Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting didn’twait for the final results of his country’s election on Sunday to herald a new era in Europe.

Declaring the US indifferent to this continent’s fate, Friedrich Merz questioned the future of Nato and demanded Europe boost its own defences. Quickly.

This tone from the close US ally – and from Friedrich Merz who is known to be a passionate Atlanticist – would have been unimaginable even a couple of months ago.

It’s a seismic shift. That may read like hyperbole, but what we are now experiencing in terms of transatlantic relations is unprecedented in the 80 years since the end of World War Two.

Big European powers have been shocked to the core by the Trump administration, which suggests it could revoke the security guarantees to Europe in place since 1945.

“I would never have thought that I would have to say something like this in a TV show but, after Donald Trump’s remarks last week… it is clear that this government does not care much about the fate of Europe,” Friedrich Merz said during a post-election debate on Sunday.

• Germany’s conservatives celebrate, but far right enjoy record result

“My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,” he added.

Merz hinted that the endeavour was so urgent that he was not sure on whether the transatlantic alliance leaders gathering for a summit in June “would still be talking about Nato in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defence capability much more quickly”.

Significantly, the forthcoming chancellor put Donald Trump’s America on a par with Russia – widely viewed here as a security threat to Europe more broadly. “We are under such massive pressure from two sides that my absolute priority now really is to create unity in Europe,” Merz said.

The UK prime minister heads to Washington on Thursday, following the visit there on Monday by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Friedrich Merz admits, indirectly, to a sense of Fomo – fear of missing out. By rights Germany should be there, too, this week, he says. Berlin, is one of Europe’s Big Three powers, alongside France and the UK.

And with the US and Russia now pow-wowing bilaterally, about, but not with, Ukraine, it feels like a global return to big-power politics.

But Germany has been MIA [missing in action] for a good while now on the European and the world stage. The outgoing government here was weakened and distracted by vicious internal bickering. This infuriated German voters – who wanted urgent focus on the economy and migration – and European allies, demanding action on Russia, security and defence.

Merz says a top priority for Germany is to re-engage internationally.

The country is already the second-biggest donor of military aid to Ukraine, after the US.

Merz wants to continue that support, but, unlike France and the UK, he’s been reticent about the idea of sending soldiers to Ukraine, to back up an eventual ceasefire there.

Based on Germany’s track record though – it dragged its heels at every stage of Ukraine support, and despite that, ended up delivering more aid than any of its European neighbours – a ‘No’ now, doesn’t mean a ‘No’ forever to committing troops or participating in whatever form a European “reassurance force” in Ukraine may take.

• Germany’s conservatives celebrate, but far right enjoy record result
• Analysis: Big challenges loom for Germany’s Merz in divided country
• Friedrich Merz: The risk-taker who flirted with far right

For now, the soldiers Germans most worry about are the 35,000 American ones, stationed in their country, that make them feel safe.

It’s highly unusual for foreign policy to be a top voter concern at election time. But in Germany this weekend, alongside the economy and migration, voter after voter said they worried about peace in Europe and felt very insecure.

Back in November, Germany’s interior ministry said it was drawing up a list of bunkers that could provide emergency shelter for civilians.

Ukraine may be far away, but Germans feel at great risk from Russia for two reasons.

Firstly, the amount of military equipment their country has sent Ukraine. The far right, Alternative for Germany (AfD), with its “Germany First” slogan, campaigned for Berlin to disengage from Kyiv and to re-establish relations with Russia. A strategy not unlike Donald Trump’s, as the party is fond of pointing out.

Secondly, many in Germany think that if Russia wanted to really destabilise Europe, it might be tempted to strike one of the Big Three with a long-range missile.

France and the UK are nuclear powers. Germany is not. Even its conventional military is woefully understaffed and underequipped (to the immense irritation of European partners), so Germany fears it’s a soft target.

All the more so if President Trump withdraws his active servicemen and women from Germany.

He has pledged to significantly reduce US troop presence in Europe as a whole.

The German sense of deep domestic insecurity prompted Friedrich Merz to suggest last week that he’d look to France and Britain to form a European nuclear umbrella, to replace US nuclear guarantees.

It’s an idea that’s easy to bring up on the campaign trail, but that in reality is hugely complex – involving questions of capabilities, commitment and control.

The reality check: Friedrich Merz will need a lot of money for his plans to secure Germany and Europe, and Germany’s economy is depressed.

He also has to reach agreement with the coalition partner, or partners, with whom he’ll form the next German government – as well as with other European countries, like the UK.

And they may not want to strike such a strident tone against the US.

This election may herald stronger leadership from Germany. But is the rest of Europe ready?

Kyiv and Washington are close to signing a deal over US access to Ukraine’s mineral deposits, a Ukrainian minister says.

Olga Stefanishyna, deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, said on X that “negotiations have been very constructive, with nearly all key details finalised”.

She added that “we are committed to completing this swiftly to proceed with its signature”.

Zelensky first included the offer of an agreement on minerals in the so-called “victory plan” that he presented to Trump last September.

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The idea was to offer the then presidential candidate a tangible reason for the US to continue supporting Ukraine.

On Monday former UK prime minister Boris Johnson told the BBC in Kyiv that such a deal was “the great prize” because it would secure “a United States commitment under Donald Trump to a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine”.

Kyiv estimates that about 5% of the world’s “critical raw materials” are in Ukraine. This includes some 19 million tonnes of proven reserves of graphite, which the Ukrainian Geological Survey state agency says makes the nation “one of the top five leading countries” for the supply of the mineral.

Graphite is used to make batteries for electric vehicles.

Ukraine also has a third of all European lithium deposits, the key component in current batteries. And prior to the Russian invasion, Ukraine’s global share of titanium production, a lightweight metal used in the construction of everything from aeroplanes to power stations, was 7%.

Further, Ukraine has significant deposits of rare earth metals. These are a group of 17 elements that are used to produce weapons, wind turbines, electronics and other products vital in the modern world.

Some of the mineral deposits, however, have been seized by Russia. According to Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s Minister of Economy, resources worth of $350bn (£277bn) remain in occupied territories today.

In 2022, SecDev, a geopolitical risk consultancy based in Canada, conducted an evaluation, which established that Russia had occupied 63% of Ukrainian coal mines, and half of its manganese, caesium, tantalum and rare earth deposits.

Dr Robert Muggah, principal of SecDev, says that such minerals add a “strategic and economic dimension” in Russia’s continued aggression. By seizing them, he says, Moscow denies access revenue for Ukraine, expands its own resource base and influences global supply chains.

Critical minerals “are the foundation of the 21st Century economy,” Dr Muggah explains. They are key to renewable energy, military applications and industrial infrastructure. They play “a growing strategic role in geopolitics and geoeconomics”.

Additionally, the US is keen on a deal for Ukraine’s mineral resources because it wants to reduce dependency on China, which controls 75% of rare earth deposits in the world, according to the Geological Investment Group.

In December China banned the export of some rare earth minerals to the US, having previously limited mineral exports to the US the previous year.

On Monday, ahead of a visit with French President Emmanuel Macron, White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told US news outlet NewsNation that the deal was “about growing the pie economically and binding the US and Ukraine together for the future”.

Prior to Stefanishyna’s assertion that a deal was close, there appeared to be several sticking points.

Last Wednesday, Zelensky rejected US demands for a reported 50% share of its rare earth minerals – which Trump said would reflect the amount of aid the US had provided to Ukraine during its war with Russia.

“I can’t sell our state,” he said.

The provisions of a second draft of the deal on Sunday appeared to be even tougher than in the first document.

Instead of 50/50 revenue split, the revised draft suggested the US wanted full control, Zelensky told journalists at the press conference on Sunday.

Zelenzky is also said to want any deal to include security guarantees.

On Monday former UK prime minister Boris Johnson called an agreement for US access to Ukraine’s minerals “the great prize”.

He rejected suggestions the deal was a “rip-off” and said “what the Ukrainians get from this is a United States commitment under Donald Trump to a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine”.

Some commentators have described the US offer as “colonial” but Kyiv is interested in joint exploration of its resources.

Developing these mineral resources is extremely difficult and expensive, says Iryna Suprun, chief executive of the Geological Investment Group, a mining advisory firm based in Ukraine. She argues that if they can attract American investors to develop their natural resources, it will be highly beneficial for the country’s economy.

“We will get technologies that our mining industry lacks so much,” Ms Suprun explains. “We will get capital. That means more jobs, tax payments. We’ll receive revenue from the development of mineral deposits.”

Thousands of villagers in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh are protesting against a multi-million-dollar river-linking project which, they say, will rob them of their homes and livelihoods.

The Ken-Betwa project, with a budget of 440bn rupees ($5.06bn; £4.05bn), will channel excess water from the Ken river in Madhya Pradesh to the Betwa river in the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh state through a network of tunnels, canals and a dam.

It is the first of 16 such river-linking projects earmarked under India’s National Perspective Plan for water resource development in the 1980s. The plan faced multiple delays – mainly due to environmental concerns and political disputes – before the government cleared it in 2021.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for its construction in December last year.

The project is supposed to help the drought-prone Bundelkhand region – which includes parts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh – where arid climate and unpredictable rainfall patterns have led to decades of poverty and underdevelopment.

The government says that once completed in 2030, it will help irrigate 1.06 million hectares of land, provide drinking water to 6.2 million people and generate 130MW of hydropower and solar energy.

But at least 10 villages, including vast swathes of precious forest land, will be submerged to build the dam’s reservoir and 11 more villages will be displaced for constructing the canal, affecting more than 7,000 families, district officials say.

“Our livelihoods are tied to this land – we don’t know what the future holds for us anymore,” said Tulsi Adivasi, who is among the thousands of villagers protesting against the project.

Most of them belong to the indigenous Gond and Kol tribes, who live along the edge of forests and depend on farming for a living.

Environmental experts warn the project will submerge nearly 98 sq km (38 sq miles) of the Panna Tiger Reserve, a 543 sq km sanctuary that successfully brought tigers back from local extinction in 2009.

This could undo years of conservation efforts. “It’s unprecedented. We have never seen a core area of a national park being used for such a large-scale infrastructure project before,” says environmentalist Amit Bhatnagar.

In 2019, a panel of experts constituted by India’s top court had also raised concerns about the project, questioning its economic viability and impact on the region’s wildlife. The government, it said, should explore alternative irrigation methods in the river basin.

Independent studies on river-linking projects in India have made similar observations.

A 2023 study published in the Nature Communications journal states that such endeavours “may worsen the water stress across the country, making these projects ineffective or possibly even counterproductive”.

Baleshwar Thakur, who heads the National Water Development Agency, however, defended the project, saying authorities had conducted a thorough research and acquired all environmental clearances for the project.

“We have also designated additional land to offset the loss of tiger habitats and will rehabilitate other species affected by the project as well,” he said.

The government official admitted that there would be a potential “challenge” to the biodiversity of the region, but said that “the benefits of the project outweigh the adverse impacts”.

The assurances have done little to comfort the villagers.

In the heart of Daudhan, 48-year-old Mahesh Adivasi sat with a group of men, who voiced their dissent in the form of a protest song.

“Ken-Betwa dam is built by the government, it gives others water but drowns us,” they sang, the lyrics capturing their anguish.

The village is one of the poorest areas in the region, lacking basic facilities such as clean drinking water and electricity.

The bitter irony of the river project isn’t lost on its people – they ask why they are being asked to abandon their homes to provide electricity in 13 other districts when their own village has never had power.

“We have seen generations pass without progress. Now, we are being asked to sacrifice our lives for others’ progress. What about us?” Mahesh Adivasi said.

The government has offered villagers an optional compensation plan, where they can either opt for a piece of land along with 750,000 rupees ($8,655; £6,842) or a one-time payout of 1,250,000 rupees. For those who own land, an additional amount based on the land’s value will also be given.

Mr Thakur said that about 90% of the people had chosen to take the lump sum amount. “In the meantime, the government has started looking for alternative government land to resettle the villagers,” he added.

But locals say the amount being offered is insufficient. Tulsi Adivasi showed BBC Hindi a government notice which evaluated his house at 46,000 rupees.

“Can a house be built with this much money?” he asked.

Others complain they have not been informed when they must evacuate or where they’d be resettled, fuelling anxieties about their future.

“The project should have been a blessing for our village but, the truth is, it will plunge us further into darkness,” said Lakshmi Adivasi, 20.

Questions have also been raised against the claim that the project is meant to channel excess water from the Ken river.

Critics point out that the government has relied on outdated data from 2003, without independent verification, to calculate the river’s annual yield.

Mr Thakur denied the allegation and said authorities “have all the data to continue with the project”.

Mr Bhatnagar, the environmentalist, said that by going ahead with the project, the government was setting “a dangerous precedent” for similar development programmes to be carried out in other geologically sensitive areas.

“And for those affected, it once again underscores how development in India often comes at the cost of the most marginalised,” he added.

New Zealand’s commerce minister Andrew Bayly has resigned as a government minister after he “placed a hand” on a staff member’s upper arm last week, in what he described as “overbearing” behaviour.

Bayly said on Monday that he was “deeply sorry” about the incident, which he described as not an argument but an “animated discussion”.

He remains a member of parliament.

His resignation comes after he was criticised last October for calling a winery worker a “loser”- including putting his fingers in an ‘L’ shape on his forehead – and allegedly using an expletive directed at them. He later issued a public apology.

“As many of you know, I have been impatient to drive change in my ministerial portfolios,” Bayly said in a statement announcing his resignation.

“Last week I had an animated discussion with a staff member about work. I took the discussion too far, and I placed a hand on their upper arm, which was inappropriate.”

He said a complaint had been made but would not elaborate further on exactly what had happened.

Bayly resigned last Friday, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon later told a press conference, adding that the incident happened three days earlier, on 18 February.

Luxon said on Monday the government’s handling the issue within a week was “pretty quick” and “pretty impressive”. He denied that he should have asked Bayly to step down following October’s winery incident, and said “never say never” when asked if there was a way back for the 63-year-old into another cabinet position.

However, Labour leader Chris Hipkins criticised Luxon as being “incredibly weak”, saying the incident with the staff member should not have been dragged over the weekend.

“Christopher Luxon has once again set the bar for ministerial behaviour so low, that it would be almost impossible not to get over it,” he told reporters on Monday.

Bayly himself said that he had to talk to his family and “would have had difficulty” speaking to the media earlier.

He was first elected to the New Zealand Parliament in 2014 as an MP for the current ruling National Party. He was appointed the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing, and Minister of Statistics following Luxon’s election in late 2023.

He was also appointed minister for the ACC – the national accidental injury compensation scheme – following a cabinet reshuffle earlier this year. Before joining politics, Bayly worked in the finance industry.

Luxon said Scott Simpson, National’s senior whip, would take over the ACC and Commerce and Consumer Affairs portfolios.

Bayly is the first minister to resign of his own accord under PM Luxon, whose favourability has dipped considerably, according to recent polls. Both the 1News-Verian poll and the Post/Freshwater Strategy poll show his National-led coalition government is losing support among voters.

The government has recently come under fire for some policies that were seen by some as anti-Māori, including the introduction of a bill that many argued undermined Māori rights and the dissolution of the Māori Health Authority – which was set up under the last Labour government to try and create greater health equality.

For months, Japan’s entertainment industry has been rocked by a scandal that unseated one of its most popular celebrities and put one of its biggest broadcasters at risk.

But some believe it has also marked a turning point in how cases of sexual assault are perceived in Japan – where traditionally victims have been shamed into silence.

At its heart was Masahiro Nakai, a household name and leading presenter for Fuji TV, one of the country’s biggest broadcasters.

