Ghana. This thing is strong, it’s powerful,” one of them said.

But another of the men took a cynical perspective, saying the insurgents in Burkina Faso were no longer waging an “Islamic struggle”.

“They just kill the people, and steal their livestock. What is happening is not jihad and so I do not like it,” he said.

You can listen to Ed Butler’s report on the BBC World Service’s Assignment programme.

• ‘I thought I would die’ – freed captive tells BBC of life in jihadist base
• Burkina Faso doctor forced to go to the jihadist front line
• A quick guide to Burkina Faso

Kendrick Lamar’s show-stopping performance at Super Bowl on Sunday was, for many, a victory lap following his knock-out blow in a long-running beef with fellow rapper Drake.

The Compton star’s entire half-time set seemed to swiftly build to a performance of Not Like Us, his Grammy-winning takedown of Drake which was one of last year’s biggest hits… but is also now the subject of a potential libel case brought by the Canadian.

Drake was performing in Australia on Sunday, dishing out cash to several of his fans at a Melbourne show, before the whole world tuned in to watch his rival.

The origins of the argument go back more than decade. But here’s a quick reminder of where we are now and how we got here over a heated 12 months:

In March last year, producer and former Drake collaborator Metro Boomin’ and rapper Future released a collaborative album called We Don’t Trust You.

Hidden in the tracklisting was a song called Like That with an uncredited verse by Kendrick Lamar… and it was explosive.

In it, Lamar took aim at rapper J Cole’s previous claim – that himself, Kendrick and Drake were “the big three” – proclaiming: “[forget] the big three – it’s just big me”.

After years of tension, the fuse had been lit.

Soon after, Drake appeared to address Kendrick’s verse at a concert in Florida.

He told the crowd: “I know that no matter what, it’s not a [person] on this earth that could ever [expletive] with me in my life!”

Two weeks later, J Cole offered his own reply to Kendrick’s verse, on a track called 7 Minute Drill, but he soon realised it had been a huge “mis-step”.

Speaking on stage at the Dreamville Festival in North Carolina, he apologised for the song, praised Lamar’s back catalogue and asked for forgiveness.

Drake then released a song called Push Ups (Drop and Give Me 50), in which he took aim at Lamar’s height, calling him a midget (he’s 5ft 4in tall) and a record label puppet who’s forced to collaborate with pop artists.

“Maroon 5 need a verse, you better make it witty / Then we need a verse for the Swifties,” he cajoled.

He also took issue with Lamar’s position in the hip-hop hierarchy, suggesting other artists had overtaken him.

More rappers, including Kanye West and Rick Ross got drawn into the feud. But Drake’s attention was solely focused on Lamar.

The Toronto star goaded his US adversary by dropping yet another diss track called Taylor Made Freestyle, which suggested Lamar was too cowardly to release music in the same week as Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department.

What’s more he used artificial intelligence to deliver the insults in the voices of Lamar’s heroes, Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg.

Lamar finally responded with a full-blown, six-minute riposte on record.

Titled Euphoria (a reference to the HBO show where Drake serves as an executive producer), it saw him brand Drake as “predictable”, a “master manipulator” and a “habitual liar”, while calling his sparring partner’s parenting skills into question.

“Let me say I’m the biggest hater,” he rapped. “I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress.”

Less than 72 hours later, he followed up with a second song called 6:16 in LA.

In it, he claimed that someone inside Drake’s organisation was leaking damaging information.

“You must be a terrible person/ Everyone inside your team is whispering that you deserve it.”

In May, Drake shot back with a song called Family Matters, which took the feud to new heights.

On the track, he speculated that Lamar might be a perpetrator of domestic abuse (the star has never faced such an allegation).

Within 20 minutes, Lamar retaliated with a third diss track, Meet The Grahams, which opened with the ominous warning: “You [messed] up the minute you called out my family’s name”.

Each verse was addressed to one of Drake’s closest family members, listing the rapper’s supposed failures.

Among the claims, he said Drake had secretly fathered second child, and was addicted to gambling, sex and drugs.

Drake responded on Instagram by asking whoever had his “hidden daughter” to hand her back, adding that Lamar’s claims were a “shambles”.

But the Californian wasn’t finished and he dropped a fourth diss track, Not Like Us, in which he accused Drake of having relationships with underage women.

“Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young / Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor,” he rapped.

Drake hit back a day later, angrily denying the accusations and daring Lamar to reveal proof.

“Drake is not a name that you gonn’ see on no sex offender list, easy does it / You mentioning A minor … B sharp and tell the fans: Who was it?”

Lamar’s pop-orientated Not Like Us became a big summer club hit – picking up 21 million streams in its first three days of release.

It went on to earn one billion streams on Spotify and later five Grammy Awards, at last month’s ceremony, including song of the year.

Things took a darker turn, when a security guard outside Drake’s house was shot although there is no proof it was connected to the rappers’ feud. However, the vandalism of Drake’s OVO shop in London apparently was.

At one star-studded gig in Los Angeles in June, which was intended as a show of unity for the West Coast rap fraternity, Lamar played his biggest diss track five times.

Fast forward to January this year, and Drake decided to sue the Universal Music Group (UMG) for defamation and harassment, over its release of Not Like Us.

In papers filed in New York, Drake’s lawyers accused the record label of launching “a campaign to create a viral hit” out of a song that made the “false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal paedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response”.

In response, Universal, which has been Drake’s label for more than a decade said his claims were not only untrue but “illogical”.

It also accused the star of trying to “silence” Lamar, who shares the same label, by taking their rap battle to the courts.

“Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to express his feelings about other artists,” the label said.

“He now seeks to weaponise the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression and to seek damages from [Universal] for distributing that artist’s music.”

Which brings us to the Super Bowl. A couple of minutes into his half-time show, Lamar said: “I want to play their favourite song… but you know they love to sue.”

In the build-up to the big event, there had been questions over whether he would, or even could play it, legally-speaking.

Lamar leaned into the dilemma, teasing the song during his set, before finally giving the audience what they wanted.

When the song finally played, Kendrick self-censored the most contentious lyric. But he looked directly into the camera with a mischievous grin as he called out Drake’s name; and left intact the song’s notorious double-entendre: “Tryin’ to strike a chord and it’s probably A minor.”

That lyric echoed around the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, indicating that no amount of legal action could ever hope to diminish the song’s popularity.

In playing it, Lamar was expected to have reached more than 120 million TV viewers who had tuned in to see the game, as well as the likes of Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Sir Paul McCartney and Stormzy who were inside the stadium.

The performance was further heightened by the surprise appearance of tennis star Serena Williams, who reportedly once dated Drake and whose name seemingly appears in the lyrics of the song in question.

Williams, a Compton kid like Kendrick, performed the Crip Walk – a notorious Los Angeles dance move – as the headliner prowled the stage.

In a review of the gig, the Guardian said the Pulitzer prize-winning rapper “delivered the final blow to his diss track nemesis”.

While over in the US, Variety noted how Lamar had quite literally declared “game over” in the battle.

On Monday, Lamar announced a joint UK and Europe stadium tour with SZA, who joined him on-stage on Sunday night, which will take in Glasgow, Birmingham, London and Cardiff from July this year. Drake does not currently have any UK tour dates scheduled for 2025.

Pre-sale sign-up done. Phone ready. Hoping and praying that you’ll bag tickets for Beyoncé’s upcoming Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit Tour.

All of that doesn’t leave you much time to think about the meaning behind the name.

Cowboy Carter is, obviously, the name of Beyoncé’s latest album.

But “Chitlin’ Circuit” might raise some questions in your mind.

From the late 1880s until the 1960s, so-called Jim Crow laws enforced segregation against black Americans and saw them treated as second-class citizens.

It meant that they were separated from white people – often prevented from living in certain neighbourhoods, forced to attend different schools and banned from public spaces.

During this era, black musicians and performers created their own network of live performance venues across the United States.

Known as the Chitlin’ Circuit, it took its name from “Chitterling” – a dish made with pig’s intestines popular in the south, where Jim Crow laws were most prevalent.

Venues were considered safe and acceptable spaces for black musicians, comedians and audiences and gave many pioneering performers a platform to hone their craft.

Almost every notable black musician of the time graced the circuit at some point, including stars such as Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Jimi Hendrix and James Brown.

The circuit was “tremendously important to the development of black music”, says Mia Bay, Professor of American History at Cambridge University.

“The black stars of the day would travel the circuit,” she tells BBC Newsbeat.

“It was very important to sustaining the careers of many important black performers – it allowed them to make a living in music.

“They were on the road all the time.”

Prof Bay says the presence of the circuit was also “very helpful to black communities”.

Performers were drawn to “black vacation spots” and the theatres at those locations, Prof Bay says.

“This would in turn help the careers of these entertainers,” she says.

“It was one of the more successful segregation-era businesses.”

Beyoncé has often paid tribute to black performers, and Prof Bay feels the singer’s Texas roots may have played a role in that.

“[It] was very much a segregated state, so this would be something that would be a very direct reference in terms of where she grew up and how she thinks about American history.

“I also think she, in some ways, has a nostalgic reference, because it was such a communal circuit with a lot of performers,” she says.

The star’s latest tour stops off at notable Chitlin’ Circuit cities such as Georgia, Houston and Chicago.

Beyoncé fan and music history content creator Nat Brown feels that’s not a coincidence.

Unlike Renaissance, this tour is smaller with only eight cities being played in total globally, with six of those in the US.

“It’s a very small tour,” says Nat.

“Just like it historically was with the Chitlin’ Circuit, where you only went to seven to 10 places.

“And if people were able to see you – great. But most often, people missed out because you blazed through town and went to the next spot.”

She thinks the purpose of using “Chitlin’ Circuit” as part of the title is to educate people who may not know about it.

Beyoncé’s previous album, Renaissance explored the forgotten influence of black and queer communities on house music.

And Cowboy Carter, which recently won a best album Grammy, delves further into the history of black American musicians.

Nat says: “I think it’s bringing back something old and making it new again.

“This is bringing something to younger generations.

“Being able to see your favourite artist play and things like that and really have that bonding and kind of cultural experience.

“That’s what she’s trying to bring back,” Nat says.

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

British pop star Ed Sheeran was stopped from busking in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru on Sunday, with police saying he didn’t have the necessary permissions.

A video showing a local police officer unplugging Sheeran’s microphone on Bengaluru’s Church Street – a crowded shopping and entertainment area – has since gone viral.

Officials told the ANI news agency a request from Mr Sheeran’s team to busk on the road was rejected to avoid congestion in the area.

But Sheeran insisted on Instagram that “we had permission to busk, by the way. Hence, us playing in that exact spot was planned out before. It wasn’t just us randomly turning up. All good though. See you at the show tonight.”

The incident took place ahead of his scheduled Mathematics Tour concert at NICE Grounds in Bengaluru.

Fans criticised the police intervention online, with one saying: “We live in an uncleocracy. And there’s nothing uncles love more than to stop young people from having fun,” referring to the number of vague rules that govern the use of public spaces in India.

However PC Mohan, a local MP from the ruling BJP party, said “even global stars must follow local rules – no permit, no performance!”

Sheeran is in India for the second year in a row on a 15-day tour, having already played in Pune Hyderabad and Chennai and with more concerts scheduled for Shillong in India’s north-east and the capital Delhi.

At his Bengaluru show, Sheeran surprised fans by singing two hit local songs in the Telugu language with singer Shilpa Rao on stage.

He previously collaborated with Indian singer and actor Diljit Dosanjh during the latter’s concert in Birmingham last year.

While in India he has also collaborated with sitar musician Megha Rawoot on a version of his hit song Shape of You.

Demand for live music concerts has been increasing in India, with Sheeran’s biggest-ever tour of the country coming close on the heels of Dua Lipa’s recent performance in Mumbai and Coldplay’s multi-city tour.

With growing disposable incomes, India is an emerging player in the “concert economy”, a recent Bank of Baroda report said, with live concerts set to be worth $700-900m (£550-730m).

Why has Hamas announced a delay just days before it is due to release the next group of hostages?

In one of its official statements, released on Telegram, the group called its announcement a “warning” to Israel and said it was giving mediators “ample time to pressure the occupation [Israel] into fulfilling its obligations”.

It said the “door remains open” for the next scheduled releases to go ahead on Saturday.

The group appears to be giving time for the impasse to be resolved.

But what exactly is the impasse?

Hamas lists a series of complaints, from delaying the return of displaced people, continuing to open fire on them and failing to allow the entry of certain types of humanitarian aid.

Other Palestinian officials not connected with Hamas have cited Israel’s reluctance to allow caravans into Gaza to house the vast numbers of Palestinians whose homes have been destroyed.

At a time when the Israeli government is openly discussing ways to encourage civilians to leave Gaza, the failure to give permits for badly needed temporary accommodation is bound to stoke Palestinian fears of expulsion.

Fears exacerbated, almost every day, by Donald Trump.

What began as an apparently off-the-cuff suggestion that most Palestinians should leave while the Gaza Strip is rebuilt has morphed into the president’s demand that all should leave and that the US should take over and run Gaza.

As Trump continues to double down on his incendiary suggestion, Hamas may be wondering whether it’s worth engaging in phase two of the ceasefire talks. What exactly are the talks for?

If Trump is serious, the Palestinians know that it will fall to Israel to make sure that Gaza is devoid of civilians. Depriving them of shelter won’t be enough. It will almost certainly require force.

Now Trump has said that if all the hostages held in Gaza are not returned by Saturday he will propose cancelling the ceasefire and “all hell” will break out.

But he did say he was speaking for himself and “Israel can override it”.

• Follow the latest Gaza ceasefire news
• Jeremy Bowen: Trump’s Gaza plan won’t happen, but will have consequences
• BBC Verify: Can Trump really take ownership of Gaza?
• How 15 months of war have drastically changed life in the territory
• What we know about the Gaza ceasefire deal
• Israel and the Palestinians: History of the conflict explained

Faced with the possible resumption of war, Hamas may be wondering what incentive there is to release the remaining hostages.

For relatives and friends of the hostages, the current impasse, and Trump’s noisy intervention, is cause for fresh anxiety.

“Each of these statements or announcements, of course, make Hamas more stubborn,” Dudi Zalmanovich told the BBC. His wife’s nephew, Omer Shem Tov, is still being held by Hamas.

“I would prefer him to be less proactive,” Mr Zalmanovich said of Trump.

Israel has its own suspicions about the rationale behind Hamas’s threatened delay.

The spectacle of emaciated hostages being released at the weekend has raised fears that Hamas may not want the world to see others in even worse condition.

On top of the televised scenes of well-armed Hamas fighters parading in broad daylight, and warnings from the former US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, that the group has recruited as many soldiers as it’s lost during the war, not all Israelis believe the ceasefire can – or even should – hold.

It’s too early to say whether this carefully negotiated, staged process is about to collapse – as many have predicted it will – but after a mostly positive start, it’s under increasing strain.

Donald Trump is expected to face fierce resistance from Jordan’s King Abdullah at the White House today, in their first meeting since the US president proposed moving Gaza’s population to Jordan.

Jordan, a key US ally, has been treading a tightrope between its military and diplomatic ties, and popular support for the Palestinians at home.

Those fault lines, already tested by the Gaza War, are being pushed to breaking point by Trump’s plans for Gaza’s peace.

He has expanded on his demand that Gazans be moved to Jordan and Egypt, telling a Fox News anchor that they would not have the right to return home – a vision that, if enforced, would contravene international law.

On Monday he said he might withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if they did not take in Palestinian refugees.

• Live updates: Trump to host Jordan’s king after issuing aid threat

Some of the fiercest opponents of moving Gazans to Jordan are the Gazans who moved here before.

Some 45,000 people live crammed into the Gaza Camp, near Jordan’s northern town of Jerash, one of several Palestinian refugee camps here.

Sheets of corrugated iron hang over narrow shop doorways, and children rattle along on donkeys between the market stalls.

All the families here trace their roots back to Gaza: to Jabalia, Rafah, Beit Hanoun. Most left after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, seeking temporary shelter. Generations later, they are still here.

“Donald Trump is an arrogant narcissist,” 60-year-old Maher Azazi tells me. “He has a mentality from the Middle Ages, the mentality of a tradesman.”

Maher left Jabalia as a toddler. Some of his family are still there, now picking through the rubble of their home for the bodies of 18 missing relatives.

Despite the devastation there, Mr Azazi says Gazans today have learned the lessons of previous generations and most “would rather jump into the sea than leave”.

Those who once saw leaving as a temporary bid for refuge, now see it as helping Israel’s far-right nationalists take Palestinian land.

“We Gazans have been through this before,” says Yousef, who was born in the camp. “Back then, they told us it would be temporary, and we would return to our home. The right to return is a red line.”

“When our ancestors left, they had no weapons to fight, like Hamas has now,” another man tells me. “Now the younger generation are fully aware of what happened with our ancestors, and it will never happen again. Now there is resistance.”

Palestinians are not the only ones to seek refuge in Jordan – a tiny superpower of stability surrounded by the Middle East’s many conflicts.

Iraqis arrived here, fleeing war in the early 2000s. A decade later, Syrians came too, prompting Jordan’s king to warn that his country was at “boiling point”.

Many native Jordanians blame the waves of refugees for high unemployment and poverty at home. A food bank by the mosque in central Amman told us it hands out 1,000 meals a day.

Waiting for work outside the mosque, we met Imad Abdallah and his friend Hassan – both day labourers who have not worked in months.