Nakai, who is also a former member of J-pop boy band SMAP, was accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a dinner party in 2023.

The revelations, which appeared last December in the weekly tabloid magazine Josei Seven and were then picked up by the Shukan Bunshun, marked the latest of a series of scandals involving celebrities in Japan, including that of late entertainment mogul Johnny Kitagawa, who was found by investigators to have abused hundreds of boys and young men over six decades.

Nakai didn’t admit guilt and denied using force against the woman. But he apologised for “causing trouble” in a statement and said that he had “resolved” the matter in a settlement, reportedly worth more than half a million dollars.

But as public anger mounted, he was forced to announce his retirement from the entertainment industry in January. Another channel, the Tokyo Broadcasting System, has also stopped airing a program that Nakai regularly appeared on as an MC.

The impact on Fuji TV has been devastating.

The broadcaster’s reputation is now in ruins. Its revenue is under threat and some of its top executives have also been forced to step down.

High-profile companies like Nissan and Toyota were among those who pulled advertising from the broadcaster as outrage grew. Fuji TV has since admitted it allowed Nakai to continue presenting shows even after finding out about the allegations.

“If this had happened 10 years ago, there would not have been this outcry,” Keiko Kojima, who worked in Japan’s media industry for 15 years as a TV presenter, told the BBC.

Sexual violence against women is one of Japan’s worst-kept secrets. A 2020 survey claimed that more than 70% of sexual assaults in the country go unreported. And according to a 2024 study published in the International Journal of Asian Studies, for every 1,000 rapes in Japan, only 10–20 result in a criminal conviction – and fewer than half of convicted rapists are incarcerated.

“There’s still a prevalent attitude of ‘Shoganai ‘ or ‘there’s nothing you can do’ that is being projected on women – so they’re encouraged to keep silent,” Machiko Osawa, professor emeritus at Japan Women’s University in Tokyo, told the BBC.

She added that women were seldom believed and did not have proper mechanisms to even report such incidents, which contributed to this culture of silence.

Ms Kojima said that the media industry, in particular, has long had a culture of impunity and lack of accountability where many young women felt they must keep silent to keep their jobs.

“It was common for men to make rude comments about women’s bodies or appearance or age. I remember my colleagues and I being asked how many people we’ve had sex with,” she said.

“We were expected to reply with a sense of humour without getting angry or offended. I saw sexual harassment and other forms of derogatory treatment of women on a daily basis. For a woman, adapting to these situations was the only way to become a full-fledged TV or media professional.”

The Fuji TV case has also raised questions about dinners and drinking parties involving celebrities and young women – and how common they were.

Although Shukan Bunshun retracted an earlier report that claimed the alleged assault took place at a party organised by Fuji TV, Ms Kojima told the BBC that it was indeed common to use women as “tools for entertaining”.

“In Japanese working culture, it’s an everyday practice to half-forcibly take young female employees to events to entertain clients,” she said.

“Men are happy when young women join them. The idea that women are like a gift and that taking a young woman with you is a way of offering hospitality to the other person is very common.”

That is why the fallout from this scandal has encouraged women’s rights activists.

Minori Kitahara, one of the founders of the Flower Demo movement – where groups of sexual violence survivors and their supporters gather in public spaces on the 11th of every month – admitted she was surprised at how swiftly and severely the sponsors reacted.

“Even if it’s more of self-preservation than human rights for sponsors, this is a turning point for the MeToo movement in Japan,” she told the BBC.

“It’s up to us how big we make it.”

Nearly 50 companies have walked away from the now-tarnished Fuji TV.

The Japanese government has also withdrawn all its recent and planned advertisements with the network. And it has called on the broadcaster to regain the trust of viewers and sponsors. So far Fuji TV seems to have done neither.

The scandal and Fuji TV’s role in hiding it have sent the company on a crisis-management frenzy that seems to have led to deeper disgrace, fuelling even more public anger.

Fuji TV president Koichi Minato admitted that the company had known about the allegation shortly after the alleged incident.

But he said they chose not to disclose it at the time because they “prioritised the woman’s physical and mental recovery as well as the protection of her privacy.”

After a press conference held in the hope of defusing the outrage turned into a PR disaster, the company held a second one that lasted 10 hours.

It was intended to show remorse.

Both Fuji TV’s chairman Shuji Kano and its President Koichi Minato stepped down, bowing humbly as they announced their resignations. The firm said its executive vice-president Kenji Shimizu would replace Mr Minato as president.

But this was seen as a mere face-saving exercise to appease advertisers rather than a sign of substantial change – especially because the president’s replacement belonged to the same leadership cadre.

Professor Osawa told the BBC, however, that high-profile cases like Fuji TV become important precedents for real change.

And this is the latest saga in a series of prominent sexual misconduct cases that have generated conversation about women’s rights in Japan.

These include the case of journalist Shiori Ito, who became a symbol of the country’s MeToo movement in 2017. She took the rare step of going public with allegations that Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a well-known TV journalist, had raped her after she met him for drinks. While he denied the allegations, she won a civil lawsuit against him in 2019

“People have now started to realise that it was OK to speak out and say that this [sexual harassment] is a problem. We are changing what we take as the norm,” Ms Kojima said.

But Ms Kojima and Ms Kitahara both say that Japan is not moving fast enough.

“I think it’s time for that generation [of media leadership] to step down. The industry needs to create a new corporate culture. The change is slow,” Ms Kojima said.

“The TV industry has long neglected the issue of exploitation and violence and has not dealt with the victims properly. If the root of the problem doesn’t change, the same will happen again.”

Professor Osawa agrees that Japan still has a long way to go because of the ubiquitous power imbalance in the country.

She adds that while women have been part of the workforce for decades they’re still seen as the “caretakers” and men as the “breadwinners” by a society that is heavily shaped by patriarchal values.

“This is an important time… But it’s unclear how far attitudes will change,” she said.

While Ms Kitahara is hopeful, she says she’s also angry: “The sexual violence never stops.”

“I still meet new survivors at Flower Demo [protests] every month and learn what happened to them. We had a high school girl other day. When we started the movement [in 2019] she was probably in junior high, ” she said.

“I hope for the day when I will never have to go to a Flower Demo protest again.”

India and the UK have restarted free trade talks, nearly a year after negotiations were paused ahead of general elections in both countries.

Jonathan Reynolds, the UK’s business and trade secretary, met his Indian counterpart Piyush Goyal in Delhi on Monday and kicked off the two-day discussions.

The talks focused on “advancing” the negotiations and ensuring that the deal was “balanced, ambitious and mutually beneficial”, Goyal wrote on X.

The countries have held more than a dozen rounds of negotiations since 2022, but an agreement has remained out of reach.

Sticking points include high tariffs in India on Scotch whisky and relaxing fees and visa rules for Indian students and professionals going to the UK.

Talks are being held for the first time after the Labour Party came to power in the UK and Reynolds says securing a deal is a “top priority” for his government.

“Growth will be the guiding principle in our trade negotiations with India and I’m excited about the opportunities on offer in this vibrant market,” he said in a statement ahead of the meeting.

India is forecast to become the world’s third-largest economy in a few years.

The ministers held a joint press conference after the meeting, but neither side offered a deadline for talks to conclude. Deadlines set by former ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss had passed without an agreement being finalised.

For Delhi, the trade talks have assumed renewed significance on the back of US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose reciprocal or tit-for-tat tariffs on imported goods from countries, including India.

The UK is also a high-priority trading partner for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has an ambitious target to grow exports by $1 trillion by FY30.

The UK had announced in November last year – soon after Sir Keir Starmer met PM Modi at the G20 summit in Brazil – that talks would restart in the new year.

The two countries share a trade relationship worth £41bn ($52bn) currently, according to a UK government statement, and a trade deal could unlock new opportunities for both countries.

London has identified sectors that could benefit, which include advanced manufacturing, clean energy and professional and trade services. An agreement could also potentially unlock a valuable market for British cars, Scotch whisky and financial services worth billions of dollars.

India is seeking greater mobility for its working professionals and students to the UK, while pushing for faster visa processing times.

It may also seek concessions for its residents working temporarily in the UK on business visas, who are required to pay national insurance but are still ineligible for social benefits.

Speaking at the joint conference, Goyal said that immigration was not a part of the discussions.

“India has never ever discussed immigration in any free trade negotiations,” he said. Reynolds added that business mobility was a “separate issue” from immigration.

During Reynolds’ visit, he and Goyal will also visit the BT office in the northern Indian city of Gurugram.

UK Investment Minister Poppy Gustafsson is also in India and will be participating in events in India’s two big business hubs – Mumbai and Bengaluru.

After years of scepticism over free trade deals, India has been signing agreements or is in talks with several countries or blocs. Last year, it signed a $100bn free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association – a group of four European countries that are not members of the European Union – after almost 16 years of negotiations.

It is also set to resume negotiations with the European Union this year.

The R&B singer Roberta Flack, best known for the hits The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Killing Me Softly With His Song, has died at the age of 88.

“We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning, February 24, 2025,” said a statement from her representatives.

“She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator.”

Flack had previously announced in 2022 that she had motor neurone disease, and could no longer sing.

Born in North Carolina and raised in Arlington, Virginia, the musician started out as a classical pianist, first teaching music.

Her recording career started after she was discovered singing in a jazz club by musician Les McCann, who later wrote that “her voice touched, tapped, trapped, and kicked every emotion I’ve ever known”.

But she didn’t score her first hit until she was in her 30s – when her recording of Ewan MacColl’s The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face was used to soundtrack an explicit love scene in Clint Eastwood’s 1971 film Play Misty For Me.

It was subsequently named song of the year at the Grammys. Flack won the award a second time the following year, for Killing Me Softly With His Song.

After topping the charts again in 1974 with Feel Like Makin’ Love, Flack took a break from performing to concentrate on recording and charitable causes.

Over the course of her career, she worked with artists including Donny Hathaway and Miles Davis, and recorded an album of Beatles covers in 2012.

In 2020, a year after having a stroke, Flack was awarded a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys.

“It’s a tremendous and overwhelming honour,” she said at the time.

“I’ve tried my entire career to tell stories through my music. This award is a validation to me that my peers heard my thoughts and took in what I have tried to give.”

A Kenyan police officer who was on patrol with the international security force in Haiti has been killed in a confrontation with gang members.

The officer is the first casualty suffered by the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support mission (MSS).

The force was sent to Haiti in June last year to help restore order to the country, where gangs have seized control of almost the entire capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as large swathes of rural areas.

More than 5,500 people were killed in gang-related violence in Haiti in 2024 and more than a million people have fled their homes.

• On patrol with Kenyan forces inside Haiti’s gang warzone

The commander of the multinational force, Gen Godfrey Otunge, said the Kenyan police officer had been injured in Artibonite, a region north of the capital.

Gen Otunge said the officer, who has not been named, had been immediately airlifted to hospital, where he died a short while later.

Jack Ombaka, the spokesman for the MSS, said in a statement sent to Reuters news agency that the officer was a “fallen hero” who “was killed while fighting for the people of Haiti”, while Kenya’s foreign ministry said it was “heartbroken by the loss” of the officer.

Mr Ombaka said the officer had been shot by a gang member during a security operation in the town of Pont-Sondé.

He added that the multinational force would “pursue these gangs to the last man standing”.

The MSS was boosted earlier this month by the arrival of an additional 200 Kenyan police officers, but the force is outgunned and outmanned by the gangs, which continue to arm themselves with powerful weapons illegally smuggled from the US.

The future of the multinational force – which also has officers from Bahamas, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala and Jamaica among its ranks – was thrown into doubt some weeks ago when the Trump administration ordered a freeze on foreign aid programmes.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later approved a waiver for US funds destined for the MSS and Haiti’s National Police, but it is not yet clear whether the US government supports turning the MSS into a UN peacekeeping operation, which would make its funding more secure.

US President Donald Trump has appointed podcaster and commentator Dan Bongino as deputy director of the FBI.

Trump posted on social media that Bongino was “a man of incredible love and passion for our Country” and would serve under newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel.

Bongino, 50, who has worked for the New York police department and the Secret Service, is a staunch Trump ally who has pushed false claims about the 2020 election and other stories.

His appointment, which does not require Senate confirmation, means neither of the top two people running the agency has FBI experience.

The deputy director, who is responsible for supervising all domestic and international operations, is usually a career agent with years of experience.

He hosts daily podcast The Dan Bongino Show whose Facebook posts often attract more attention than those of Fox News and CNN combined.

In Friday’s episode, there was a segment about the FBI, in which he praised Patel and tried to allay Democratic fears the agency will be used to target Trump’s enemies.

“Kash Patel is there for one reason, he is there to make the FBI great again,” he said.

He’s committed to fighting crime and that only, he added, calling his new boss the “change agent” the FBI needs.

“How amazing would it be in four years to look back with a good, high-quality, reformed FBI free of woke culture and DEI that goes out making headline, big arrests of real bad guys destroying your community. How good would that be?”

• Who is Kash Patel, the new FBI boss?
• Has Trump kept his day one promises?

Trump said in his social media announcement on Sunday that Bongino would give up the podcast, adding he would help restore fairness, justice, law and order.

Bongino, who has run for Congress three times, hosted Trump on his podcast ahead of last year’s election.

Episodes of his programme from the last week include titles such as “Trump Keeps Delivering And The Libs Are Seething” and “The Only People Who Love Crime Are Criminals!!!”

He has repeated Trump’s false claim that he won the 2020 election and advanced another conspiracy that Joe Biden’s administration was behind the FBI search for classified documents at Trump’s Florida home.

“EVERYONE involved in this DOJ/FBI abomination, from the management down to the agents, must be immediately terminated when the tyrants are thrown out of office,” he said on X.

In 2018, when talking about his career as a prolific conservative political commentator, Bongino said: “My life is all about owning the libs now.”

With a combative persona, he can often be found firing back at Trump’s detractors on X, including a long-running spat with horror author Stephen King.

Patel was last week narrowly confirmed by the Senate to the lead the law-enforcement agency that he has long attacked.

He denied any plans to pursue political vendettas and has promised to “rebuild” the bureau.

The FBI has 38,000 employees and a budget of more than $11bn.

• All you need to know about Trump presidency

• Is Trump right about unfair trade?

• Fact-checking Trump claims about Ukraine

• What is Doge and why is Musk cutting so many jobs?

Suspended Labour MP Mike Amesbury has been jailed for 10 weeks after he admitted punching a man to the ground in his Cheshire constituency.

Amesbury, 55, who represents Runcorn and Helsby as an independent MP, pleaded guilty to assaulting 45-year-old Paul Fellows after video footage emerged showing the confrontation.

He had his Labour whip removed after the incident in Frodsham, Cheshire, which happened in the early hours of 26 October.

Sitting at Chester Magistrates’ Court, Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram said a pre-sentence report showed Amesbury’s actions were the result of a “anger and loss of emotional control”.

• LIVE: The latest updates as MP Mike Amesbury is jailed

Amesbury was taken down to the cells immediately and an application for bail pending an appeal was refused.

Addressing the MP before handing down the jail term, the magistrate said: “I have to say that I have seen a single punch to the head cause fatal injuries, but note the limited injuries in this case.

“I note that you, Mr Amesbury, continued to punch Mr Fellows when he was on the ground and continued to shout at Mr Fellows. I consider this more culpable.

“You continued to attack when he was on the ground and it may have continued further had a bystander not intervened,” the magistrate said.

“You continued to rant, your position ought to be as a role model to others.”

Passing sentence, the magistrate said the immediate custodial sentence was “necessary both as a punishment and a deterrent”.