“The situation in Jordan used to be great, but when there was the war in Iraq, things got worse, when there was the war in Syria, it got worse, now there’s a war in Gaza, it’s got a lot worse,” Hassan said. “Any war that happens near us, we become worse off, because we’re a country that helps and takes people in.”

Imad was blunter, worried about feeding his four children.

“The foreigners come, and take our jobs,” he told me. “Now I’m four months without a job. I have no money, no food. If Gazans come, we will die.”

But Jordan is also under pressure from its key military ally. Trump has already suspended to it US aid worth more than $1.5 billion a year. And many here are braced for a growing confrontation between the new US president and their own political leaders, who are pushing back.

• Jeremy Bowen: Trump’s Gaza plan won’t happen, but will have consequences
• BBC Verify: Can Trump really take ownership of Gaza?
• How 15 months of war have drastically changed life in the territory
• What we know about the Gaza ceasefire deal
• Israel and the Palestinians: History of the conflict explained

Jawad Anani, a former deputy prime minister close to the Jordanian government, says King Abdullah’s message to Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday will be clear: “We consider any attempt by Israel or others to push people out of their own houses in Gaza and the West Bank as a criminal act. But any attempt to push those people into Jordan will be tantamount to a declaration of war.”

Even if Gazans wanted to relocate voluntarily, on a temporary basis, as part of a wider Middle East plan, he said, the trust simply was not there.

“There is no confidence,” he said. “As long as Netanyahu is involved, he and his government, there is no confidence in any promises that anybody makes. Period.”

Trump’s determination to push his vision for Gaza could end up pushing a key US ally into a critical choice.

Last Friday, thousands protested here against Trump’s proposal.

Jordan is home to US military bases, and millions of refugees, and its security co-operation is crucial for Israel, worried about smuggling routes into the occupied West Bank.

Any risks to Jordan’s stability mean risks for its allies too. If stability is Jordan’s superpower, the threat of unrest is its biggest weapon and its best defence.

Canada will give a “firm and clear” response to the latest trade barriers planned by US President Donald Trump, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trump says he will levy a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium products entering the US from 12 March, meaning both sides have a month to negotiate. Canada is the top exporter of both metals to the US.

Since returning to office last month, Trump has announced a wide range of these tariffs to try to protect US jobs and industries. Economists say they are likely to raise prices for ordinary Americans.

The new tariffs were “entirely unjustified”, Trudeau said, as Canada found itself in a second trade standoff with Washington in a matter of weeks.

Canada was “the US’s closest ally”, he added.

A range of metal-exporting countries are scrambling to make a deal in response to the tariff on steel and aluminium vowed by Trump.

The US imports six million tonnes of Canadian steel products and more than three million tonnes of aluminium products per year – more than from any other country.

Canadian metal exports were making North America as a whole “more competitive and secure”, Canadian Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne argued on Monday.

• Trump says no exemptions with metal tariffs to start in March
• Will countries scramble to cut deals after Trump tariff threat?
• Booze, oil and orange juice: How Canada could fight Trump tariffs
• Do Trump’s tariffs mean the end of the post-war free trade world?

Canadian provincial leaders, too, have condemned Trump’s plan. Quebec’s François Legault said his province alone sent millions of tonnes of aluminium to the US per year – asking whether Trump would prefer to source the metal from his rival, China.

Federal official opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre, said he would issue matching tariffs targeting the US, if elected as Canadian prime minister.

The head of the Canadian Steel Producers Association warned that a range of sectors could be hit, saying similar measures by Trump during his first term had damaged industry in both countries.

“We have steel that they need and they have steel that we need… we need each other,” Catherine Cobden told CBC.

Tariffs are taxes charged on goods imported from other countries. Companies that import goods from abroad pay the tariffs to the US government.

Economists warn that they are likely to raise prices for US consumers, for example if sellers choose to raise prices after paying higher duties on imported goods.

US businesses dependent on imports have also raised concerns, but Trump says his plans will boost domestic production. On Monday, he said his plan was “a big deal, the beginning of making America rich again”.

The taxes themselves – which Trump also used during his first term in the White House – are key to the returning president’s economic vision. He is also seeking to address a trade deficit, which means that the US imports more than it exports.

Trump’s allies also say he sees such measures as an essential negotiating tool when he wants another country to do something for him.

Since returning to the White House last month, Trump has already been in one trade standoff with Canada and America’s other neighbour, Mexico.

But he agreed on 4 February to delay for 30 days his threat of 25% tariffs on all goods arriving from both countries. The postponement came after his two neighbours vowed action to tackle illegal migration and the flow of drugs to the US.

Both countries delayed their own retaliatory measures at the same time.

Canada and Mexico are some of Trump’s top trade partners, along with China – which Trump has targeted with a 10% tariff on all goods entering the US. That tax has already come into force, and China has hit back with measures against US goods.

In addition to his other, delayed plan to target Canada and Mexico with specific tariffs, Trump has also hinted he could levy taxes on goods imported from the European Union “pretty soon”.

Asked in recent days about the threat of retaliation from his trade partners, Trump said: “I don’t mind.”

• Faisal Islam: The tariff wars have begun – buckle up
• Trump tariffs ‘made something snap in us’: Canadians speak of rift with US

Chelsea striker Sam Kerr has been found not guilty of causing racially aggravated harassment, after calling a Metropolitan Police officer “stupid and white”.

A jury at Kingston Crown Court cleared her in relation to an incident in Twickenham, south-west London, on 30 January 2023.

Ms Kerr, 31, said she was “antagonised” by officers after she was taken to a police station by a taxi driver following a dispute.

The Australian international, who made the comments to PC Stephen Lovell, did not deny using the words “stupid and white” but denied it amounted to a racial offence.

Ms Kerr gave a thumbs-up to her legal team before leaving the courtroom with her fiancée Kristie Mewis.

Ms Kerr and Ms Mewis had been out drinking when they were driven to Twickenham Police Station by a taxi driver who complained that they had refused to pay clean-up costs after one of them was sick and that one of them had smashed the vehicle’s rear window.

Judge Peter Lodder KC said: “I take the view her own behaviour contributed significantly to the bringing of this allegation.

“I don’t go behind the jury’s verdict but that has a significant bearing on the question of costs.”

During the trial, Ms Kerr said she regretted the way she expressed herself but added: “I feel the message was still relevant”.

She denied using whiteness as an insult and claimed: “I believed it was him using his power and privilege over me because he was accusing me of being something I’m not.

“I was trying to express that due to the power and privilege they had, they would never have to understand what we had just gone through and the fear we were having for our lives.”

It can now be reported that Ms Kerr’s legal team attempted to get the case thrown out at a preliminary hearing, arguing there had been an abuse of process by crown prosecutors.

Ms Kerr’s lawyer Grace Forbes said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had violated its own guidance, adding that a “loophole” in the victims’ right of review scheme was used to justify prosecution proceedings a year after the alleged offence.

During the trial, it was put to PC Lovell that he only provided a statement alleging that Ms Kerr’s comments had caused “alarm or harassment” after that decision.

In his first statement to the CPS, the officer made no mention of the “stupid and white” comment having an impact on him, the jury was told.

A second statement from PC Lovell was provided in December 2023, mentioning the alleged impact.

He read a section of the statement to the court, which said the comments made him “shocked, upset, and (left) me feeling humiliated”.

The charge was authorised later in December 2023, almost a year after the incident.

When a prominent Saudi trans woman posted her suicide note on X, her friends and followers were devastated. The note, viewed by millions, said a lawyer in the US – where she had been trying to claim asylum – had persuaded her into returning home to a family and country that would not accept her identity.

The BBC World Service has identified this man as Bader Alomair, who has worked at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington DC, evidence suggests. He is linked to controversial returns from the United States of several other Saudi students – including two later accused of committing murder during their time at university.

Mr Alomair has not responded to the allegations raised in our investigation.

Eden Knight was from one of the Middle Eastern kingdom’s most respected families. After moving to Virginia in 2019 on a Saudi government scholarship to study at George Mason University, Eden made the decision in early 2022 to transition from presenting as a man to presenting as a woman, by wearing feminine clothes and taking female sex hormones.

Eden found a community on X and Discord where she felt accepted and started to grow a following online. In one post, she shared a picture of her Saudi ID photo next to her new feminine look and the post went viral.

Being transgender in Saudi Arabia is not tolerated by society or government – we have spoken to several transgender Saudis, now living outside the kingdom, who told us about the harassment, and in some cases violence, they had experienced.

Returning to Saudi Arabia could therefore have been difficult for Eden. We understand her student visa expired at around the time of her viral tweet so she decided to seek asylum in the US to stay there permanently.

Eden said she was messaged by an old friend who put her in contact with an American private investigator, Michael Pocalyko. He offered to help with her asylum claim, and mend the relationship with her family – according to another friend, Hayden, who Eden was living with in Georgia at the time.

Other friends have shared messages with us from Eden, which say Mr Pocalyko told her she needed to move from Georgia to Washington DC to lodge her claim.

According to the final message she posted on X, in late October 2022, the private investigator met Eden off the train in the US capital. He was accompanied by a Saudi lawyer named Bader, she wrote.

“I genuinely was optimistic and believed this could work,” Eden said in her final post. She said Bader put her up in a nice apartment near Washington DC and took her sightseeing.

But over time it seems she began to question his motives. Eden wrote to friends, in messages shared with the BBC, that Bader was “detransitioning” her. She told them that Bader tried to throw out all of her feminine clothing and told her to stop hormone therapy.

Eden also told friends that Bader advised her she could not apply for asylum in the US and that she must return to Saudi Arabia to do this. A US immigration expert said such advice would be incorrect.

In December 2022, Eden messaged friends to say: “I am going [back to Saudi] with a lawyer and wishing for the best.” Her suicide note on X makes clear that the lawyer in question was someone called “Bader”.

It was not long before Eden was telling friends that returning was a mistake.

She messaged them to say her parents had taken her passport and the government had instructed her to close her X account. Eden told friends she had evidence her parents had hired people to get her back to Saudi Arabia, though she never shared that evidence.

“The lawyer that was helping me with asylum was working with my parents behind my back,” she told one of them.

Over the next few months, Eden’s friends say, she lost any hope of escaping Saudi Arabia.

She worked in a junior position at a tech company and in public assumed her original male identity. Eden messaged a friend to say she was trying to continue taking female hormones, but that her parents repeatedly confiscated them. Eden told friends that she suffered constant verbal abuse, and sent them a video – which we have seen – that she secretly recorded of a family member shouting that she had been brainwashed by Western ideas.

Eden took her own life on 12 March 2023.

We wanted to find “Bader” – the lawyer who Eden accused of detransitioning her and persuading her home, to ask him more about the events running up to her death.

We searched for lawyers of that name in the DC area, and one came up: Bader Alomair. There was limited information about him online, but an outdated directory for professionals working in Riyadh gave his full name in Arabic – which in turn led us to an inactive Facebook account showing a photo of him at Harvard Law School.

In texts Eden sent to friends, she mentioned her lawyer had been Harvard-educated.

Then, a source shared a crucial photo – taken by Eden from the apartment Mr Alomair had installed her in. We were able to geolocate it to a residential block on the outskirts of Washington DC.

One person there told us he had known Eden and had seen her with Mr Alomair.

He said Eden owned feminine clothing, jewellery and make-up, but would have to hide it when Mr Alomair came over. He made her cut her hair and told her not to shave, the witness said.

We repeatedly tried to contact Mr Alomair, but he did not respond. When we visited the address listed on his DC Bar registration, we saw a man matching photos of him get into an SUV and drive away.

We followed, noting the car’s unusual number plate – its code indicated the car was issued by the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington DC, and that the vehicle’s owner was embassy staff.

Mr Alomair’s role in the embassy was to support Saudi students in the US – a lawyer who previously worked with him told us.

We discovered news articles highlighting instances of Mr Alomair helping those left homeless by a hurricane in Florida, for example. But we also discovered his assistance had extended to more controversial situations.

On 13 October 2018, two Saudi students were questioned by US police over the death of an aspiring rapper in North Carolina – stabbed, reportedly after an altercation with the pair.

Some two months later, Abdullah Hariri and Sultan Alsuhaymi were charged with murder, but by then had left the US.

Just four days after the stabbing, Mr Hariri was on a flight back to Saudi Arabia, an email shared with us suggests. It includes details of the flights home which our source told us Mr Alomair organised for both Mr Hariri and Mr Alsuhaymi.

Neither student has ever commented publicly on the case.

Mr Alomair was sent an invoice for the flights a month later, another email shows, which our source says he would have needed to get reimbursement from the Saudi embassy.

Another source says he has worked with him to represent dozens of other Saudi students in the US against charges ranging from speeding to drink-driving.

“Bader would come to the meetings with an Arabic form headed by the Saudi embassy for students to sign [which] promised to pay back legal fees to the Saudi government once they returned home.”

The source told us the students would appear at their first hearing but vanish before any subsequent hearings, though we do not know if Mr Alomair had any role in this.

In 2019, the FBI warned that Saudi officials likely facilitated the escape of Saudi citizens from US legal proceedings.

“The FBI assesses that Kingdom of Saudi Arabia officials almost certainly assist US-based Saudi citizens to avoid legal issues, undermining the US judicial process. This assessment is made with high confidence.”

Sources have told us Mr Alomair continues to live and work in the US. He owns multiple commercial properties around Washington DC and in August 2024 appears to have set up a new law firm in Virginia, where he is a named partner.

Michael Pocalyko, Bader Alomair and the Saudi embassy in Washington DC did not respond to our questions.

We contacted Eden’s family to ask if they wanted to take part in this story but they did not respond.

BBC 100 Women names 100 inspiring and influential women around the world every year. Follow BBC 100 Women on Instagram and Facebook. Join the conversation using #BBC100Women.

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order ending a US government effort to replace plastic straws with paper.

The order, which takes effect immediately, reverses a measure signed by former President Joe Biden, who had called plastic pollution a “crisis”.

Last week, Trump – who sold branded plastic straws during his 2020 election campaign – said paper straws “don’t work” and “disgustingly” dissolve in the mouths of consumers.

In 2024, Biden ordered a gradual end to US government purchases of plastic straws, as well as plastic cutlery and packaging.

Trump’s directive orders government agencies to stop buying paper straws and calls for a strategy to eliminate them nationwide.

“We’re going back to plastic straws,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday.

“These things don’t work, I’ve had them many times, and on occasion, they break, they explode. If something’s hot, they don’t last very long, like a matter of minutes, sometimes a matter of seconds. It’s a ridiculous situation,” Trump said.

• Trump straws: How the US president is using straws to beat liberals with

As part of a wider effort to target plastic pollution, the Biden administration last year announced that it would gradually phase out single-use plastics from food packaging, operations and events by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035.

Trump has been a long-standing critic of paper straws.

During his campaign to be re-elected president in 2020, which he ultimately lost, “Trump” branded plastic straws were sold – at $15 for a pack of 10 – as a replacement for what he called “liberal” paper straws.

In total, the campaign reported nearly $500,000 from straw sales in the first few weeks alone.

Some statistics place the number of disposable drinking straws used in the US at 500 million a day – although that figure is hotly disputed and the true total could be about half that.

A number of US cities and states – including Seattle, Washington; California; Oregon; and New Jersey – have adopted rules that limit the use of plastic straws or require that businesses provide them only after being asked by customers.

UN Environment Program statistics show that 460 million metric tonnes of plastic are produced every year, contributing to waste in the ocean and microplastics which can affect human health.

Some studies have shown that paper straws, however, contain significant amounts of “forever chemicals” such as polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

PFAS can stay in the environment for decades, contaminate water supplies and cause a variety of health issues.

A teacher has fatally stabbed an eight-year-old girl at an elementary school in South Korea, in an incident that has shocked the nation.

The female teacher, who is in her 40s, confessed to stabbing the student in the central city of Daejeon, police said.

The girl was found with stab wounds on the second floor of a school building at 18:00 local time (09:00 GMT) on Monday and was pronounced dead at hospital. The teacher was found beside her with stab wounds that police said may have been self-inflicted.

South Korea’s acting president Choi Sang-mok ordered an investigation into the case on Tuesday and urged authorities to “implement necessary measures to ensure such incidents never happen again”.

Some locals laid flowers and a stuffed doll at the gate of the school, which was closed on Tuesday.

In a police briefing, Yook Jong-myung, head of the Dajeon Western Police Station, said the teacher was currently recovering in hospital, adding that she had a wound on her neck that had been stitched.

The Daejeon education office earlier said the teacher had requested a six-month leave of absence citing depression on 9 December, but had returned to school just 20 days later after a doctor assessed her as being fit to work.

During her time off she had suicidal thoughts, Mr Yook said, citing testimony the teacher had provided to police.

Days before the stabbing, the teacher had displayed violent behaviour, including putting another teacher in a headlock, the education office said.

Two officials from the education office had visited the school on Monday – the morning of the stabbing – to investigate that earlier altercation.

After the attack on the co-worker, the education office recommended that the teacher be put on leave and be separated physically from the other teacher.

She was made to sit beside the vice principal’s desk so that she could be kept under close watch.

She had also not been teaching any classes since her leave in December, and did not have any contact with the eight-year-old student, the official said.

According to the testimony given by the teacher to police, she was “annoyed” that she had not been able to return to teaching a class.

She told them she had purchased a weapon on the day of the attack and brought it to school – adding that she had planned to kill herself along with a child.

The testimony went on to say that the teacher did not care which child it was, and targeted the last to leave. She managed to “lure the child into the media room” before attacking them, it said.

The student was reported missing on Monday evening, after a bus driver informed the school that she had not arrived to be picked up that day.