He said he accepted the incident was one incident “in an otherwise unblemished career”.

“You have spent your life in public service and served in high office”, he told Amesbury.

But the magistrate said he was of “the view that unprovoked drunken behaviour is too serious to be dealt with unpaid work”.

Mr Ikram said he had also considered how the MP was “unlikely to re-offend”.

But he said: “You were only stopped from going further by members of the public.”

Richard Derby, representing Amesbury, asked the magistrate: “Is that an immediate sentence?”

Mr Ikram nodded and replied: “Yes,” before leaving the courtroom.

Amesbury was then joined in the dock by two security guards who took him down to the cells.

• Who is suspended MP Mike Amesbury?
• MP Mike Amesbury admits street assault
• Starmer: MP Mike Amesbury CCTV footage ‘shocking’

Mr Derby requested the judge come back into court as he wished to make an application for bail for Amesbury, pending an appeal against his sentence.

Mr Ikram returned to court, sat down, paused briefly, and said: “Application refused.”

Amesbury was also ordered to pay £200 compensation to the victim, costs of £85 and a surcharge of £154.

Following sentencing, a Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party took swift action following Mike Amesbury’s completely unacceptable actions and he is no longer a Labour MP or a member of the Labour Party.

“It is right that Mr Amesbury pleaded guilty and has now been sentenced.

“Local residents in the Runcorn and Helsby constituency deserved better and we look forward to them getting the representation they deserve in the future with a new Labour MP.”

The jail sentence means voters in Amesbury’s constituency can remove the independent MP from his seat with a recall petition.

This can be called if a sitting MP is convicted of an offence that leads to jail time, or even a suspended sentence.

More than 10% of voters must sign the petition in his Runcorn and Helsby constituency for a by-election to be triggered.

A recall petition would also be triggered if the House of Commons decided to suspend him for 10 sitting days or more.

Reform UK party chairman Zia Yusuf called for Amesbury to stand down so a by-election could be held.

He said: “The great people of Runcorn deserve far better than waiting six weeks for a recall petition to take place.”

A further application for bail is expected to be heard at the crown court later this week.

Apple plans to invest more than $500bn (£396bn) in the US over the next four years, starting with a new advanced manufacturing factory in Texas.

The tech giant said it expected to create 20,000 new jobs over that time, with the “vast majority” of roles in research and development, software and artificial intelligence (AI).

It is not clear to what extent the spending is an acceleration of the company’s current activities. Apple said the sum included everything from spending on suppliers to Apple TV+ productions.

The announcement comes days after Apple boss Tim Cook met with President Donald Trump, who has made increased corporate investment in the US a priority.

In its announcement, Apple said its investment was its “largest-ever spend commitment” and would expand its support for American manufacturing.

“We are bullish on the future of American innovation,” Cook said.

The new 250,000 square foot factory in Houston, Texas, is set to produce servers that were “previously manufactured outside the US” to support Apple Intelligence, the company’s AI system, the company said.

The iPhone maker added it would open in 2026 and create “thousands” of jobs.

Apple is also expanding its data centre capacity in North Carolina, Iowa, Oregon, Arizona, and Nevada, and doubling its support for a fund dedicated to US manufacturing, which it created in Trump’s first term, from $5bn to $10bn.

Trump previewed the announcement last week, claiming it was partially a response to his trade policies, including tariffs.

On Monday, the president took credit for the news on social media, saying the reason for the investment was “faith in what we are doing, without which, they wouldn’t be investing ten cents”.

Trump has said he wants to see more companies making their products in the US, threatening to raise tariffs drastically in a bid to make domestic manufacturing more attractive.

Last month, he imposed a new 10% border tax on all imports from China, where Apple has a significant manufacturing presence.

He has also proposed tariffs on products made in many other countries, including neighbouring nations Mexico and Canada.

Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities, said the announcement was a “strategic move” to diversify the company’s manufacturing operations “while also playing well into Trump’s US investment theme”.

“Cook continues to prove that he is 10% politician and 90% CEO,” he wrote in a note.

Ives said the initiatives announced by Apple on Monday did not seem to signal a big shift in the company’s manufacturing plans for China, noting that the areas in question were not a focus of its activities there.

Kyiv no longer looks like a city at war in the way that it was three years ago. The shops are open and commuters get delayed in traffic jams on their way to work. But in the days since 12 February this year when US President Donald Trump rang Russia’s Vladimir Putin to send a 90-minute political embrace from the White House to the Kremlin, 2022’s old nightmares of national extinction have returned. Ukrainians used to get angry about the way that President Joe Biden held back weapons systems and restricted the way Ukraine used the ones that arrived here. Even so, they knew whose side he was on.

Instead, Donald Trump has delivered a stream of exaggeration, half-truths and outright lies about the war that echo the views of President Putin. They include his dismissal of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as a dictator who does not deserve a seat at the table when America and Russia decide the future of his country. The biggest lie Trump has told is that Ukraine started the war.

Trump’s negotiating strategy is to offer concessions even before serious talks have started. Instead of putting pressure on the country that broke international law by invading its neighbour, leading to huge destruction and hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded, he has turned on Ukraine.

His public statements have offered Russia important concessions, declaring that Ukraine will not join Nato and accepting that it will keep at least some of the land it seized by force. Vladimir Putin’s record shows he respects strength. He regards concessions as a sign of weakness.

He has not budged from a demand for even more Ukrainian land than his men now occupy. Immediately after the first talks, held in Saudi Arabia, between Russia and the US since the 2022 invasion, Putin’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov repeated his demand that no Nato troops would be allowed into Ukraine to provide security guarantees.

A veteran European diplomat who has dealt with the Russians and the Americans told me that when the grizzled, highly experienced Lavrov met Trump’s novice Secretary of State Marco Rubio “he would have eaten him like a soft-boiled egg.”

A few days ago, as Trump threw more insults at Ukraine’s president, I went to the heavily guarded government quarter in Kyiv to meet Ihor Brusylo, who is a senior adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky and deputy head of his office. Brusylo acknowledged how much pressure Trump is putting on them.

“It’s very, very tough. These are very hard, challenging times,” Brusylo said. “I wouldn’t say that now it’s easier than it was in 2022. It’s like you live it all over again.”

Brusylo said Ukrainians, and their president, were as determined to fight to stay independent as they had been in 2022.

“We’re a sovereign country. We are part of Europe, and we will remain so.”

In the weeks after Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the sound of battle on the edge of Kyiv echoed around streets that were almost empty. Checkpoints and barricades, walls of sandbags and tank traps welded from steel girders were rushed out onto Kyiv’s broad boulevards. At the railway station, fifty thousand civilians a day, mostly women and children, were boarding trains going west, away from the Russians.

The platforms were packed and every time a train pulled in, came another surge of panic as people pushed and shoved to get on. In those freezing days, in bitter wind and flurries of snow, it felt as if the colours of the 21st century were fading into an old monochrome newsreel that Europeans had believed until then was safely consigned to the vaults of history.

President Zelensky, in Joe Biden’s words, “didn’t want to hear” American warnings that an invasion was imminent. Putin rattling a Russian sabre was one thing. A full-scale invasion, with tens of thousands of troops and columns of armour, surely belonged in the past.

Putin believed Russia’s mighty and modernised army would make quick work of its obstinate, independent neighbour and its recalcitrant president. Ukraine’s western allies also thought Russia would win quickly. On television news channels, retired generals talked about smuggling in light weapons to arm an insurgency while the west imposed sanctions and hoped for the best.

As Russian troops massed on Ukraine’s borders, Germany delivered 5,000 ballistic combat helmets instead of offensive weapons. Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv and once heavyweight boxing champion of the world, complained to a German newspaper that it was “a joke… What kind of support will Germany send next, pillows?”

Zelensky turned down any idea of leaving his capital to form a government in exile. He abandoned his presidential dark suit for military attire, and in videos and on social media told Ukrainians he would fight alongside them.

Ukraine defeated the Russian thrust towards the capital. Once the Ukrainians had demonstrated that they could fight well, the attitude of the Americans and Europeans changed. Arms supplies increased.

“Putin’s mistake was that he prepared for a parade not a war” a senior Ukrainian official recalled, speaking on condition of anonymity. “He didn’t think Ukraine would fight. He thought they would be welcomed with speeches and flowers.”

On 29 March 2022, the Russians retreated from Kyiv. Hours after they left, we drove, nervously, into the chaotic, damaged landscape of Kyiv’s satellite towns, Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel. On the roads the Russians had hoped to use for a triumphant entry into Kyiv, I saw bodies of civilians left where they were killed. Charred tyres were stacked around some of them, failed attempts to burn the evidence of war crimes.

Survivors spoke of the brutality of the Russian occupiers. A woman showed me the grave where she had buried her son single-handed after he was casually shot dead as he crossed a road. Russian soldiers threw her out of her house. In the garden, they left piles of empty bottles of vodka, whisky and gin that they had looted and drunk. Hastily abandoned Russian encampments in the forests near the roads were choked with rubbish their soldiers had discarded over the weeks of occupation.

Professional, disciplined armies do not eat and sleep next to rotting piles of their own refuse.

Three years on, the war has changed. Although Kyiv has revived, it still has nightly alerts as its air defences detect incoming Russian missiles and drones. The war is closer, and more deadly, along the front line, more than 1,000 kilometres long, that runs from the northern border with Russia and then east and south down to the Black Sea. It is lined with destroyed, almost deserted villages and towns. To the east, in what was Kyiv’s industrial heartland of Donetsk and Luhansk, Russian forces grind forward slowly, at a huge cost in men and machines.

Last August, Ukraine sent troops into Russia, capturing a pocket of land across the border in Kursk. They are still there, fighting for land that Zelensky hopes to use as a bargaining chip.

Along the border with Kursk, in the snow-covered forests of north-eastern Ukraine, the geopolitical storm set off by Donald Trump is still not much more than a menacing, distant rumble. It will get here, especially if the US president follows up his harsh and mocking verbal attacks on president Zelensky with a final end to military aid and intelligence-sharing, and even worse from Ukraine’s perspective, an attempt to impose a peace deal that favours Russia.

For now, the rhythm built up in three years of war goes on, and the forest could be a throwback to the blood-soaked twentieth century. Fighting men move silently through the trees, along trenches and into bunkers dug deep into the frozen earth. In stretches of open ground, anti-tank defences made of concrete and steel stud the fields.

The 21st century is more present in the dry and warm underground bunkers. Generators and solar panels power laptops and screens linked to the outside world, and bring in the news feeds.

Just because bad news arrives doesn’t mean that the soldiers look at it. In a deep dug-out lined with bunks made of rough planks from the local sawmill, with nails hammered into the timber to hang weapons and winter uniforms, Evhen, a 30-year-old corporal said he had more urgent matters to think about – his men and the wife and two small children he left at home when he joined up, ten months ago.

That’s a long time on the front line in Kursk. He looks and sounds like a combat veteran. He has faced the North Koreans who have been sent to join the battle there by their leader, Putin’s ally, Kim Jong Un.

“Koreans fight till the end. Even if he is injured and you come to him, he might just blow himself up to take more of us with him.”

All the soldiers we interviewed asked to be referred to by first names for their own security. Evhen seemed relaxed about fighting on without the Americans.

“Help is not something that can last forever. We have it today, we don’t have it tomorrow.”

Ukraine, he said, was making many more of its own weapons. That’s true, especially when it comes to attack drones, but the US still supplies sophisticated systems that have damaged the Russians badly.

Many of the volunteers who took up arms three years ago have either been killed, maimed, or are too exhausted to fight any more. One of Ukraine’s most bitter fault lines runs between those who fight and those who bribe their way out of military service. Evhen said they were better off without them.

“It is better for them to pay not to fight than to come here and run away, tripping us up. It doesn’t bother me much. If they came here, they’d just scarper… they’re deserters.”

War strips away surplus thought. The stakes are straightforward for soldiers preparing to return to the battle in Kursk. Mykola, who commands a company of airborne assault troops, spoke affectionately about the capabilities of their Stryker armoured vehicles, supplied by the Americans.

“Kursk” he says, “shows the enemy, a nuclear weapons state, that a non-nuclear power with a smaller population and a smaller army can come in, capture land and the Russians have been able to do very little about it.”

Putin’s objectives, he said, were clear.

“His task is to seize all of Ukraine, change its legal status, and change the president and government. He wants to destroy our political system and to make Ukraine his vassal state.”

He laughed when I asked whether the Americans and others should trust Vladimir Putin.

“No! I don’t have enough fingers to count how many times Putin lied. To everyone! To the Russians, and to us, and to Western partners. He lied to everyone.”

At a volunteer centre in Kyiv in the first days after the invasion, I met two young students, Maxsym Lutsyk, 19, and Dmytro Kisilenko, 18, who were signing up to fight.

When they lined up alongside men old enough to be their fathers as well as other teenage recruits, they carried camping gear and could have been friends off to a festival, except for their assault rifles. At the time, I wrote “18 and 19-year-old lads have always gone off to war. I thought in Europe we’d got past that.” A few weeks later, Maxsym and Dmytro were in uniform and manning a checkpoint just behind the Kyiv front line, still students joking about their parents.

Both fought in the battle of Kyiv. Dmytro chose to leave the army, his right as a student volunteer, when the fight switched to the east. He is preparing to fight again if necessary, training to be an officer at the National Military University. Maxsym stayed in uniform, serving in the front line in the east for more than two years. Now he is an officer working in military intelligence.

I have stayed in touch with them as, like millions of other young people here, war shapes their adult lives in ways they never expected. Trump’s move towards Moscow makes them feel almost as if they have to start again.

“We mobilised,” Dmytro says. “We mobilised our resources, our people, and I think it’s time that we repeat it once again.”

Unlike the men in the forest on the Kursk border, they follow the news. Donald Trump’s diplomatic and strategic bombshells, starting at the Munich security conference only 10 days ago, reminds them of the infamous deal Britain’s prime minister Neville Chamberlain made at Munich in 1938, forcing Czechoslovakia to capitulate to the demands made by Adolf Hitler.

“It’s similar,” Maxsym said. “The West gives an aggressor an opportunity to occupy some territories. The West is making a deal with the aggressor, with the United States in the role of Great Britain.”

“It’s a very dangerous moment for the entire world, not only for Ukraine,” Maxsym went on. “We can see that Europe is starting to wake up… but if they wanted to be ready for the war, they should [have] begun a few years ago.”

Dmytro agreed about the dangers ahead.

“I think that Donald Trump wants to become like a new Neville Chamberlain… Mr. Trump should be more focused on becoming more like Winston Churchill.”

If you’re a real estate developer, as Donald Trump was before he went into reality TV and then presidential politics, demolition makes money. Acquire a property, tear it down, rebuild and win. The trouble with that strategy in foreign policy is that sovereignty and independence don’t have a price tag. Trump boasts he puts America first, but he is not prepared to accept that non-Americans can feel the same about their own countries.

Since Trump was sworn in for the second time as president of the United States, he has been swinging the wrecking ball. He sent Elon Musk into the federal government to recoup billions of dollars he claims are being stolen or wasted. Abroad, Trump the demolition man has set about the assumptions that underpin the 80-year alliance between the US and European democracies.

Donald Trump is unpredictable, but much of what he is doing he has talked about for years. He is not the first American president to resent the way its European allies have saved money by sheltering behind the US defence budget. The phrase used by his defence secretary Pete Hegseth to his Nato partners, that “President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker” was a conscious reference back to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

A US government document from 4 November 1959 records his frustration. It says: “The President said that for five years he has been urging the State Department to put the facts of life before the Europeans He thinks the Europeans are close to ‘making a sucker out of Uncle Sam.'”

Trump wants payback. He demanded half a trillion dollars of mineral rights from Ukraine. Zelensky turned that deal down, saying he couldn’t sell his country. He wants security guarantees in exchange for any concessions.

In private, European politicians and diplomats recognise that, with Joe Biden, they gave Ukraine enough military and financial support not to lose to Russia, but never enough to win. The argument for more of the same is that Russia, weakened by sanctions and drained of manpower as its generals squander their men’s lives, will eventually lose a war of attrition. That is far from certain.

Wars usually end with agreements. Germany’s unconditional surrender in 1945 was a rarity. The complaint against Trump is that he has no real plan, so he has followed a gut instinct to get closer to Vladimir Putin, a man he admires. Trump seems to believe that strong leaders from the most powerful states can bend the world into the shape they want. The concessions Trump has already offered to Putin reinforce the idea that his top priority is normalising relations with Russia.

A more credible plan would have been to include a way to make Putin drop ideas that are lodged deep in his geostrategic DNA. One of the strongest is that Ukraine’s sovereignty must be broken and control of the country returned to the Kremlin, as it was in Soviet times and before that in the empire of Russia’s Czars.

It is hard to see how that happens. The idea is as unlikely as Ukraine surrendering its independence to Moscow. Europe’s security is being turned upside down by the war in Ukraine. No wonder its leaders are so badly rattled by all they have heard and seen this month.

Their challenge is to find ways to avoid their young people being forced into the unexpected world of war that has enveloped Maxsym Lutsyk, the 22-year-old Ukrainian combat veteran.

“Everyone changed, and I have changed. I think that every Ukrainian matured during these three years. Everyone who entered the military and everyone who was fighting for such a long time drastically changed.”

In the three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of photographers have documented the human impact of the war on the front line and in civilian areas.

Some of them have shared stories about their photos which have appeared in BBC coverage since February 2022.

Prior to the full-scale war, this husband and wife team worked as wedding and portrait photographers in the Black Sea port city of Odesa. They soon moved “from capturing love stories, to documenting Russian war crimes”, recalls Vlada.

She knows first-hand the risks in her work. An explosion on a visit to the Donetsk region in 2023 left her with shrapnel lodged deep in her side, which doctors decided could not be removed.

This powerful shot taken by Kostiantyn Liberov in the summer of 2024 was featured in Paul Adams’ report on the Ukrainian offensive over the Russian border in Kursk.

A soldier is seen consoling his desperate comrade after returning from an assault in which a fellow serviceman was killed.

For Liberov, the image mirrors some of the confusion within the military over the operation.

“To lose your friend in an attack inside Russia, rather than defending our country in Ukraine, is very difficult,” he said. “I took this photo because of the emotional impact it had on me. It says a lot about the situation and how hard it was for them.”

Photographing such deeply affecting scenes has taken its toll on local photojournalists. “It’s not something we talk about a lot with colleagues as it’s painful,” says Vlada. “You are in a very hard situation, and no-one quite understands what the solution can be.”

One 2023 photo of hers captures a member of Ukraine’s White Angels police unit after an unsuccessful attempt to convince one of the last remaining residents to leave the eastern city of Aviidvka before Russian forces sweep in.

The story was part of a BBC article on a devastating 24-hour Russian bombardment.

A man had asked the police unit to evacuate his brother from the basement of a burnt out building, and yet he still refused to leave.

“The next day we could not return because of hard shelling,” Vlada remembers. “The situation got much worse and I’m not sure he could have survived. It hurts knowing you cannot return to these places.”

In documenting so much loss and suffering, the couple have found a deeper appreciation of moments of joy.

Dmytro, who has fought in Ukraine for more than a decade, was photographed after his wife gave birth in March 2024.

“We used to take photos of him in the trenches. And then you see this big, brave soldier crying while he takes his small daughter in his hands, and you understand soldiers like him fight for these moments. Not just for themselves, but for everyone in Ukraine.”

Since 2016, Valeria Demenko has chronicled the work of Ukraine’s state emergency service (DSNS) in the north-eastern Sumy region, and she now joins rescue teams deployed to areas hit by Russian shelling.

“It’s always difficult… you never know what danger awaits you. It is especially difficult when residential buildings come under attack”.

One moment engraved on her memory involved a striking image featured in a story in March 2024 showing emergency workers at the scene of a five-storey building that collapsed after Russian shelling, with residents still inside.

Valeria recalls how emergency workers attended the site for four days straight. They found four dead, but never recovered the body of a missing girl.

“There was a doll on one of the upper floors… it meant a child was living there, and there may have been more.”

Although all her colleagues are emotionally stretched, she wants the world to see their work: “We give every last ounce of strength to document Russia’s crimes against peaceful Ukrainians.”

Alexander Ermochenko has spent the past 11 years documenting Ukraine’s war as a photojournalist in the eastern Donetsk region.

He has often reported in Russian-controlled territory too and “never thought I’d be photographing war in my home”.

“The fear on the face of the owner of a destroyed house is the same on both sides of the front. It is always important to show that blood has the same red colour.”

The BBC has less access to photojournalists reporting from Russia, as the Kremlin restricts access to international journalists and Russian news agencies are largely state-run.

The BBC approached a Russia-based photographer to contribute to this story but received no response.

In the above picture, Ermochenko captured jubilant pro-Russian activists on 21 February 2022 after Vladimir Putin declared their eastern region independent. It was published as part of the BBC’s coverage of that fateful moment.

He describes how the photo came about “accidentally” – a powerful reminder of the potential impact of a photographer’s split-second decision to raise their camera.

Ukraine said 300 people were killed when Russian planes bombed Mariupol theatre in March 2022.

The following month, Alexander Ermochenko captured this image, featured in Hugo Bachega’s report, in which the photographer conveys the aftermath of a massacre alongside everyday life.

“The destruction was absolute,” he remembers, “with destroyed nine-storey buildings looking like a Hollywood set. But they are real, and recently inhabited by people.”

“What was most surprising was that life continued, despite the fighting in neighbouring streets. People looked calm, but in fact they were deeply shocked by what was happening.”

This photo, used in our live reporting of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant shelling in November 2022, illustrates the difficulty in photographing the war.

“Pictures of the plant were rare at that time,” says Ermochenko. “It is constantly under guard, though the soldiers themselves perfectly illustrate the situation.”

Despite the challenges he and his colleagues face, he says “the war is not only a part of my professional career, but a big part of my whole life… no matter how difficult it is, I will continue.”

Based in Kyiv, Alina Smutko understands the human impact of this war through her work as a photojournalist and from personal experience.

“I’ve experienced Russian missiles and drone attacks on the city almost non-stop for three years. During this time, I’ve been constantly worried about my parents, child, friends and colleagues.”

She feels lucky that her home is intact and her loved ones alive, after witnessing a missile attack on her neighbourhood from her bedroom window.

Initially, she and her friends and family would check in with each other on a daily basis after the full-scale Russian invasion.

But the frequency of attacks has forced residents to learn to live with the war and maintain as normal a life as possible.

The toll on her profession has been hard.

“We see how our colleagues – photojournalists in particular – were killed or wounded during this invasion. We lost one of our team members, and another colleague has been badly wounded.”

Smutko tries not to “overthink” what she does, but believes it is important to share the effects of the war with the world.

“I think it helps somehow, but I don’t believe in the idea that a picture can stop a war. If it could, we would not have lost so many lives here.”

“I still believe that documenting is important. Because if something hasn’t been photographed, it hasn’t happened.”

“This work has to be done… I just do my best.”

Indian authorities have banned two highly-addictive opioids in response to a BBC investigation which found they were fuelling a public health crisis in parts of West Africa.

In a letter seen by the BBC from India’s Drugs Controller General, Dr Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi said permission to manufacture and export the drugs had been withdrawn

BBC Eye found one pharmaceutical company, Aveo, had been illegally exporting a harmful mix of tapentadol and carisoprodol in countries like Ghana, Nigeria, and Cote D’Ivoire.

India’s Food and Drug Administration said the company’s factory in Mumbai had since been raided and its entire stock seized.

The circular from Dr Raghuvanshi, dated to Friday, cited the BBC investigation in his decision to ban all combinations of tapentadol and carisoprodol, which was to be implemented with immediate effect.

He said this also came after officials had looked into “the potential of drug abuse and its harmful impact on population”.

Tapentadol is a powerful opioid, and carisoprodol is a muscle relaxant so addictive it is banned in Europe.

Carisoprodol is approved for use in the US, but only for short periods of up to three weeks. Withdrawal symptoms include anxiety, insomnia and hallucinations.

The combination of the two drugs is not licensed for use anywhere in the world as they can cause breathing difficulties and seizures and an overdose can kill.

Despite the risks, these opioids are popular street drugs in many West African countries, because they are so cheap and widely available.

Publicly-available export data show that Aveo Pharmaceuticals, along with a sister company called Westfin International, has shipped millions of these tablets to Ghana and other West African countries.

The BBC World Service also found packets of these pills with the Aveo logo for sale on the streets of Nigeria, and in Ivoirian towns and cities.

Nigeria, with a population of 225 million people, provides the biggest market for these pills. It has been estimated that about four million Nigerians abuse some form of opioid, according to the nation’s National Bureau of Statistics.

As part of the investigation, the BBC also sent an undercover operative – posing as an African businessman looking to supply opioids to Nigeria – inside one of Aveo’s factories in India, where they filmed one of Aveo’s directors, Vinod Sharma, showing off the same dangerous products the BBC found for sale across West Africa.

In the secretly recorded footage, the operative tells Sharma that his plan is to sell the pills to teenagers in Nigeria “who all love this product”.

Sharma in response replies “OK,” before explaining that if users take two or three pills at once, they can “relax” and agrees they can get “high”.

Towards the end of the meeting, Sharma says: “This is very harmful for the health,” adding that “nowadays, this is business”.

Sharma and Aveo Pharmaceuticals did not respond to a request for comment when the BBC’s initial investigation was published.

India’s Food and Drug Administration said a sting operation saw Aveo’s entire stock seized and further production halted in a statement on Friday. Further legal action will be taken against the company, it added.

The agency said it was “fully prepared” to take action against anyone involved in “illegal activities that tarnish the reputation of the country”.

The FDA has been instructed to carry out further inspections to prevent the supply of the drugs, it said.

It looked small at first, in the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Yet as we approached the USS Carl Vinson it filled the view out of the back of the Osprey tilt-rotor which was carrying us there, its deck packed with state-of-the-art warplanes. At nearly 90,000 tonnes, and more than 300 metres in length, the nuclear-powered Carl Vinson is one of the largest warships ever built.

Watching its FA18 and F35 fighter jets being hurled into the air every minute or two by the carrier’s steam catapults is a spine-tingling experience, a procedure managed with impressive composure by the crew on the crowded deck.

An untimely Pacific squall which drenched us and everything else did not slow them at all.

Even after years of rapid advances in Chinese military capabilities, the United States is still unrivalled in its capacity to project force anywhere around the world with its fleet of 11 super-carriers.

But does a $13bn (£10bn) aircraft carrier which the latest Chinese missiles could sink in a matter of minutes make sense any more – particularly in the age of Donald Trump?

We had been invited onto the Carl Vinson to see another side of US carrier strategy, one which emphasises American friendliness, and willingness to work with allies – something you don’t hear much in Washington these days.

The Carl Vinson was taking part in an exercise with two other aircraft carriers and their escorting destroyers from France and Japan, about 200km east of the Philippines. In the absence of wars to fight, US carrier groups spend much of their time doing this, learning how to operate together with allied navies. Last year they held one exercise that brought together ships from 18 navies.

This one was smaller, but was the first in the Pacific involving a French carrier for more than 40 years.

Down in the massive hangar, below the noisy flight deck, Rear Adm Michael Wosje, commander of the Carl Vinson’s strike force, was sitting with his French colleague, Rear Adm Jacques Mallard of the carrier Charles de Gaulle, and his Japanese colleague Rear Adm Natsui Takashi of the Kaga, which is in the process of being converted to Japan’s first aircraft carrier since World War Two.

The Charles de Gaulle is the only warship in the world which matches some of the capabilities of the US super-carriers, but even then is only half their size.

All three admirals were brimming with bonhomie.

The fraught scenes in Europe, where President Trump’s men were ripping up the rule book which underscored the international order for the past 80 years, and telling one-time allies they were now on their own, seemed a world away.

“Our network of strong alliances and partnerships, such as those that we share with France and Japan, is a key advantage of our nations as we confront our collective security challenges,” said Adm Wosje. In impeccable English Adm Mallard concurred: “This exercise is the expression of a will to better understand each other, and to work for the defence of compliance in international law.”

No one mentioned the radical new views emanating from Washington, nor did they mention an increasingly assertive China, although Adm Natsui might have had both in mind when he said Japan now found itself in “the most severe and complex security environment. No country can now protect her own security alone.”

Down in the warren of steel corridors which make up the living quarters of the 5,000 men and women on the Carl Vinson, the official portraits of the new president and vice-president were already hanging, the one of Trump with its now familiar pugilistic glower. We were not permitted to interview the crew, and politics would have been off-limits anyway, but some of those on board were curious what I thought of the new administration.

Internet access on board is spotty, but they do keep in touch with home. We were told they even get Amazon deliveries while at sea, picked up from designated collection points.

It is a fair bet then that there is plenty of discussion of what President Trump has in store for these giants of the navy. Elon Musk has already vowed to bring his cost-cutting wrecking ball to the Pentagon and its $900bn budget, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has welcomed that, although, he stressed, the Pentagon is not USAID which President Trump has vowed to shut down completely.

In the hangar we watched the crew maintaining the aircraft, surrounded by packing cases and spare parts. We were warned not to film any exposed parts of these technological marvels, for fear of revealing classified information. We could not even risk touching the F35 fighters, which have a prohibitively expensive special coating to help conceal them from radar.

They showed us the “Jet Shop” where they repair and test the engines, a technician who identified himself as ‘082 Madeiro’ explained that they needed to carry enough spare parts to keep the planes flying on long deployments, and that after a certain number of hours the engines had to be completely replaced, whether or not they were faulty. There was a brand new engine in its enormous packaging next to him. Cost, around $15m.

Running the Carl Vinson costs around $700m a year.

So will the Trump administration take a knife to the Pentagon budget? Hegseth has said he believes there are significant efficiencies to be found. He has also openly mused about the value of aircraft carriers. “If our whole power projection platform is aircraft carriers, and if 15 hypersonic missiles can take out our ten aircraft carriers in the first 20 minutes of conflict, what does that look like?”, he said in an interview last November.

The debate about the utility of aircraft carriers is not new. It goes right back to when they first appeared a century ago. Critics today argue that they are too vulnerable to the latest generation of Chinese ballistic and hypersonic missiles, forcing them to stay at a distance from the Chinese coast which would put their aircraft out of range. The money, they say, would be better spent on newer technology.

There is something archaic about these massive, welded hunks of steel, that seemed to have their heyday in the Pacific War of the 1940s. Yet in the vast expanse of the ocean, with few airfields, it has proved difficult to do without them. Supporters argue that, with their escorts of guided-missile destroyers, the super carriers can defend themselves quite well, and that they are still hard to sink. Downsize these carriers, to carry only helicopters or planes which can land and take off vertically as many countries have done, and you end up with vessels which are even more vulnerable.

It is worth noting that China too believes in the value of aircraft carriers; it has already built three. And as floating symbols of US prestige, they may appeal to President Trump, a man known for his love of flamboyant structures, whatever the economic arguments for and against them.