South Korea is a generally safe country with strict gun control laws. But in recent years, it has grappled with several high-profile crimes, including stabbings.

“It pains me to see such incidents because a school should be our safest space,” said acting President Choi. “I offer my deep condolences to the victim’s family who suffered great shock and agony.”

The UK and US have not signed an international agreement on artificial intelligence (AI) at a global summit in Paris.

The statement, signed by France, China and India among other countries, pledges an “open”, “inclusive” and “ethical” approach to the technology’s development.

Downing Street said the UK “hadn’t been able to agree all parts of the leaders’ declaration” and would “only ever sign up to initiatives that are in UK national interests” – but has not spelt out which parts of the communique the UK objected to.

Earlier, US Vice President JD Vance told delegates in Paris that too much regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) could “kill a transformative industry just as it’s taking off”.

Vance told world leaders that AI was “an opportunity that the Trump administration will not squander” and said “pro-growth AI policies” should be prioritised over safety.

He said that this would require regulation which fosters AI development “rather than strangles it”.

Vance added that leaders in Europe should especially “look to this new frontier with optimism, rather than trepidation”.

His comments appear to put him at odds with French President Emmanuel Macron, who defended the need for further regulation.

“We need these rules for AI to move forward,” Macron said at the summit.

The UK has previously been a champion of the idea of AI safety, with then prime minister Rishi Sunak holding the world’s first AI Safety Summit in November 2023.

Andrew Dudfield, head of AI at fact-checking organisation Full Fact, said the government’s decision not to sign the Paris communique put that in jeopardy.

“By refusing to sign today’s international AI Action Statement the UK Government risks undercutting its hard-won credibility as a world leader for safe, ethical and trustworthy AI innovation,” he said.

The statement signed by 60 countries sets an ambition to reduce digital divides by promoting AI accessibility, and ensuring the tech’s development is “transparent”, “safe” as well as “secure and trustworthy”.

“Making AI sustainable for people and the planet,” is listed as a further priority.

The agreement also notes that AI energy use – which experts have warned could rise to use as much as small countries in years to come – was discussed at a summit for the first time.

“Looking at the summit declaration, it’s difficult to pinpoint what exactly in that statement the government disagrees with,” said Michael Birtwistle, associate director at the Ada Lovelace Institute.

Addressing the UK’s decision not to sign it, the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson told reporters that “these discussions are pretty live” and noted that the UK has “worked closely with the French throughout this process”.

“They remain one of our closest partners in all areas of AI,” they said.

It comes amid discussions at the summit about the impact of AI development on society, the environment and governance.

Policy-makers, executives and diplomats have been mulling ways to capture the economic benefits of AI innovation, while addressing the technology’s risks.

It was kicked off by Macron posting a compilation of jokey deepfake clips of himself in popular films and TV series on social media.

“This summit is focused on action, and that is exactly what we need right now,” said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday.

She said Europe’s approach to AI, which has been championed throughout the summit, would also emphasise innovation, collaboration and “embrace the power of open source” technology.

The meeting is also taking place at a time of growing trade tensions between the US and Europe.

President Tump has decided to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports into the US, a move that will affect the UK and EU.

It’s understood the UK will not immediately retaliate, as it seeks to tread a delicate path of maintaining good relations with the Trump administration while also building closer ties with the EU.

Luis Rubiales has told a court that Spanish footballer Jenni Hermoso gave her consent before he kissed her at the Women’s World Cup final in 2023.

The former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) is on trial accused of sexual assault and attempting to coerce Ms Hermoso into publicly saying the kiss had been consensual.

Giving evidence, Mr Rubiales, 47, said he was “absolutely sure” the player gave permission for the kiss, adding: “In that moment it was something completely spontaneous.”

The incident occurred during the medal-giving ceremony after Spain’s World Cup win in Australia, triggering protests and calls for Mr Rubiales’s resignation. He denies any criminal wrongdoing.

Mr Rubiales described the kiss as “an act of affection” to Spain’s National Court in Madrid on Tuesday.

“Jenni embraced me,” he said.

“I’ve known her for many years and I kissed her because she was a champion. This was a tremendous moment for her. We were champions, we were thanking each other.

“She pressed me very hard by the waist and then I asked her whether I could give her a kiss and she said yes.”

He added: “I took hold of her so as not to fall back.”

Mr Rubiales was questioned in court over whether he asked Ms Hermoso for a kiss or a “little kiss”.

“I can’t remember exactly,” he replied. “But I think it was a little kiss.”

He was also asked if he was aware of the protocol against sexual harassment and sexual violence, to which he replied he was aware of it.

Ms Hermoso has previously told the court she had never given permission to be kissed and the incident had “stained one of the happiest days of my life”.

The Spain forward said: “My boss was kissing me, and this shouldn’t happen in any social or work setting.”

She added: “A kiss on the lips is only given when I decide so.”

Ms Hermoso said she was pulled aside soon after the kiss and asked to consent to a statement minimising the incident, which she refused to do.

Mr Rubiales then asked her to record a video with him on the flight home because he was being accused of assault on social media, she told the court. She said she had received death threats which prompted her to move her family to Mexico, where she now plays.

An expert in lip reading told the court on Tuesday that Mr Rubiales asked Ms Hermoso “can I give you a kiss?” based on video footage where the player’s face could not be seen.

Mr Rubiales conceded he “made a mistake” on the podium and that his behaviour “was not appropriate”, saying he should have “been in a more institutional role”, but denied any offence had been committed.

He said the media attention the incident has attracted was “ridiculous”, adding that Ms Hermoso never reproached him over the kiss at any point in the immediate aftermath of the incident.

Mr Rubiales resigned in September 2023 after FIFA suspended him and Spanish prosecutors opened an investigation.

Three of his former colleagues are also on trial accused of colluding in the alleged coercion: Jorge Vilda, coach of the World Cup-winning side, Rubén Rivera, the federation’s former head of marketing, and former sporting director, Albert Luque.

All four defendants deny the charges against them.

Prosecutors are seeking a two-and-half year jail term for Rubiales. The trial, which runs until 19 February, continues.

Neha Satpute and Akshay Pise felt ready to welcome their first child.

Having worked in the US for more than a decade, the Indian couple who are engineers on H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers, expected their son – due on 26 February – to be born an American citizen.

Employed at a large tech firm with a supportive parental leave policy, they had carefully built their life in San Jose, California.

But President Donald Trump recently threw a wrench in their American dream by announcing a rule that would deny automatic US citizenship to children born to temporary foreign workers. Until now, birthright citizenship had been a given regardless of parents’ immigration status.

Two federal judges have blocked the order, which means the ruling cannot take effect until the cases are resolved in court, although there remains a possibility of a higher court overturning any decision.

The looming uncertainty, along with the multiple lawsuits and legal challenges, have left Akshay, Neha and thousands of others in limbo.

“This impacts us directly,” says Akshay. “If the order takes effect, we don’t know what comes next – it’s uncharted territory.” Their biggest question: What nationality will their child have?

Their concern is valid, says New York-based immigration attorney Cyrus Mehta: “US law has no provision for granting non-immigrant status to a person born here.”

With their baby’s due date fast approaching, they consulted their doctor about an early delivery. The advice? If all goes well, they could induce labour in the 40th week, but they’ve chosen to wait.

“I want the natural process to take its course,” says Neha. Akshay adds: “My priority is a safe delivery and my wife’s health. Citizenship comes second.”

Dr Satheesh Kathula, president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), reached out to obstetricians of Indian origin in the US after media reports of families seeking early C-sections. Except for “a few instances in New Jersey”, most doctors reported no such inquiries.

“In a country with strict medical laws, I strongly advise against preterm C-sections just for citizenship,” said the Ohio-based doctor. “Our physicians are ethical and won’t perform them unless medically necessary.”

US citizenship is highly coveted, especially by skilled H-1B visa holders. Indians are the second-largest immigrant group in the US.

Immigration policy analyst Sneha Puri warns that a birthright citizenship order would hit Indians hard – more than five million Indians in the US hold non-immigrant visas.

“If enforced, none of their future US-born children would get citizenship,” she told the BBC.

South Asian parents-to-be are flooding online groups with concerns about the order’s impact and next steps.

Trump’s executive order says it does not affect the ability of the children of lawful permanent residents to obtain documentation of US citizenship.

But Indians in the US face the longest wait of any foreign nationality to receive a green card conferring lawful permanent residency.

Current US rules mean that the number of green cards given to people of any one country cannot exceed 7% of the total number of green cards awarded.

Indians receive 72% of H-1B visas annually. According to the Cato Institute, Indians made up 62% of the employment-based backlog of people waiting for green cards – that’s 1.1 million – in 2023. Indians receiving employment-based green cards today applied back in 2012.

In his report, Cato’s director of immigration studies David Bier warns: “New Indian applicants face a lifetime wait, with 400,000 likely to die before getting a green card.”