At his Senate confirmation hearing Pete Hegseth said the Trump administration would prioritise increased ship-building, although he did not say how this can be achieved. The US has only four naval shipyards left; China has, by some estimates, more than 200 times the ship-building capacity of the US. He also told his counterparts in Japan and South Korea that he wanted to deepen defence co-operation with them. Europe may be on its own, but it seems Asian allies will get the attention of this White House as it focuses on the strategic challenge posed by China.

Three new Ford-class nuclear carriers, the next generation after the Carl Vinson, are currently under construction, although two will not be in service until the next decade. The plan is to complete ten of this new class of carrier, and so far there have been no indications that the Trump administration wants to change that. For all its many critics, the US super-carrier is probably here to stay.

Millie Bobby Brown, Zoe Saldaña, Mikey Madison and Timothée Chalamet were among the stars walking the red carpet ahead of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards on Sunday.

Black was very much the new black as a huge number of the nominees wore dark dresses and tuxedos as they posed for pictures in Los Angeles.

But plenty of stars also added a splash of colour to their outfits ahead of the ceremony, which celebrates the best television and film performances of the last year and is voted for by fellow actors.

Here are just a few of the film and TV stars who posed for photos before the ceremony got under way.

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For as long as Nelly Naisula Sironka can remember she has never wanted children – and with one irreversible decision the 28-year-old Kenyan has ensured she never will get pregnant.

Last October, she took the definitive step of undergoing a sterilisation procedure known as tubal ligation – permanently closing the door on motherhood.

“I feel liberated,” the organisational development expert tells the BBC, adding that it has ensured her future is now entirely her own.

The operation prevents pregnancy by blocking a woman’s fallopian tubes and is sometimes referred to as “getting your tubes tied”.

Between 2020 and 2023, roughly 16,000 women in the East African country underwent tubal ligation, according to Kenya’s health ministry.

It is unclear how many of these women didn’t already have children.

Yet Dr Nelly Bosire says the kinds of women coming forward seeking sterilisation in Kenya is changing.

“Traditionally, the most common candidates for tubal ligation were women who already had multiple children,” the Nairobi-based gynaecologist told the BBC.

“But now, we are seeing more women with fewer children opting for the procedure.”

Sterilisation is only recommended for women who are certain they do not want to have biological children in the future, as reversal is difficult.

“Doctors don’t typically encourage tubal ligation because the success rate of a reversal is very poor,” said Dr Bosire.

Despite coming from a large family, Ms Sironka said she never felt pressured to start her own – though societal norms in Kenya do place an expectation on women to have children.

She credits her father with her stance as he encouraged her to focus on education – and gave her a love of reading.

Books by US feminist authors like Toni Morrison, Angela Davis and bell hooks were a revelation.

“I interacted with women’s life stories that didn’t feature children at all,” said Ms Sironka, who is now the chief of operations at Feminists in Kenya, an organisation which works to end gender violence.

“It made me realise that a life like this was possible.”

She had contemplated sterilisation for years, but decided to go ahead after saving up the money for the operation and finding herself in a stable job that allowed her to take time off.

It cost her 30,000 Kenyan shillings (£190; $230) at a private hospital.

Ms Sironka felt that women’s rights were being eroded around the world – especially as women in the US lost the constitutional right to abortion in 2022, which also influenced her decision.

It made her fear that a woman’s right to control her own body might be eroded elsewhere – and that she should do the procedure while she still could.

“Within Africa and in America, there has been a rise in fascism and authoritarian regimes, a perfect example of such is Kenya,” she argued.

When she told her family, it did not come as a surprise to them, as she had always been very vocal about her desire for a child-free life.

And as for dating and relationships?

“I’m still thinking about it,” she said with a shrug.

And Ms Sironka is not alone in choosing a child-free life, challenging traditional expectations of womanhood.

Across social media, there are those speaking openly about their choice not to have children and undergo sterilisation.

Among them is Muthoni Gitau, an interior designer and podcaster.

She shared her tubal ligation journey in a 30-minute YouTube video last March, explaining her decision to have the procedure.

“I think the first time I ever articulated… [that] I did not want to have children, I was about 10,” she told the BBC.

Her mother was heavily pregnant at the time, and a random question about her future popped into the conversation.

“I saw a possible partner. I saw travelling. I just never saw children,” she said.

Like Ms Sironka, Ms Gitau’s decision was driven by a strong conviction to live life on her own terms.

After trying birth control pills, which she said made her nauseous, she sought a more permanent solution.

When she first approached a doctor about tubal ligation at the age of 23, she was met with resistance.

She was given what felt like a sermon about how children were a blessing from God.

“He asked me, ‘What if I meet someone who wants kids?'” she said.

The doctor seemed to have more consideration for an “imaginary person” rather than the actual patient sitting in front of him, she said.

Ms Gitau said the dismissal was “heart breaking”. It was another decade before her wish was finally granted.

Dr Bosire points out that a significant challenge in Kenya is getting medics to shift their mindset and truly appreciate a patient’s right to make decisions about their health.

“This ties in with our culture, where people believe it isn’t normal for women to want a tubal ligation,” she said.

Another Kenyan gynaecologist, Dr Kireki Omanwa, admitted the issue was a matter of debate amongst colleagues and in medical circles.

“It remains inconclusive,” he told the BBC.

But Ms Gitau was not deterred and last year approached another doctor – this time at a non-governmental organisation that provides family planning services.

She was armed with a bullet-point list of reasons to support her decision and was relieved to find there there was no pushback: “The doctor was very kind.”

Currently single, she is living happily with her decision, which she feels gives her control over her own life.

The 34-year-old is also happy with the reaction to her video – and relieved that there has been no major backlash.

She says most people online have been cheering her on, which has seen her confidence grow.

“Women can contribute to the world in so many other ways,” she said.

“It does not have to be through raising a whole human being. I am grateful to live in a generation where choice is a thing.”

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While drinking tree sap does not immediately sound appealing, Canadian producers are hoping that it will be the next must-try soft drink around the world.

We have all heard of maple syrup, which is made by boiling down the sap of maple trees to produce a thick, sweet, golden-to-brown coloured syrup that is typically poured over pancakes.

What is far less well known is that you can drink the sap itself, which is called maple water. Clear in colour, it contains just 2% natural sugars, so it is only slightly sweet.

A small but growing number of producers in Canada are now selling this maple water in bottles or cartons, after first giving it a filter and pasteurisation to kill off any microbes.

“People feel like they’re drinking the wild Canadian forest,” says Yannick Leclerc of Maple3, a producer of maple water drinks, based in Quebec City.

Advocates point to the fact it is a natural drink, and makers hope that it can steal some sales from the existing similar product – coconut water. The latter is made from water that naturally forms inside coconuts.

As Canada is far and away the world’s largest producer of maple syrup – accounting for more than 80% of production – it is understandable that the nascent maple water sector is also Canadian. Furthermore, it is centred on the province of Quebec, which makes 90% of Canada’s maple syrup.

Mr Leclerc says that Maple3 is one of the pioneers of the sector. “Nobody [previously] thought about keeping the sap for its hydration purposes verses just boiling it into syrup.”

He founded the company back in 2013 with business partner Stéphane Nolet. In recent years an increasing number of other producers have entered the marketplace.

Mr Leclerc claims that Maple3 has doubled its annual profits since 2021, with sales not just rising across Canada, but in 12 other countries, including France, Japan, Singapore and South Korea. Some 75% of its sales now come from overseas, and it sells both still and sparkling maple water, and fizzy versions with added natural fruit flavourings.

“It’s more than just a local product at this point,” adds Mr Leclerc.

For the maple water industry as a whole, one recent report predicts big growth. It estimated that global sales in 2024 totalled $506m (£409m), with that expected to jump to $2.6bn by 2033.

By comparison, worldwide sales of coconut water reached $7.7bn in 2023, with that expected to grow to $22.9bn by 2029. So maple water has a long way to catch up.

Meanwhile, the global value of the maple syrup market was $1.7bn last year, according to one study.

Beth Czerwony, a dietician with the non-profit medical centre Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, says the growing popularity of maple water is linked to its perceived health benefits.

“When the sap itself is filtered through the tree, it ends up absorbing a bunch of antioxidants,” she says. “So they’re gonna end up having a better performance and a faster workout recovery.”

However, one medical study from 2019 concluded that maple water was “was not superior in rehydration” to normal water.

Jeremy Kinsella owns The Soda Pop Bros in Windsor Ontario, which sells soft drinks under its own brand name, as well as imports from around the world.

His family have been in the industry for nearly a century, and in his lifetime he has seen a fair share of trends come and go.

He says that if maple water is to go mainstream it needs the financial backing and promotion of one of the huge global soft drinks firms.

“It will take a larger soda manufacturer for it to really catch on,” he says.

Mr Kinsella also says that the price of maple water is currently too high. “When it comes down to it, someone’s looking at a can of Coke for a buck and they’re looking at a can of maple water for three bucks, they’re going to try it a couple of times and go back to Coke,” he says.

Marketing maple water more would certainly help it increase sales, says John Tomory, who helps run Pefferlaw Creek Farms in Uxbridge, Ontario. He and his brothers have been making maple syrup commercially for almost 10 years, and for the past four they have also been selling the sap to a Canada brand called Sap Sucker. This makes sparkling sap water with different added flavours, from lime to grapefruit, and lemon to orange.

Mr Tomory says he agrees with this approach to make the sap more interesting. “I know a lot of people have tried just selling the sap as it is, just basic sap from the tree and it’s still, but they haven’t really caught on,” he says.

“So I think carbonating it and adding fruit flavour makes it more interesting. That’s the real innovation.”

Back at Maple3 in Quebec, Mr Leclerc also thinks that the sparkling version of the drink could be the more popular: “It has perks that a normal sparkling water doesn’t have,” he says, such as a more interesting flavour, without having all the bad stuff that [regular] soda has.”

Kyiv and Washington are close to signing a deal over US access to Ukraine’s mineral deposits, a Ukrainian minister says.

Olga Stefanishyna, deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, said on X that “negotiations have been very constructive, with nearly all key details finalised”.

She added that “we are committed to completing this swiftly to proceed with its signature”.

Zelensky first included the offer of an agreement on minerals in the so-called “victory plan” that he presented to Trump last September.

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The idea was to offer the then presidential candidate a tangible reason for the US to continue supporting Ukraine.

On Monday former UK prime minister Boris Johnson told the BBC in Kyiv that such a deal was “the great prize” because it would secure “a United States commitment under Donald Trump to a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine”.

Kyiv estimates that about 5% of the world’s “critical raw materials” are in Ukraine. This includes some 19 million tonnes of proven reserves of graphite, which the Ukrainian Geological Survey state agency says makes the nation “one of the top five leading countries” for the supply of the mineral.

Graphite is used to make batteries for electric vehicles.

Ukraine also has a third of all European lithium deposits, the key component in current batteries. And prior to the Russian invasion, Ukraine’s global share of titanium production, a lightweight metal used in the construction of everything from aeroplanes to power stations, was 7%.

Further, Ukraine has significant deposits of rare earth metals. These are a group of 17 elements that are used to produce weapons, wind turbines, electronics and other products vital in the modern world.

Some of the mineral deposits, however, have been seized by Russia. According to Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s Minister of Economy, resources worth of $350bn (£277bn) remain in occupied territories today.

In 2022, SecDev, a geopolitical risk consultancy based in Canada, conducted an evaluation, which established that Russia had occupied 63% of Ukrainian coal mines, and half of its manganese, caesium, tantalum and rare earth deposits.

Dr Robert Muggah, principal of SecDev, says that such minerals add a “strategic and economic dimension” in Russia’s continued aggression. By seizing them, he says, Moscow denies access revenue for Ukraine, expands its own resource base and influences global supply chains.

Critical minerals “are the foundation of the 21st Century economy,” Dr Muggah explains. They are key to renewable energy, military applications and industrial infrastructure. They play “a growing strategic role in geopolitics and geoeconomics”.

Additionally, the US is keen on a deal for Ukraine’s mineral resources because it wants to reduce dependency on China, which controls 75% of rare earth deposits in the world, according to the Geological Investment Group.

In December China banned the export of some rare earth minerals to the US, having previously limited mineral exports to the US the previous year.

On Monday, ahead of a visit with French President Emmanuel Macron, White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told US news outlet NewsNation that the deal was “about growing the pie economically and binding the US and Ukraine together for the future”.

Prior to Stefanishyna’s assertion that a deal was close, there appeared to be several sticking points.

Last Wednesday, Zelensky rejected US demands for a reported 50% share of its rare earth minerals – which Trump said would reflect the amount of aid the US had provided to Ukraine during its war with Russia.

“I can’t sell our state,” he said.

The provisions of a second draft of the deal on Sunday appeared to be even tougher than in the first document.

Instead of 50/50 revenue split, the revised draft suggested the US wanted full control, Zelensky told journalists at the press conference on Sunday.

Zelenzky is also said to want any deal to include security guarantees.

On Monday former UK prime minister Boris Johnson called an agreement for US access to Ukraine’s minerals “the great prize”.

He rejected suggestions the deal was a “rip-off” and said “what the Ukrainians get from this is a United States commitment under Donald Trump to a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine”.

Some commentators have described the US offer as “colonial” but Kyiv is interested in joint exploration of its resources.

Developing these mineral resources is extremely difficult and expensive, says Iryna Suprun, chief executive of the Geological Investment Group, a mining advisory firm based in Ukraine. She argues that if they can attract American investors to develop their natural resources, it will be highly beneficial for the country’s economy.

“We will get technologies that our mining industry lacks so much,” Ms Suprun explains. “We will get capital. That means more jobs, tax payments. We’ll receive revenue from the development of mineral deposits.”

Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting didn’twait for the final results of his country’s election on Sunday to herald a new era in Europe.

Declaring the US indifferent to this continent’s fate, Friedrich Merz questioned the future of Nato and demanded Europe boost its own defences. Quickly.

This tone from the close US ally – and from Friedrich Merz who is known to be a passionate Atlanticist – would have been unimaginable even a couple of months ago.

It’s a seismic shift. That may read like hyperbole, but what we are now experiencing in terms of transatlantic relations is unprecedented in the 80 years since the end of World War Two.

Big European powers have been shocked to the core by the Trump administration, which suggests it could revoke the security guarantees to Europe in place since 1945.

“I would never have thought that I would have to say something like this in a TV show but, after Donald Trump’s remarks last week… it is clear that this government does not care much about the fate of Europe,” Friedrich Merz said during a post-election debate on Sunday.

• Germany’s conservatives celebrate, but far right enjoy record result

“My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,” he added.

Merz hinted that the endeavour was so urgent that he was not sure on whether the transatlantic alliance leaders gathering for a summit in June “would still be talking about Nato in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defence capability much more quickly”.

Significantly, the forthcoming chancellor put Donald Trump’s America on a par with Russia – widely viewed here as a security threat to Europe more broadly. “We are under such massive pressure from two sides that my absolute priority now really is to create unity in Europe,” Merz said.

The UK prime minister heads to Washington on Thursday, following the visit there on Monday by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Friedrich Merz admits, indirectly, to a sense of Fomo – fear of missing out. By rights Germany should be there, too, this week, he says. Berlin, is one of Europe’s Big Three powers, alongside France and the UK.

And with the US and Russia now pow-wowing bilaterally, about, but not with, Ukraine, it feels like a global return to big-power politics.

But Germany has been MIA [missing in action] for a good while now on the European and the world stage. The outgoing government here was weakened and distracted by vicious internal bickering. This infuriated German voters – who wanted urgent focus on the economy and migration – and European allies, demanding action on Russia, security and defence.