In contrast, most other immigrants get permanent residency within a year, speeding their path to citizenship.

If implemented, Trump’s executive order would also affect undocumented migrants in the US, whose US-born children had previously automatically gained citizenship – and who could then go on to sponsor their parents to apply for a green card when they turn 21.

Pew Research estimates 725,000 undocumented Indian immigrants in the US as of 2022, making them the third-largest group. In contrast, the Migration Policy Institute puts the number at 375,000, ranking India fifth. Unauthorised immigrants make up 3% of the US population and 22% of the foreign-born population.

The main concern for Indians on H-1B or O visas is their children’s quality of life.

Such visa-holders must leave the US periodically to have their visas stamped in a US embassy abroad. Those who return to India for this purpose frequently face delays in getting an appointment for this purpose.

These immigrants don’t want their US-born children to endure the same bureaucratic struggles.

Waiting in the green card queue for several years, Akshay is aware of the ease US citizenship brings.

“We have been here for more than 10 years. As I see my parents getting older, it’s very important for me to have citizenship. Travelling becomes tricky for us with coordinating visa stamping timings, and now with my baby it might be more difficult,” he said.

Many physicians in the US oppose Trump’s decree, highlighting the role foreign skilled workers play in providing vital services.

Dr Kathula says Indian doctors in rural areas such as North and South Dakota are crucial. “Without them, healthcare would collapse. Now, they’re in limbo about starting families,” he said.

He is calling for the process of getting a green card to be sped up and for these workers’ children to be granted birthright citizenship because of their parents’ contributions to America.

Trump’s order has also heightened anxiety among Indians on student and work visas, already aware of their precarious legal status. The one guarantee – their US-born children’s citizenship – is now in doubt.

San Jose resident Priyanshi Jajoo, expecting a baby in April, is searching for clarity on potential changes. “Do we need to contact the Indian consulate for a passport? Which visa applies? There’s no information online,” she said.

Counting the days until her son’s arrival, Neha said the uncertainty was an additional source of anxiety.

“Pregnancy is stressful enough, but we thought after a decade here it would get easier – then this happens on top of everything,” she said.

Her husband Akshay adds, “As legal, tax-paying immigrants, our baby deserves US citizenship – it’s been the law, right?”

The Israeli military has said an elderly Israeli man was killed during Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel and that his body is being held hostage in Gaza.

Iraq-born Shlomo Mansour, 86, was abducted by gunmen at his home in Kibbutz Kissufim. His wife, Mazal, managed to escape.

The military said the decision to confirm Shlomo’s death was based on intelligence gathered in recent months and was approved by an expert committee of the ministry of health.

His name is on the Israeli government’s list of 33 hostages to be released by Hamas during the first phase of a ceasefire deal that is coming under growing strain.

So far, 16 living Israeli hostages have been freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails since 19 January. Hamas has also handed over five Thai hostages.

The remaining 17 Israeli hostages – two children, one woman, five men over the age of 50, and nine men under 50 – are supposed to be released over the next three weeks. Both sides have said eight of those hostages are dead but not named them.

On Monday, Hamas warned that it would postpone the scheduled release of the next group of three this weekend unless US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators addressed what it said were Israeli violations of the deal, including delays in allowing in shelters and medical supplies.

The threat prompted US President Donald Trump to propose that Israel cancel the deal and “let hell break out” if Hamas did not release all the hostages by midday on Saturday.

Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said Hamas’s move was a complete violation of the ceasefire agreement and told the Israeli military to prepare for any possible scenario in Gaza.

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Shlomo Mansour was born in Baghdad and as a child survived the Farhud pogrom against the Iraqi capital’s Jewish community in 1941.

He emigrated to Israel with his family at the age of 13 and went on to help found Kibbutz Kissufim, where he worked in the chicken coop and eyewear factory.

On 7 October 2023, hundreds of Hamas-led gunmen stormed the Israel’s Gaza perimeter fence and attacked many nearby Israeli communities, including Kissufim. They killed about 1,200 people were killed and took 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.

Shlomo and Mazal – who had five children and 12 grandchildren – fled to their home’s safe room that day, but a group of gunmen fired at the door and were able to break it open. Mazal hid in the bathroom, but they found Shlomo, handcuffed him, and took him out of the house.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had informed the Mansour family that he was then murdered by the gunmen and that they took his body back to Gaza as a hostage.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and his wife, Sara, sent their heartfelt condolences to the family following the “bitter news”.

“We will neither rest nor be silent until he is returned for burial in Israel,” he added.

“We will continue to take determined and relentless action until we return all of our hostages – the living and the deceased.”

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents some of the hostages’ relatives, said: “We share in the profound grief of the Mansour family.”

On Monday, in response to Hamas’s threat to postpone the next hostage release, the forum called on mediators to help restore and implement the ceasefire deal effectively so that the remaining 76 hostages are brought home.

“Recent evidence from those released, as well as the shocking conditions of the hostages released last Saturday, leaves no room for doubt – time is of the essence, and all hostages must be urgently rescued from this horrific situation,” it warned.

The Israeli government was furious at the emaciated state of Eli Sharabi, 52, Ohad Ben Ami, 56, and Or Levy, 34, who were paraded in front of a crowd in Deir al-Balah before being handed over to the Red Cross.

An Israeli doctor who treated Mr Sharabi and Mr Levy said they were in a “poor medical condition”, while a hospital official said Mr Ben Ami was in a “severe nutritional sate and had lost a significant amount of his body weight”.

Meanwhile, the family of another hostage, Alon Ohel, 24, said on Sunday they had received their first indication in 16 months that he was alive from Mr Levy and Mr Sharabi, who were held captive along with him.

“Since his kidnapping, Alon has been held in harsh conditions in Hamas’s underground tunnels, without daylight or access to basic human necessities,” a statement said.

“We have been informed that Alon is wounded in his eye. Additionally, he is being held in particularly severe captivity conditions, with serious food shortages.”

The Ohel family also urged the Israeli government to advance negotiations with Hamas on the ceasefire deal’s second phase, which should see the remaining living hostages released, a permanent ceasefire, and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

More than 48,200 people have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the 7 October attack, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

A TikTok executive has said data being sought by a group of parents who believe their children died while attempting a trend they saw on the platform may have been removed.

They are suing TikTok and its parent company Bytedance over the deaths of Isaac Kenevan, Archie Battersbee, Julian “Jools” Sweeney and Maia Walsh – all aged between 12 and 14.

The lawsuit claims the children died trying the “blackout challenge”, in which a person intentionally deprives themselves of oxygen.

Giles Derrington, senior government relations manager at TikTok, told BBC Radio 5 Live there were some things “we simply don’t have” because of “legal requirements around when we remove data”.

Speaking on Safer Internet Day, a global initiative to raise awareness about online harms, Mr Derrington said TikTok had been in contact with some of the parents, adding that they “have been through something unfathomably tragic”.

In an interview on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the families accused the tech firm of having “no compassion”.

Ellen Roome, mother of 14-year-old Jools, said she had been trying to obtain data from TikTok that she thinks could provide clarity on his death. She is campaigning for legislation to grant parents access to their child’s social media accounts if they die.

“We want TikTok to be forthcoming, to help us – why hold back on giving us the data?” Lisa Kenevan, mother of 13-year-old Isaac, told the programme. “How can they sleep at night?”

Asked why TikTok had not given the data the parents had been asking for, Mr Derrington said:

“This is really complicated stuff because it relates to the legal requirements around when we remove data and we have, under data protection laws, requirements to remove data quite quickly. That impacts on what we can do.

“We always want to do everything we can to give anyone answers on these kinds of issues but there are some things which simply we don’t have,” he added.

Asked if this meant TikTok no longer had a record of the children’s accounts or the content of their accounts, Mr Derrington said: “These are complex situations where requirements to remove data can impact on what is available.

“Everyone expects that when we are required by law to delete some data, we will have deleted it.

“So this is a more complicated situation than us just having something we’re not giving access to.

“Obviously it’s really important that case plays out as it should and that people get as many answers as are available.”

The lawsuit – which is being brought on behalf of the parents in the US by the Social Media Victims Law Center – alleges TikTok broke its own rules on what can be shown on the platform.

It claims their children died participating in a trend that circulated widely on TikTok in 2022, despite the site having rules around not showing or promoting dangerous content that could cause significant physical harm.

While Mr Derrington would not comment on the specifics of the ongoing case, he said of the parents: “I have young kids myself and I can only imagine how much they want to get answers and want to understand what’s happened.

“We’ve had conversations with some of those parents already to try and help them in that.”

He said the so-called “blackout challenge” predated TikTok, adding: “We have never found any evidence that the blackout challenge has been trending on the platform.

“Indeed since 2020 [we] have completely banned even being able to search for the words ‘blackout challenge’ or variants of it, to try and make sure that no-one is coming across that kind of content.