Merz says a top priority for Germany is to re-engage internationally.

The country is already the second-biggest donor of military aid to Ukraine, after the US.

Merz wants to continue that support, but, unlike France and the UK, he’s been reticent about the idea of sending soldiers to Ukraine, to back up an eventual ceasefire there.

Based on Germany’s track record though – it dragged its heels at every stage of Ukraine support, and despite that, ended up delivering more aid than any of its European neighbours – a ‘No’ now, doesn’t mean a ‘No’ forever to committing troops or participating in whatever form a European “reassurance force” in Ukraine may take.

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For now, the soldiers Germans most worry about are the 35,000 American ones, stationed in their country, that make them feel safe.

It’s highly unusual for foreign policy to be a top voter concern at election time. But in Germany this weekend, alongside the economy and migration, voter after voter said they worried about peace in Europe and felt very insecure.

Back in November, Germany’s interior ministry said it was drawing up a list of bunkers that could provide emergency shelter for civilians.

Ukraine may be far away, but Germans feel at great risk from Russia for two reasons.

Firstly, the amount of military equipment their country has sent Ukraine. The far right, Alternative for Germany (AfD), with its “Germany First” slogan, campaigned for Berlin to disengage from Kyiv and to re-establish relations with Russia. A strategy not unlike Donald Trump’s, as the party is fond of pointing out.

Secondly, many in Germany think that if Russia wanted to really destabilise Europe, it might be tempted to strike one of the Big Three with a long-range missile.

France and the UK are nuclear powers. Germany is not. Even its conventional military is woefully understaffed and underequipped (to the immense irritation of European partners), so Germany fears it’s a soft target.

All the more so if President Trump withdraws his active servicemen and women from Germany.

He has pledged to significantly reduce US troop presence in Europe as a whole.

The German sense of deep domestic insecurity prompted Friedrich Merz to suggest last week that he’d look to France and Britain to form a European nuclear umbrella, to replace US nuclear guarantees.

It’s an idea that’s easy to bring up on the campaign trail, but that in reality is hugely complex – involving questions of capabilities, commitment and control.

The reality check: Friedrich Merz will need a lot of money for his plans to secure Germany and Europe, and Germany’s economy is depressed.

He also has to reach agreement with the coalition partner, or partners, with whom he’ll form the next German government – as well as with other European countries, like the UK.

And they may not want to strike such a strident tone against the US.

This election may herald stronger leadership from Germany. But is the rest of Europe ready?

New Zealand’s commerce minister Andrew Bayly has resigned as a government minister after he “placed a hand” on a staff member’s upper arm last week, in what he described as “overbearing” behaviour.

Bayly said on Monday that he was “deeply sorry” about the incident, which he described as not an argument but an “animated discussion”.

He remains a member of parliament.

His resignation comes after he was criticised last October for calling a winery worker a “loser”- including putting his fingers in an ‘L’ shape on his forehead – and allegedly using an expletive directed at them. He later issued a public apology.

“As many of you know, I have been impatient to drive change in my ministerial portfolios,” Bayly said in a statement announcing his resignation.

“Last week I had an animated discussion with a staff member about work. I took the discussion too far, and I placed a hand on their upper arm, which was inappropriate.”

He said a complaint had been made but would not elaborate further on exactly what had happened.

Bayly resigned last Friday, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon later told a press conference, adding that the incident happened three days earlier, on 18 February.

Luxon said on Monday the government’s handling the issue within a week was “pretty quick” and “pretty impressive”. He denied that he should have asked Bayly to step down following October’s winery incident, and said “never say never” when asked if there was a way back for the 63-year-old into another cabinet position.

However, Labour leader Chris Hipkins criticised Luxon as being “incredibly weak”, saying the incident with the staff member should not have been dragged over the weekend.

“Christopher Luxon has once again set the bar for ministerial behaviour so low, that it would be almost impossible not to get over it,” he told reporters on Monday.

Bayly himself said that he had to talk to his family and “would have had difficulty” speaking to the media earlier.

He was first elected to the New Zealand Parliament in 2014 as an MP for the current ruling National Party. He was appointed the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing, and Minister of Statistics following Luxon’s election in late 2023.

He was also appointed minister for the ACC – the national accidental injury compensation scheme – following a cabinet reshuffle earlier this year. Before joining politics, Bayly worked in the finance industry.

Luxon said Scott Simpson, National’s senior whip, would take over the ACC and Commerce and Consumer Affairs portfolios.

Bayly is the first minister to resign of his own accord under PM Luxon, whose favourability has dipped considerably, according to recent polls. Both the 1News-Verian poll and the Post/Freshwater Strategy poll show his National-led coalition government is losing support among voters.

The government has recently come under fire for some policies that were seen by some as anti-Māori, including the introduction of a bill that many argued undermined Māori rights and the dissolution of the Māori Health Authority – which was set up under the last Labour government to try and create greater health equality.

A 19-year-old man who shot dead his mother and two siblings was also planning to commit a shooting at a local school, police have confirmed.

Juliana Falcon, 48, Kyle Prosper, 16, and Giselle Prosper, 13, were found deceased at their home in Luton on 13 September.

Nicholas Prosper, of Leabank in Luton, pleaded guilty to three counts of murder at Luton Crown Court on Monday.

The teenager intended to carry out an attack at a school and a loaded shotgun with more than 30 cartridges was found in a bush after his arrest, police said.

Det Ch Insp Sam Khanna, from Bedfordshire Police, said “fortunately Prosper was apprehended before he could cause any further harm”.

“This was a truly tragic and shocking case in which three innocent members of the same family have been brutally killed by their son and brother,” said Det Ch Insp Sam Khanna.

“What was subsequently uncovered during our investigation left no doubt as to his intentions to carry out an attack at a school.”

Juliana, Kyle and Giselle were found dead when a concerned neighbour called police after they heard a disturbance.

An inquest at Bedford Coroner’s Court in October heard that all three of the victims died from gunshot wounds to the head.

Officers were called to the flat in Leabank, off Wauluds Bank Drive, at about 05:30 BST.

Speaking previously Det Supt Rob Hall, from the region’s major crime unit, said officers who arrived at the scene were “met with such awful circumstances”.

Prosper was arrested shortly after and the firearm was found in the bushes during a search of the surrounding area.

Shortly after the murders, Cardinal Newman Catholic School in Luton said it was “deeply saddened” by their pupil Kyle’s death.

“This is devastating news to all those who knew and loved Kyle and it will take some time to come to terms with the profound sense of loss,” the school said.

A statement on X from Jess Pather, the head teacher at Lea Manor High School in the town, said the school was “deeply shocked” by Giselle’s death.

It added: “Giselle was a beautiful soul and a model pupil.

“She excelled in all her subjects and will be sorely missed, particularly by her friends in Year 9.”

Prosper is on remand at HMP Peterborough, but he appeared for the hearing which lasted less than 10 minutes.

He wore a black t-shirt, dark trousers and black rimmed glasses as he entered his pleas.

The 19 year old sat with his arms folded when he entered the dock.

As well as admitting the three murders, he pleaded guilty to purchasing or acquiring a shotgun without a certificate, possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and possessing an article with a blade or point.

He is due to be sentenced on 5 March.

Pope Francis is resting, but remains “critical” with respiratory and kidney problems, more than a week after being admitted to hospital, the Vatican has said.

“The night went well, the Pope slept and is resting,” a Monday morning statement said.

Vatican sources said the Pope was in good humour and eating normally – a slightly more upbeat message than they’d been giving over the weekend, following his sudden breathing difficulties on Saturday.

The Pope was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on 14 February after experiencing breathing difficulties for several days, where he was first treated for bronchitis before being diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs.

On Sunday, the Pope’s thrombocytopenia – a condition that occurs when the platelet count in the blood is too low – was stable, a statement said.

The Vatican did not offer a prognosis, given the “complexity of the clinical picture”.

On Saturday, the Vatican said that the Pope had experienced a respiratory crisis and was in a “critical” condition, but later on Sunday released an update that he had “not presented any further respiratory crises”.

Earlier on Sunday, the Pope issued a statement asking Catholics to pray for him after he was unable to deliver the traditional Angelus prayer in person for the second week running.

And at 21:00 (20:00 GMT) on Monday, those cardinals who are in Rome will gather outside St Peter’s Basilica to lead prayers for the Pope, together with members of the Vatican curia and clergy from the Diocese of Rome.

They will continue to gather each evening, from now on, to recite the Rosary.

Monday evening’s prayer will be led by Cardinal Parolin, who is Vatican’s secretary of state.

The pontiff is particularly susceptible to pneumonia, an infection of the lungs that can be caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi, after he contracted pleurisy – an inflammation of the lungs – as a young man and underwent a partial lung removal.

The leader of the Roman Catholic church has been admitted to hospital multiple times during his 12-year tenure, including being treated for bronchitis at the same hospital in March 2023.

From Argentina, Pope Francis is the first Latin American, and first Jesuit, to lead the Roman Catholic Church.

Suspended Labour MP Mike Amesbury has been jailed for 10 weeks after he admitted punching a man to the ground in his Cheshire constituency.

Amesbury, 55, who represents Runcorn and Helsby as an independent MP, pleaded guilty to assaulting 45-year-old Paul Fellows after video footage emerged showing the confrontation.

He had his Labour whip removed after the incident in Frodsham, Cheshire, which happened in the early hours of 26 October.

Sitting at Chester Magistrates’ Court, Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram said a pre-sentence report showed Amesbury’s actions were the result of a “anger and loss of emotional control”.

• LIVE: The latest updates as MP Mike Amesbury is jailed

Amesbury was taken down to the cells immediately and an application for bail pending an appeal was refused.

Addressing the MP before handing down the jail term, the magistrate said: “I have to say that I have seen a single punch to the head cause fatal injuries, but note the limited injuries in this case.

“I note that you, Mr Amesbury, continued to punch Mr Fellows when he was on the ground and continued to shout at Mr Fellows. I consider this more culpable.

“You continued to attack when he was on the ground and it may have continued further had a bystander not intervened,” the magistrate said.

“You continued to rant, your position ought to be as a role model to others.”

Passing sentence, the magistrate said the immediate custodial sentence was “necessary both as a punishment and a deterrent”.

He said he accepted the incident was one incident “in an otherwise unblemished career”.

“You have spent your life in public service and served in high office”, he told Amesbury.

But the magistrate said he was of “the view that unprovoked drunken behaviour is too serious to be dealt with unpaid work”.

Mr Ikram said he had also considered how the MP was “unlikely to re-offend”.

But he said: “You were only stopped from going further by members of the public.”

Richard Derby, representing Amesbury, asked the magistrate: “Is that an immediate sentence?”

Mr Ikram nodded and replied: “Yes,” before leaving the courtroom.

Amesbury was then joined in the dock by two security guards who took him down to the cells.

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Mr Derby requested the judge come back into court as he wished to make an application for bail for Amesbury, pending an appeal against his sentence.

Mr Ikram returned to court, sat down, paused briefly, and said: “Application refused.”

Amesbury was also ordered to pay £200 compensation to the victim, costs of £85 and a surcharge of £154.

Following sentencing, a Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party took swift action following Mike Amesbury’s completely unacceptable actions and he is no longer a Labour MP or a member of the Labour Party.

“It is right that Mr Amesbury pleaded guilty and has now been sentenced.

“Local residents in the Runcorn and Helsby constituency deserved better and we look forward to them getting the representation they deserve in the future with a new Labour MP.”

The jail sentence means voters in Amesbury’s constituency can remove the independent MP from his seat with a recall petition.

This can be called if a sitting MP is convicted of an offence that leads to jail time, or even a suspended sentence.

More than 10% of voters must sign the petition in his Runcorn and Helsby constituency for a by-election to be triggered.

A recall petition would also be triggered if the House of Commons decided to suspend him for 10 sitting days or more.

Reform UK party chairman Zia Yusuf called for Amesbury to stand down so a by-election could be held.

He said: “The great people of Runcorn deserve far better than waiting six weeks for a recall petition to take place.”

A further application for bail is expected to be heard at the crown court later this week.

US President Donald Trump has appointed podcaster and commentator Dan Bongino as deputy director of the FBI.

Trump posted on social media that Bongino was “a man of incredible love and passion for our Country” and would serve under newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel.

Bongino, 50, who has worked for the New York police department and the Secret Service, is a staunch Trump ally who has pushed false claims about the 2020 election and other stories.

His appointment, which does not require Senate confirmation, means neither of the top two people running the agency has FBI experience.

The deputy director, who is responsible for supervising all domestic and international operations, is usually a career agent with years of experience.

He hosts daily podcast The Dan Bongino Show whose Facebook posts often attract more attention than those of Fox News and CNN combined.

In Friday’s episode, there was a segment about the FBI, in which he praised Patel and tried to allay Democratic fears the agency will be used to target Trump’s enemies.

“Kash Patel is there for one reason, he is there to make the FBI great again,” he said.

He’s committed to fighting crime and that only, he added, calling his new boss the “change agent” the FBI needs.

“How amazing would it be in four years to look back with a good, high-quality, reformed FBI free of woke culture and DEI that goes out making headline, big arrests of real bad guys destroying your community. How good would that be?”

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Trump said in his social media announcement on Sunday that Bongino would give up the podcast, adding he would help restore fairness, justice, law and order.

Bongino, who has run for Congress three times, hosted Trump on his podcast ahead of last year’s election.

Episodes of his programme from the last week include titles such as “Trump Keeps Delivering And The Libs Are Seething” and “The Only People Who Love Crime Are Criminals!!!”

He has repeated Trump’s false claim that he won the 2020 election and advanced another conspiracy that Joe Biden’s administration was behind the FBI search for classified documents at Trump’s Florida home.

“EVERYONE involved in this DOJ/FBI abomination, from the management down to the agents, must be immediately terminated when the tyrants are thrown out of office,” he said on X.

In 2018, when talking about his career as a prolific conservative political commentator, Bongino said: “My life is all about owning the libs now.”

With a combative persona, he can often be found firing back at Trump’s detractors on X, including a long-running spat with horror author Stephen King.

Patel was last week narrowly confirmed by the Senate to the lead the law-enforcement agency that he has long attacked.

He denied any plans to pursue political vendettas and has promised to “rebuild” the bureau.

The FBI has 38,000 employees and a budget of more than $11bn.

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• Fact-checking Trump claims about Ukraine

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A British couple in their 70s have been arrested by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife Barbie, 75, were returning to their home in Bamiyan on 1 February when they were detained.

The couple have been running training projects in Afghanistan for 18 years and their daughter, Sarah Entwistle, told the BBC she had not heard from her parents in more than two weeks.

It is not known exactly what the couple were arrested for but projects run by them include one training mothers and children, which had apparently been approved by the local authorities despite a ban by the Taliban on women working and on education for girls older than the age of 12.

The couple, who originally met at the University of Bath, married in Kabul in 1970. Since 2009 they have been running training projects in five schools in Kabul and one project in Bamiyan training mothers and children.

While the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 saw most of their staff leave – along with most westerners – Mr and Mrs Reynolds insisted on staying put.

After their arrest, the couple were initially able to keep in touch with their four children by text message. The family knew that their parents were being held by the interior ministry and were assured by them that they were “fine”.

Three days later, however, the texts stopped. The children have heard nothing since.

Ms Entwistle, who lives in Daventry, Northamptonshire, told the BBC: “It’s been over two weeks since the messages stopped, and they were taken into custody.

“We would like the Taliban to release them to go back to their home and continue their work.”

She told the Sunday Times: “They said they could not leave when Afghans were in their hour of need.

“They were meticulous about keeping by the rules even as they kept changing.”

She added: “My mother is 75 and my father almost 80 and [he] needs his heart medication after a mini-stroke. They were just trying to help the country they loved. The idea they are being held because they were teaching mothers with children is outrageous.”

The couple were arrested alongside their American friend Faye Hall and a translator from their business, the PA news agency reported, quoting an employee.

The employee, who described the pair as “the most honourable people I have ever met”, said Mr Reynolds had been denied access to heart medication and his condition was “not good”.

Ms Entwistle and her three siblings have written a letter to the Taliban, pleading with them to release their parents.

“We do not understand the reasons behind their arrest,” they wrote. “They have communicated their trust in you, and that as Afghan citizens they will be treated well.”

“We recognise that there have been instances where exchanges have been beneficial for your government and western nations. However, our parents have consistently expressed their commitment to Afghanistan, stating that they would rather sacrifice their lives than become part of ransom negotiations or be traded.”

The Foreign Office is aware two British nationals have been detained in Afghanistan. But assistance is limited by the fact that the UK does not recognise the Taliban and has no embassy in Kabul.

Taliban official sources have told the BBC they arrested British nationals, who they believe were working for a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Bamiyan province.

An official claimed they had been arrested, about 20 days ago, after using a plane without informing Bamiyan police headquarters or the border security forces.

The Taliban announced women would be banned from working for NGOs in 2022 and in December last year Al Jazeera reported the government had said it would close any NGOs employing women.

US President Donald Trump has “changed the global conversation” on Ukraine, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said, three years on from Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Sir Keir suggested Trump had “created an opportunity” to end the war, in a speech to an international summit on supporting Ukraine in Kyiv.

The prime minister also appeared to contradict President Trump by saying “Russia does not hold all the cards in this war”.

Sir Keir said the West “must increase the pressure even further” on Russia and announced the UK would impose a new round of sanctions on the country.

The prime minister said more sanctions could push President Vladimir Putin “to a point where he is ready not just to talk, but to make concessions”.

On Monday the UK government said it had imposed more than 100 new sanctions on those who continued to aid the invasion, including companies in China, which is the largest supplier of critical goods for Russia’s military.

Meanwhile, the Home Office has announced a move to widen travel sanctions for Kremlin-linked elites.

The government has described the announcement, which also includes measures against North Korean generals accused of sending troops to fight Ukraine in Russia, as the UK’s largest sanctions package since the early days of the invasion.

Sir Keir said the G7 “should be ready to take on more risk” and a larger role in sanctioning Russian’s oil giants, ahead of a call with leaders of the group of wealthy countries.

The speech comes ahead of Sir Keir’s meeting with President Trump at the White House on Thursday.

He is expected to discuss the importance of Ukraine’s independence, US security guarantees and European involvement in peace talks when he speaks to Trump.

It is a high-stakes visits as European leaders scramble to put forward their own proposals for ending the war and keeping Russia at bay.

President Trump has been pushing for a quick deal to end the war in Ukraine, and US and Russia have held initial talks, which excluded Ukraine and European countries.

Trump has said he believes Russia has “the cards” in any peace talks to end the war because its military has “taken a lot of territory”.

There have been diplomatic tensions since President Trump called Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator without elections” last week.

Ukraine’s elections are suspended under martial law, which has been in place since Russia’s full-scale invasion was launched in February 2022.

The prime minister talked about extra sanctions as one way to “deliver an enduring peace” in Ukraine.

He said the other two ways were stepping up UK military support to Ukraine and bringing “our collective strength to the peace effort”.

“President Trump has changed the global conversation over the last few weeks,” Sir Keir said.

“And it has created an opportunity. Now, we must get the fundamentals right.”

He said Ukraine “must have a seat at the table” of peace talks and “a US backstop will be vital to deter Russia from another invasion”.

Sir Keir finished his speech by repeating what a patient at burns unit told him during a visit to Kyiv.

“If Ukraine fails, Europe will be next. That is what’s at stake here.”

Sir Keir has spoken on the phone to French President Emmanuel Macron, who is meeting Trump in Washington on Monday.

In the phone call on Sunday, Sir Keir and Macron “compared notes” on how best to approach President Trump, government sources told the BBC.

British officials said the prime minister is keen for European military powers to present a co-ordinated pitch to the US president, and also discuss economic issues, including tariffs.

Earlier, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged President Zelensky to secure Ukraine’s future by signing a minerals deal with the US.

Johnson said he believed Ukraine would sign a “promising” agreement to give the US access to valuable minerals, in return for security guarantees.

Zelensky had rejected a £400bn ($500bn) demand for mineral wealth, but over the weekend, US officials said they expected to sign a deal this week.

On Sunday, President Zelensky suggested talks had progressed, but rejected any agreement that would have to be “repaid by generations and generations of Ukrainians”.

In a post on X on Monday, Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, said the Ukrainian and US teams were “in the final stages of negotiations regarding the minerals agreement”.

Ukraine holds huge deposits of critical elements and minerals thought to be worth billions of dollars, including lithium and titanium, as well as sizeable quantities of coal, gas, oil and uranium.

Speaking to the BBC, Johnson – a Zelensky ally who was prime minister when the invasion started – said claims by some Americans that Ukraine had provoked the war were “a complete inversion of the truth”.

He described Trump’s comments as “Orwellian”, and said he might as well have blamed the US for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during World War Two.

But Johnson said it was important to focus on a minerals deal, which he called “the great prize”.

He rejected suggestions the deal was a “rip-off” and said “what the Ukrainians get from this is a United States commitment under Donald Trump to a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine”.

“I hope and believe that today, this week, that agreement is going to be signed,” Johnson said.

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India and the UK have restarted free trade talks, nearly a year after negotiations were paused ahead of general elections in both countries.

Jonathan Reynolds, the UK’s business and trade secretary, met his Indian counterpart Piyush Goyal in Delhi on Monday and kicked off the two-day discussions.

The talks focused on “advancing” the negotiations and ensuring that the deal was “balanced, ambitious and mutually beneficial”, Goyal wrote on X.

The countries have held more than a dozen rounds of negotiations since 2022, but an agreement has remained out of reach.

Sticking points include high tariffs in India on Scotch whisky and relaxing fees and visa rules for Indian students and professionals going to the UK.

Talks are being held for the first time after the Labour Party came to power in the UK and Reynolds says securing a deal is a “top priority” for his government.

“Growth will be the guiding principle in our trade negotiations with India and I’m excited about the opportunities on offer in this vibrant market,” he said in a statement ahead of the meeting.

India is forecast to become the world’s third-largest economy in a few years.

The ministers held a joint press conference after the meeting, but neither side offered a deadline for talks to conclude. Deadlines set by former ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss had passed without an agreement being finalised.

For Delhi, the trade talks have assumed renewed significance on the back of US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose reciprocal or tit-for-tat tariffs on imported goods from countries, including India.

The UK is also a high-priority trading partner for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has an ambitious target to grow exports by $1 trillion by FY30.

The UK had announced in November last year – soon after Sir Keir Starmer met PM Modi at the G20 summit in Brazil – that talks would restart in the new year.

The two countries share a trade relationship worth £41bn ($52bn) currently, according to a UK government statement, and a trade deal could unlock new opportunities for both countries.

London has identified sectors that could benefit, which include advanced manufacturing, clean energy and professional and trade services. An agreement could also potentially unlock a valuable market for British cars, Scotch whisky and financial services worth billions of dollars.

India is seeking greater mobility for its working professionals and students to the UK, while pushing for faster visa processing times.

It may also seek concessions for its residents working temporarily in the UK on business visas, who are required to pay national insurance but are still ineligible for social benefits.

Speaking at the joint conference, Goyal said that immigration was not a part of the discussions.

“India has never ever discussed immigration in any free trade negotiations,” he said. Reynolds added that business mobility was a “separate issue” from immigration.

During Reynolds’ visit, he and Goyal will also visit the BT office in the northern Indian city of Gurugram.

UK Investment Minister Poppy Gustafsson is also in India and will be participating in events in India’s two big business hubs – Mumbai and Bengaluru.

After years of scepticism over free trade deals, India has been signing agreements or is in talks with several countries or blocs. Last year, it signed a $100bn free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association – a group of four European countries that are not members of the European Union – after almost 16 years of negotiations.

It is also set to resume negotiations with the European Union this year.

Key US departments within the Trump administration have told staff not to comply with a Saturday email from Elon Musk’s cost-cutting initiative asking what they accomplished in the past week.

The FBI, state department and Pentagon were among agencies that instructed employees not to answer the message. Other department heads advised staff to comply, while some told workers to wait for further guidance before responding.

Musk said failure to respond by Monday at midnight would be interpreted as the employee resigning. President Donald Trump has yet to comment on the email.

The conflicting guidance caused confusion for hundreds of thousands of government bureaucrats as Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) task force leads an outside effort to aggressively reduce government spending.

The message sent to millions of federal employees on Saturday evening came after Musk posted on his social media platform X that government staff would “shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week”.

In a copy of the email obtained by the BBC, employees were asked to respond explaining their accomplishments from the past week in five bullet points – without disclosing classified information.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the federal government’s human resources agency, confirmed the email was authentic.

The message did not mention whether declining to comply could affect employment status, despite Musk’s social media assertion that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation”.

The message also appears to be at odds with an assessment released in February by OPM that said any responses to government-wide emails must be “explicitly voluntary”.

Newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel told his staff in a separate email later on Saturday that they should “pause any responses”.

“FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information,” Patel wrote in a message obtained by CBS News.

“The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with the FBI procedures.”

The state department sent a similar message, saying leadership would respond on behalf of the agency.

“No employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command,” an email from Tibor Nagy, acting undersecretary for management, said.

The Pentagon told its staff: “When and if required, the Department will coordinate responses to the email you have received from OPM.”

The Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the director of US spy agencies gave their employees similar instructions, according to reports.

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In a sign that the OPM email may have come as a surprise to many agencies, a senior figure at the Department of Justice wrote to staff on Saturday evening to say: “Media reports indicate the email was distributed to employees throughout the federal government.”

The message added that “at this point, we have no reason to believe this message is spam or malicious”.

Later on Saturday evening, a follow-up email was sent clarifying that the OPM message was “legitimate” and that “employees should be prepared to follow the instructions as requested”.

The justice department message also came with a warning to staff: “Do not include any sensitive, confidential, or classified information in your response. Should you have any questions about the contents of your response please contact your supervisor.

“If we receive additional guidance or information, I will update all employees, as necessary.”

Agencies such as the Department of Transportation, the Secret Service and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency also encouraged their staff to comply, reports said.

Other departments, including the National Security Agency, the Internal Revenue Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, requested that employees await further guidance.

OPM did not immediately respond to the BBC’s inquiry about whether some staff might be exempt.

The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal employees, criticised the message as “cruel and disrespectful” and threatened to sue.

It is unclear how the email affects any of the roughly three million federal workers who may not have had access their emails this weekend.

Other government employees, such as those at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, were placed on leave in the last month.

The message came hours after Trump praised Musk’s work on social media, adding: “I would like to see him get more aggressive.”

The Democratic ranking member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hit out at the directive in a letter to the OPM.

Congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia wrote that the agency should “immediately clarify that federal employees’ nonresponse to this ill-conceived, weekend email does not constitute resignation”.

“This threat is illegal, reckless, and yet another example of the cruel and arbitrary chaos Mr Musk is inflicting on the people’s government and its dedicated public servants.”

Most Republican members of Congress have been defending Musk and his broader efforts.

Congressman Mike Lawler of New York told ABC on Sunday that Musk’s efforts were a “comprehensive, forensic audit of every department and agency in the federal government”.

But Senator John Curtis, a Republican representing Utah, criticised Musk’s methods, even as said he supported the ultimate goal of Doge.

“If I could say one thing to Elon Musk, it’s like, please put a dose of compassion in this. These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages,” Curtis told CBS.

A British couple in their 70s have been arrested by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife Barbie, 75, were returning to their home in Bamiyan on 1 February when they were detained.

The couple have been running training projects in Afghanistan for 18 years and their daughter, Sarah Entwistle, told the BBC she had not heard from her parents in more than two weeks.

It is not known exactly what the couple were arrested for but projects run by them include one training mothers and children, which had apparently been approved by the local authorities despite a ban by the Taliban on women working and on education for girls older than the age of 12.

The couple, who originally met at the University of Bath, married in Kabul in 1970. Since 2009 they have been running training projects in five schools in Kabul and one project in Bamiyan training mothers and children.

While the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 saw most of their staff leave – along with most westerners – Mr and Mrs Reynolds insisted on staying put.

After their arrest, the couple were initially able to keep in touch with their four children by text message. The family knew that their parents were being held by the interior ministry and were assured by them that they were “fine”.

Three days later, however, the texts stopped. The children have heard nothing since.

Ms Entwistle, who lives in Daventry, Northamptonshire, told the BBC: “It’s been over two weeks since the messages stopped, and they were taken into custody.

“We would like the Taliban to release them to go back to their home and continue their work.”

She told the Sunday Times: “They said they could not leave when Afghans were in their hour of need.

“They were meticulous about keeping by the rules even as they kept changing.”

She added: “My mother is 75 and my father almost 80 and [he] needs his heart medication after a mini-stroke. They were just trying to help the country they loved. The idea they are being held because they were teaching mothers with children is outrageous.”

The couple were arrested alongside their American friend Faye Hall and a translator from their business, the PA news agency reported, quoting an employee.

The employee, who described the pair as “the most honourable people I have ever met”, said Mr Reynolds had been denied access to heart medication and his condition was “not good”.

Ms Entwistle and her three siblings have written a letter to the Taliban, pleading with them to release their parents.

“We do not understand the reasons behind their arrest,” they wrote. “They have communicated their trust in you, and that as Afghan citizens they will be treated well.”

“We recognise that there have been instances where exchanges have been beneficial for your government and western nations. However, our parents have consistently expressed their commitment to Afghanistan, stating that they would rather sacrifice their lives than become part of ransom negotiations or be traded.”

The Foreign Office is aware two British nationals have been detained in Afghanistan. But assistance is limited by the fact that the UK does not recognise the Taliban and has no embassy in Kabul.

Taliban official sources have told the BBC they arrested British nationals, who they believe were working for a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Bamiyan province.

An official claimed they had been arrested, about 20 days ago, after using a plane without informing Bamiyan police headquarters or the border security forces.

The Taliban announced women would be banned from working for NGOs in 2022 and in December last year Al Jazeera reported the government had said it would close any NGOs employing women.

Conclave was the big winner at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards on Sunday, leaving the Oscars race too close to call with one week to go.

The Pope selection drama won the ceremony’s top prize, best ensemble cast, continuing its late-season momentum after taking best film at last week’s Baftas.

Other winners included Demi Moore and Timothée Chalamet, both of whom head into Sunday’s Academy Awards with their chances of winning boosted.

British actor Ralph Fiennes accepted Conclave’s prize, thanking director Edward Berger for his “perception, insight and care”.

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Earlier in the ceremony, his co-star Isabella Rossellini said the film’s cast “want to wish Pope Francis a quick recovery” after he was diagnosed with pneumonia.

The SAG winners are voted for by fellow actors. In a night peppered with celebrations of the actors’ union, Fiennes said: “We do recognise the supreme importance of community in our work and in the world.”

Conclave, which focuses on a group of gossipy and scheming cardinals in Rome, failed to win any other awards, but its victory in the top category leaves it in a strong position ahead of the Oscars on 2 March.