“We don’t want anything like that on the platform and we know users don’t want it either.”

Mr Derrington noted TikTok has committed more than $2bn (£1.6bn) on moderating content uploaded to the platform this year, and has tens of thousands of human moderators around the world.

He also said the firm has launched an online safety hub, which provides information on how to stay safe as a user, which he said also facilitated conversations between parents and their teens.

Mr Derrington continued: “This is a really, really tragic situation but we are trying to make sure that we are constantly doing everything we can to make sure that people are safe on TikTok.”

Four major artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots are inaccurately summarising news stories, according to research carried out by the BBC.

The BBC gave OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot, Google’s Gemini and Perplexity AI content from the BBC website then asked them questions about the news.

It said the resulting answers contained “significant inaccuracies” and distortions.

In a blog, Deborah Turness, the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, said AI brought “endless opportunities” but the companies developing the tools were “playing with fire”.

“We live in troubled times, and how long will it be before an AI-distorted headline causes significant real world harm?”, she asked.

The tech companies which own the chatbots have been approached for comment.

In the study, the BBC asked ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and Perplexity to summarise 100 news stories and rated each answer.

It got journalists who were relevant experts in the subject of the article to rate the quality of answers from the AI assistants.

It found 51% of all AI answers to questions about the news were judged to have significant issues of some form.

Additionally, 19% of AI answers which cited BBC content introduced factual errors, such as incorrect factual statements, numbers and dates.

In her blog, Ms Turness said the BBC was seeking to “open up a new conversation with AI tech providers” so we can “work together in partnership to find solutions”.

She called on the tech companies to “pull back” their AI news summaries, as Apple did after complaints from the BBC that Apple Intelligence was misrepresenting news stories.

Some examples of inaccuracies found by the BBC included:

• Gemini incorrectly said the NHS did not recommend vaping as an aid to quit smoking
• ChatGPT and Copilot said Rishi Sunak and Nicola Sturgeon were still in office even after they had left
• Perplexity misquoted BBC News in a story about the Middle East, saying Iran initially showed “restraint” and described Israel’s actions as “aggressive”

In general, Microsoft’s Copilot and Google’s Gemini had more significant issues than OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Perplexity, which counts Jeff Bezos as one of its investors.

Normally, the BBC blocks its content from AI chatbots, but it opened its website up for the duration of the tests in December 2024.

The report said that as well as containing factual inaccuracies, the chatbots “struggled to differentiate between opinion and fact, editorialised, and often failed to include essential context”.

The BBC’s Programme Director for Generative AI, Pete Archer, said publishers “should have control over whether and how their content is used and AI companies should show how assistants process news along with the scale and scope of errors and inaccuracies they produce”.

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order ending a US government effort to replace plastic straws with paper.

The order, which takes effect immediately, reverses a measure signed by former President Joe Biden, who had called plastic pollution a “crisis”.

Last week, Trump – who sold branded plastic straws during his 2020 election campaign – said paper straws “don’t work” and “disgustingly” dissolve in the mouths of consumers.

In 2024, Biden ordered a gradual end to US government purchases of plastic straws, as well as plastic cutlery and packaging.

Trump’s directive orders government agencies to stop buying paper straws and calls for a strategy to eliminate them nationwide.

“We’re going back to plastic straws,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday.

“These things don’t work, I’ve had them many times, and on occasion, they break, they explode. If something’s hot, they don’t last very long, like a matter of minutes, sometimes a matter of seconds. It’s a ridiculous situation,” Trump said.

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As part of a wider effort to target plastic pollution, the Biden administration last year announced that it would gradually phase out single-use plastics from food packaging, operations and events by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035.

Trump has been a long-standing critic of paper straws.

During his campaign to be re-elected president in 2020, which he ultimately lost, “Trump” branded plastic straws were sold – at $15 for a pack of 10 – as a replacement for what he called “liberal” paper straws.

In total, the campaign reported nearly $500,000 from straw sales in the first few weeks alone.

Some statistics place the number of disposable drinking straws used in the US at 500 million a day – although that figure is hotly disputed and the true total could be about half that.

A number of US cities and states – including Seattle, Washington; California; Oregon; and New Jersey – have adopted rules that limit the use of plastic straws or require that businesses provide them only after being asked by customers.

UN Environment Program statistics show that 460 million metric tonnes of plastic are produced every year, contributing to waste in the ocean and microplastics which can affect human health.

Some studies have shown that paper straws, however, contain significant amounts of “forever chemicals” such as polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

PFAS can stay in the environment for decades, contaminate water supplies and cause a variety of health issues.

Oil giant BP has said it will “fundamentally reset” its strategy as profits dropped sharply last year.

It is widely expected to say later this month that it will scale back renewable projects and increase oil and gas production following similar moves from rivals including Shell and Equinor.

BP’s net income fell to $8.9bn (£7.2bn) in 2024, down from $13.8bn the previous year.

It said lower oil and gas prices, plus lower profits from its refineries, had dented how much money it had made.

Five years ago BP set a target of 50GW of renewables generation capacity by 2030.

That is expected to be abandoned on 26 February in a major change of strategy.

BP has already been scaling back on renewables.

In December it put the majority of its offshore wind assets into a joint venture with Japanese company Jera to separate them from the company’s core fossil fuel business.

It is expected to cut its previous $10bn commitment in renewables until 2030 by up to a half.

BP also froze new wind projects in June last year.

Activist shareholder Elliott Management has bought a stake in BP to push for more investment in oil and gas, with investors anticipating board changes.

AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould said the sharp drop in profit “provided plenty of fodder” for hedge fund Elliott, with BP having done “little to reassure other shareholders that the current plan is working”.

He added that “a clear and credible plan is desperately needed if BP is going to remain the master of its own destiny”.

There is a scientific consensus that there is clear link between emissions from burning fossil fuels and climate change.

But recently oil and gas firms have been making plans to ramp up production.

Nick Butler, former head of strategy at BP, said big oil firms would invest in renewables “when they can see a clear profit”.

Last week Norwegian energy giant Equinor said it would halve investment in renewable energy over the next two years while increasing oil and gas production.

Chief executive Anders Opedal said “we don’t see the necessary profitability in the future” in renewables.

He said the transition to lower carbon energy was moving more slowly than expected, costs had increased, and customers were reluctant to commit to long-term contracts.

In December, Shell stepped back from new offshore wind investments.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed support for fossil fuels.

In January he once again vowed to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement, the world’s most important effort to tackle rising temperatures.

He also said the US would “drill, baby, drill”, embarking on a new age of oil and gas exploration.

After Trump’s executive order requiring the body of water – which is bordered by the US, Cuba and Mexico – be renamed the Gulf of America, BP referred to its operations in the area accordingly. This was following guidance from the US government according to a company spokesperson.

Human rights campaign group Global Witness said BP had invested nearly £9bn in oil and gas last year, compared with £1.3bn on renewables and low carbon energy.

Lela Stanley, head of fossil fuels investigations at the group, said: “As the world battles extreme weather disasters supercharged by fossil fuels, it is wrong that polluters such as BP can double down on the oil and gas that is driving climate breakdown.”

Elena Polisano, head of Greenpeace’s climate justice campaign, said pressure was growing on governments “to see these fossil fuel billions as fair game to be directed towards extreme weather recovery funds, as is already happening in Vermont and New York”.

She added that oil majors including BP were fuelling the climate crisis, “so it’s only fair to make polluters pay”.

Jeanne Martin from ShareAction, which campaigns for responsible investment, said it was “deeply concerning” that energy companies were walking back on renewable commitments as the effects of global heating, such as flooding and heatwaves, intensify.

Doubling down on oil and gas was a “financial risk that prudent and responsible investors must respond to decisively”, it added.

The US justice department has told federal prosecutors to drop their corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

The order came from the acting deputy attorney general, appointed by President Donald Trump, who said the indictment had “restricted” the mayor’s ability to address “illegal immigration and violent crime” in the city.

Adams, a Democrat, has recently built a closer relationship with Trump, a Republican, and has told law enforcement to co-operate with the president’s immigration raids. But he denies speaking to Trump about his case.

The mayor is accused of accepting illegal campaign funds and gifts in exchange for his influence as mayor. He has pleaded not guilty to five charges.

Prosecutors have not yet commented to indicate whether they intend to drop the case as requested. Any decision to do so will need to be formally submitted to the court and approved by a judge.

“You are directed, as authorised by the attorney general, to dismiss the pending charges,” read the memo from Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.

The memo adds that the case may be reviewed again after the November 2025 mayoral election, but it says no further “investigate steps” should be taken until then.

It also tells prosecutors to “take all steps within your power to cause Mayor Adams’ security clearance to be restored”.

Bove, who worked as Trump’s defence lawyer during his criminal trial last year, wrote that the justice department “reached this conclusion without assessing the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based”.

He said the move “in no way calls into question the integrity and efforts” of the prosecutors who brought the case.

The memo followed a reported meeting between Adams’ lawyers and federal prosecutors in New York.

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Adams attended the presidential inauguration last month and also flew to Florida for a meeting with Trump.

In recent weeks, the 64-year-old mayor has directed city law enforcement to co-operate with federal immigration authorities on fresh New York City raids. Critics say this undermines local sanctuary city laws, which direct city leaders to not co-operate with authorities unless they are aiming to arrest dangerous criminals.

Before the election, Trump said he and Adams had been “persecuted” for speaking against the immigration policies of Trump’s presidential predecessor, Joe Biden.

The justice department memo says “it cannot be ignored that Mayor Adams criticized the prior administration’s immigration policies before the charges were filed”.

According to the 57-page indictment brought against the mayor in September, Adams is alleged to have accepted illegal gifts worth over $100,000 (£75,000) from Turkish citizens and at least one government official.

In exchange, Turkish officials are believed to have sought favours from the mayor, including help skirting safety regulations to open a consulate in New York, according to prosecutors.

Professor Stephen Gillers, an expert on legal ethics at New York University Law School, told NBC News that Bove’s memo ordering the case to be dropped was “a baseless and offensive slur against the former US attorney and the lawyers who worked on the Adams case”.

The mayor’s lawyer, meanwhile, said it was a victory for his client. “As I said from the outset, the mayor is innocent – and he would prevail. Today he has,” Alex Spiro said.

The justice department’s move to halt the corruption charges against Adams came on the same day that Trump told the same department to pause enforcement of a law that bars US companies from bribing foreign governments to get business.

Trump had called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) a “horrible law”. He said the move would allow American firms to compete with countries not restricted by such laws, adding: “It’s going to mean a lot more business for America.”

Chelsea striker Sam Kerr has been found not guilty of causing racially aggravated harassment, after calling a Metropolitan Police officer “stupid and white”.

A jury at Kingston Crown Court cleared her in relation to an incident in Twickenham, south-west London, on 30 January 2023.

Ms Kerr, 31, said she was “antagonised” by officers after she was taken to a police station by a taxi driver following a dispute.

The Australian international, who made the comments to PC Stephen Lovell, did not deny using the words “stupid and white” but denied it amounted to a racial offence.

Ms Kerr gave a thumbs-up to her legal team before leaving the courtroom with her fiancée Kristie Mewis.

Ms Kerr and Ms Mewis had been out drinking when they were driven to Twickenham Police Station by a taxi driver who complained that they had refused to pay clean-up costs after one of them was sick and that one of them had smashed the vehicle’s rear window.

Judge Peter Lodder KC said: “I take the view her own behaviour contributed significantly to the bringing of this allegation.

“I don’t go behind the jury’s verdict but that has a significant bearing on the question of costs.”

During the trial, Ms Kerr said she regretted the way she expressed herself but added: “I feel the message was still relevant”.

She denied using whiteness as an insult and claimed: “I believed it was him using his power and privilege over me because he was accusing me of being something I’m not.

“I was trying to express that due to the power and privilege they had, they would never have to understand what we had just gone through and the fear we were having for our lives.”

It can now be reported that Ms Kerr’s legal team attempted to get the case thrown out at a preliminary hearing, arguing there had been an abuse of process by crown prosecutors.

Ms Kerr’s lawyer Grace Forbes said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had violated its own guidance, adding that a “loophole” in the victims’ right of review scheme was used to justify prosecution proceedings a year after the alleged offence.

During the trial, it was put to PC Lovell that he only provided a statement alleging that Ms Kerr’s comments had caused “alarm or harassment” after that decision.

In his first statement to the CPS, the officer made no mention of the “stupid and white” comment having an impact on him, the jury was told.

A second statement from PC Lovell was provided in December 2023, mentioning the alleged impact.

He read a section of the statement to the court, which said the comments made him “shocked, upset, and (left) me feeling humiliated”.

The charge was authorised later in December 2023, almost a year after the incident.

Chelsea striker Sam Kerr has been found not guilty of causing racially aggravated harassment, after calling a Metropolitan Police officer “stupid and white”.

A jury at Kingston Crown Court cleared her in relation to an incident in Twickenham, south-west London, on 30 January 2023.

Ms Kerr, 31, said she was “antagonised” by officers after she was taken to a police station by a taxi driver following a dispute.

The Australian international, who made the comments to PC Stephen Lovell, did not deny using the words “stupid and white” but denied it amounted to a racial offence.

Ms Kerr gave a thumbs-up to her legal team before leaving the courtroom with her fiancée Kristie Mewis.

Ms Kerr and Ms Mewis had been out drinking when they were driven to Twickenham Police Station by a taxi driver who complained that they had refused to pay clean-up costs after one of them was sick and that one of them had smashed the vehicle’s rear window.

Judge Peter Lodder KC said: “I take the view her own behaviour contributed significantly to the bringing of this allegation.

“I don’t go behind the jury’s verdict but that has a significant bearing on the question of costs.”

During the trial, Ms Kerr said she regretted the way she expressed herself but added: “I feel the message was still relevant”.

She denied using whiteness as an insult and claimed: “I believed it was him using his power and privilege over me because he was accusing me of being something I’m not.

“I was trying to express that due to the power and privilege they had, they would never have to understand what we had just gone through and the fear we were having for our lives.”

It can now be reported that Ms Kerr’s legal team attempted to get the case thrown out at a preliminary hearing, arguing there had been an abuse of process by crown prosecutors.

Ms Kerr’s lawyer Grace Forbes said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had violated its own guidance, adding that a “loophole” in the victims’ right of review scheme was used to justify prosecution proceedings a year after the alleged offence.

During the trial, it was put to PC Lovell that he only provided a statement alleging that Ms Kerr’s comments had caused “alarm or harassment” after that decision.

In his first statement to the CPS, the officer made no mention of the “stupid and white” comment having an impact on him, the jury was told.

A second statement from PC Lovell was provided in December 2023, mentioning the alleged impact.

He read a section of the statement to the court, which said the comments made him “shocked, upset, and (left) me feeling humiliated”.

The charge was authorised later in December 2023, almost a year after the incident.

Luis Rubiales has told a court that Spanish footballer Jenni Hermoso gave her consent before he kissed her at the Women’s World Cup final in 2023.

The former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) is on trial accused of sexual assault and attempting to coerce Ms Hermoso into publicly saying the kiss had been consensual.

Giving evidence, Mr Rubiales, 47, said he was “absolutely sure” the player gave permission for the kiss, adding: “In that moment it was something completely spontaneous.”

The incident occurred during the medal-giving ceremony after Spain’s World Cup win in Australia, triggering protests and calls for Mr Rubiales’s resignation. He denies any criminal wrongdoing.

Mr Rubiales described the kiss as “an act of affection” to Spain’s National Court in Madrid on Tuesday.

“Jenni embraced me,” he said.

“I’ve known her for many years and I kissed her because she was a champion. This was a tremendous moment for her. We were champions, we were thanking each other.

“She pressed me very hard by the waist and then I asked her whether I could give her a kiss and she said yes.”

He added: “I took hold of her so as not to fall back.”

Mr Rubiales was questioned in court over whether he asked Ms Hermoso for a kiss or a “little kiss”.

“I can’t remember exactly,” he replied. “But I think it was a little kiss.”

He was also asked if he was aware of the protocol against sexual harassment and sexual violence, to which he replied he was aware of it.

Ms Hermoso has previously told the court she had never given permission to be kissed and the incident had “stained one of the happiest days of my life”.

The Spain forward said: “My boss was kissing me, and this shouldn’t happen in any social or work setting.”

She added: “A kiss on the lips is only given when I decide so.”

Ms Hermoso said she was pulled aside soon after the kiss and asked to consent to a statement minimising the incident, which she refused to do.

Mr Rubiales then asked her to record a video with him on the flight home because he was being accused of assault on social media, she told the court. She said she had received death threats which prompted her to move her family to Mexico, where she now plays.

An expert in lip reading told the court on Tuesday that Mr Rubiales asked Ms Hermoso “can I give you a kiss?” based on video footage where the player’s face could not be seen.

Mr Rubiales conceded he “made a mistake” on the podium and that his behaviour “was not appropriate”, saying he should have “been in a more institutional role”, but denied any offence had been committed.

He said the media attention the incident has attracted was “ridiculous”, adding that Ms Hermoso never reproached him over the kiss at any point in the immediate aftermath of the incident.

Mr Rubiales resigned in September 2023 after FIFA suspended him and Spanish prosecutors opened an investigation.

Three of his former colleagues are also on trial accused of colluding in the alleged coercion: Jorge Vilda, coach of the World Cup-winning side, Rubén Rivera, the federation’s former head of marketing, and former sporting director, Albert Luque.

All four defendants deny the charges against them.

Prosecutors are seeking a two-and-half year jail term for Rubiales. The trial, which runs until 19 February, continues.