The best picture race has been wide open this year, with The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez winning at the Golden Globes, Conclave at the Baftas and now SAG Awards, and Anora at a string of industry guilds including those voted by producers, writers and directors.

Moore’s win for body horror The Substance is the latest twist in a tight best actress race – the category is seen as a dead heat between her and relative newcomer Mikey Madison, who won the Bafta.

“This is extraordinary, and so deeply meaningful,” Moore said as she collected her SAG trophy.

She recalled getting her first SAG card aged 15 “changed my life because it gave me meaning, it gave me purpose, and it gave me direction”.

“I was a kid on my own who had no blueprint for life, and I certainly knew nothing about acting. But I watched, and I listened and I learned from all of you.

“You have all been my greatest teachers, and I am so grateful that I have continued over these many years to be able to try, and sometimes succeed and sometimes fail, but to be able to keep going.”

The Substance sees Moore play an ageing aerobics instructor who takes a black market drug to create a younger and more beautiful version of herself.

Elsewhere, Chalamet was a surprise winner in best actor thanks to his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, beating Adrien Brody who has been winning the category throughout awards season.

“I know the classiest thing would be to downplay the effort that went into this role and how much this means to me,” Chalamet said in his speech.

“But the truth is, this was five-and-a-half years of my life, I poured everything I have into playing this incomparable artist, Mr Bob Dylan, an American hero, and it was the honour of a lifetime playing him.”

He concluded: “The truth is, I’m really in pursuit of greatness. I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats, I’m inspired by the greats.

“This doesn’t signify that, but it’s a little more fuel, a little more ammo to keep going.”

A Real Pain star Kieran Culkin was named best supporting actor for his performance as one of two cousins travelling across Poland in remembrance of their grandmother.

“Thank you Sag-Aftra for this incredibly heavy award,” he joked as he was handed his trophy on stage.

He described the award as a “huge honour”, and thanked the sister of his director Jesse Eisenberg for suggesting him for the role.

“He cast me in this movie without auditioning me, or seeing my work in anything,” Culkin recalled, “but he cast me because his sister told him to, so yes thank you for Jesse for putting me in this movie, but I want to take a moment to thank your sister Hallie.

“Thank you Hallie for thinking of me and putting my name in your stupid brother’s ear.”

Zoe Saldaña continued her dominance of the supporting actress category for her performance in Spanish-language musical Emilia Pérez, about a Mexican drug lord who changes gender.

“I’m proud to be part of a union that allows me to be who I am,” Saldaña said.

“I believe everyone has the right to be who we are, and Emilia Pérez is about truth and it’s about love.

“Actors now more than ever before have to tell stories that are beautiful and thought provoking and live within the spectrum of artistic freedom.”

Wicked went home empty handed from SAG despite having the most nominations, while best picture frontrunner Anora also failed to repeat any of its recent precursor wins.

Elsewhere, Jamie Lee Curtis announced the winner of best actor in a limited series by saying: “And the award goes to the man who gave me Covid at the Golden Globes… Colin Farrell.”

“Guilty as charged,” joked Farrell as he took to the stage, “but Brendon Gleeson gave it to me, so I was just spreading the love.”

Accepting his trophy for The Penguin, Farrell said being an actor meant “you don’t get to fully grow up, you get to keep the dream of a child alive to try to figure out what it is to be human”.

“It sounds cheesy to say, but we’re all supporting actors. I get it, the big parts go to leads, smaller parts go to day players and extras, but we all support each other.”

British winners included Jessica Gunning, who was recognised for playing a stalker named Martha in Baby Reindeer, one of the biggest TV hits of last year.

“I feel like such a lucky bunny to be in this room, let alone be nominated,” Gunning said.

She recalled working in an office when she was starting out as an actress, and creating a vision board using Power Point which featured inspirational people she wanted to work with.

“Cate Blanchett, Kathy Bates and Jodie Foster were on that vision board,” she noted, referring to her fellow nominees.

“And so to be listed alongside them today, really means more to me than I can ever express.”

She concluded: “Thank you to everybody involved in Baby Reindeer for changing my life, and thank you to [writer and creator] Richard Gadd for making my dreams come true.”

Meanwhile, Shogun swept the TV drama categories, with individual prizes for its stars Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai.

“I’m very happy, but also kind of sad, because this is probably the last time I’m able to celebrate the work with you guys,” Sawai told her co-stars from the stage.

Accepting the TV drama ensemble award, Sanada said: “It was a great journey, and 70% Japanese with subtitles, it must have been a big gamble.

“But Shogun and this award is showing us that acting is a universal language.”

Best comedy series went to Only Murders In The Building, with its star Selena Gomez appearing shocked to have won as she accepted the award.

“We never win, this is so weird,” she said. “I am so grateful, the writers, everyone deserves this, I’m bringing this back to New York for season five.”

The ceremony was hosted by Nobody Wants This star Kristen Bell, who opened the ceremony by welcoming the Los Angeles firefighters who were in the audience.

The Los Angeles Fire Department workers were invited to the event in recognition of their service during the city’s recent wildfires which left 29 people dead and thousands of homes destroyed.

Veteran actress Jane Fonda was this year’s recipient of the lifetime achievement prize, the acting union’s highest honour.

“I love acting, we get to open people’s minds to new ideas, take them beyond what they understand of the world, and help them laugh when things are rough,” she said.

“And for a woman like me, who grew up in the 40s and 50s when women weren’t supposed to have opinions and get angry, acting gave me a chance to play angry women with opinions, which as you know is a stretch for me,” she joked.

“I’m a big believer in unions, they have our backs, they bring us into community, and they give us power. This is really important right now when workers’ power is being attacked and community is being weakened.”

In an impassioned speech which indirectly referenced political turmoil, Fonda concluded: “We mustn’t kid ourselves about what is happening.

“We must not isolate, we must stay in community, help the vulnerable, we must find a way to project an inspiring vision of the future.”

When Annie Makeeva set out from London on a solo trip to Vietnam in December 2022, she never imagined she would be sexually assaulted by a pair of violent “incels” – men who blame women because they are unable to find a sexual partner.

It happened on the first day of her holiday, after Annie had cycled 10km (six miles) into the remote Cat Tien National Park, in the south of the country.

“I decided to cycle along the jungle track and then hike to Crocodile Lake which is their star attraction. I stopped at the end of the track and I saw two guys there – fellow tourists, I assumed.”

But minutes later they followed her into the jungle and attacked her.

“As they walked past me the first man reached out and grabbed me.

“He then said something in Vietnamese to his friend who was on the other side of me. And I looked to see if this friend was coming to my rescue, or was he also going to attack me. And it turns out, yes, he wanted to attack me as well.

“They were both groping me. I shouted for help and realised no-one could hear me.”

Annie, who is from west London, said she got “really scared” when the men began to restrain her and tried to push her down to the floor. She managed to break free and hide behind a tree.

When one of the men again caught hold of her and looked back to his friend for a moment, she punched him hard on the back of the neck, disorientating him.

At this point Annie got out her phone to take a photograph of the men, and this prompted the other man to offer her money to keep quiet.

When she wouldn’t take the money, the power balance shifted and the men began to back off. They made off the way they had come.

Annie then had to decide whether to go in the same direction as the men to where she had left her bike, and cycle 10km back to the hotel, or try to go another 5km onwards to where she knew there would be a park ranger and potentially other tourists who might help her. She decided on the latter.

BBC London has seen a photo of Annie’s bruised upper torso. She did not want this image to be used in this story.

The men were eventually detained by police at the same hotel where Annie was staying.

She says the police decided it was an opportunistic rather than planned attack and it is not clear what penalty, if any, they faced.

Annie contacted the Foreign Office the next day. A spokesperson told the BBC: “We supported a British woman in Vietnam and were in contact with the local authorities.”

Annie told BBC London that when she rechecked the Foreign Office’s advice for female travellers in Vietnam, the guidance had been updated from what it said before her visit.

Struggling to come to terms with what had happened to her, Annie decided to try to find out whether the men had done this before.

She had been encouraged to take a photo of the men’s confiscated ID cards at the hotel and when she returned to the UK she used this information to look up their social media accounts.

What she found horrified her.

“It’s full of violent imagery. It’s extremely misogynistic, it promotes violence against women, violence against western tourists specifically.

“There are pictures of weapons, including handmade weapons, target practice. They describe women as ‘sluts’ and ‘livestock’. And they also keep a tally of women they have attacked. They boast about their attacks and they make fun of us. It’s really chilling.”

One of the men’s social media accounts shows an image of a naked woman being beheaded and the words “the future of women”. Another is full of obscene videos of him masturbating to pornography.

“They’re incels. They’ve posted on their social media accounts explaining that they haven’t been able to find someone to date, someone to be intimate with. They have created this echo chamber of violence against women.

“They made it very difficult for me to go back to my regular life. I stopped hiking. I didn’t like to leave my house at night or really any time,” says Annie, holding back tears.

“I became hypervigilant and that is really exhausting. Can I cross the park to go to my yoga class? Who is behind me on the Tube? Can I even trust the colleague who gets in the lift with me?”

Annie, who works as a translator, says she wants to drive awareness of male violence towards women.

“I also want to protect any women travelling to that area, any time soon.”

She added: “There may be other women out there were attacked who don’t know by whom and why.”

The BBC has contacted the Vietnamese police and the men themselves, via their social media accounts, for comment. So far there has been no response.

Annie is certain there are more victims – something that’s evident from the men’s social media activity.

“In total there have been eight attacks against western tourists, three against local women and one against a Chinese tourist,” says Annie.

“I know that are there other victims out there. I feel extremely lucky in a way because the situation could have been a lot worse.”

Kenya has received 17 mountain bongos – a very rare type of antelope – from a conservation centre in the United States.

The antelopes are third-generation descendants of mountain bongos taken from Kenya in the 1960s.

The return of the critically endangered animals, from the Rare Species Conservation Foundation in Florida, was hailed as a “monumental step” in Kenya’s conservation efforts.

From about 500 in the 1970s, less than 100 mountain bongos are estimated to remain in the wild in Kenya, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service.

The KWS said this was due to habitat loss, poaching, illegal activities, disease, and small fragmented populations.

Tourism Minister Rebecca Miano described the arrival of the bongos at the country’s main airport on Sunday night as “emotional and so cool”, and a benefit for Kenya’s tourism and conservation sectors.

The animals were taken to wildlife sanctuaries in Meru county near Mount Kenya, where they will be nurtured before they are gradually introduced to their natural habitat.

Ms Miano said the mountain bongo, “a species originally only found in Kenya, has suffered untold grief over the decades… dwindling to alarming proportions”.

She said the plan was to grow the population to 700 by 2050.

The mountain bongo, which has a bright chestnut-red colour with narrow white stripes, is the largest African forest-dwelling antelope, according to the KWS.

It is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a Critically Endangered species – with more individuals in captivity than in the wild.

The first repatriation to Kenya was in 2004 when 18 mountain bongos were flown into the country.

KWS director-general Erastus Kanga said Kenya was expecting another batch of the mountain bongos from zoos in Europe in the next three months.

From captivity, the bongos have to go through a series of adaptation phases for them to build the immunity needed to survive in the wild.

In 2022, the head of conservancy at Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy (MKWC) told a Kenyan TV station that some of the bongos repatriated in 2004 had successfully been integrated into the wild and had started breeding.

The MKWC official, Robert Aruho, however, said that other had died from tick-borne diseases, adding that building immunity takes time.

• Rare mountain bongo born at Chester Zoo
• Watch: Kenya’s Mountain Bongo antelope under threat
• Critically endangered antelope arrives at zoo
• Endangered black rhinos die in Kenya reserve
• Kenya: Endangered giraffes killed by low power lines

India and the UK have restarted free trade talks, nearly a year after negotiations were paused ahead of general elections in both countries.

Jonathan Reynolds, the UK’s business and trade secretary, met his Indian counterpart Piyush Goyal in Delhi on Monday and kicked off the two-day discussions.

The talks focused on “advancing” the negotiations and ensuring that the deal was “balanced, ambitious and mutually beneficial”, Goyal wrote on X.

The countries have held more than a dozen rounds of negotiations since 2022, but an agreement has remained out of reach.

Sticking points include high tariffs in India on Scotch whisky and relaxing fees and visa rules for Indian students and professionals going to the UK.

Talks are being held for the first time after the Labour Party came to power in the UK and Reynolds says securing a deal is a “top priority” for his government.

“Growth will be the guiding principle in our trade negotiations with India and I’m excited about the opportunities on offer in this vibrant market,” he said in a statement ahead of the meeting.

India is forecast to become the world’s third-largest economy in a few years.

The ministers held a joint press conference after the meeting, but neither side offered a deadline for talks to conclude. Deadlines set by former ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss had passed without an agreement being finalised.

For Delhi, the trade talks have assumed renewed significance on the back of US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose reciprocal or tit-for-tat tariffs on imported goods from countries, including India.

The UK is also a high-priority trading partner for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has an ambitious target to grow exports by $1 trillion by FY30.

The UK had announced in November last year – soon after Sir Keir Starmer met PM Modi at the G20 summit in Brazil – that talks would restart in the new year.

The two countries share a trade relationship worth £41bn ($52bn) currently, according to a UK government statement, and a trade deal could unlock new opportunities for both countries.

London has identified sectors that could benefit, which include advanced manufacturing, clean energy and professional and trade services. An agreement could also potentially unlock a valuable market for British cars, Scotch whisky and financial services worth billions of dollars.

India is seeking greater mobility for its working professionals and students to the UK, while pushing for faster visa processing times.

It may also seek concessions for its residents working temporarily in the UK on business visas, who are required to pay national insurance but are still ineligible for social benefits.

Speaking at the joint conference, Goyal said that immigration was not a part of the discussions.

“India has never ever discussed immigration in any free trade negotiations,” he said. Reynolds added that business mobility was a “separate issue” from immigration.

During Reynolds’ visit, he and Goyal will also visit the BT office in the northern Indian city of Gurugram.

UK Investment Minister Poppy Gustafsson is also in India and will be participating in events in India’s two big business hubs – Mumbai and Bengaluru.

After years of scepticism over free trade deals, India has been signing agreements or is in talks with several countries or blocs. Last year, it signed a $100bn free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association – a group of four European countries that are not members of the European Union – after almost 16 years of negotiations.

It is also set to resume negotiations with the European Union this year.

US President Donald Trump has “changed the global conversation” on Ukraine, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said, three years on from Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Sir Keir suggested Trump had “created an opportunity” to end the war, in a speech to an international summit on supporting Ukraine in Kyiv.

The prime minister also appeared to contradict President Trump by saying “Russia does not hold all the cards in this war”.

Sir Keir said the West “must increase the pressure even further” on Russia and announced the UK would impose a new round of sanctions on the country.

The prime minister said more sanctions could push President Vladimir Putin “to a point where he is ready not just to talk, but to make concessions”.

On Monday the UK government said it had imposed more than 100 new sanctions on those who continued to aid the invasion, including companies in China, which is the largest supplier of critical goods for Russia’s military.

Meanwhile, the Home Office has announced a move to widen travel sanctions for Kremlin-linked elites.

The government has described the announcement, which also includes measures against North Korean generals accused of sending troops to fight Ukraine in Russia, as the UK’s largest sanctions package since the early days of the invasion.

Sir Keir said the G7 “should be ready to take on more risk” and a larger role in sanctioning Russian’s oil giants, ahead of a call with leaders of the group of wealthy countries.

The speech comes ahead of Sir Keir’s meeting with President Trump at the White House on Thursday.

He is expected to discuss the importance of Ukraine’s independence, US security guarantees and European involvement in peace talks when he speaks to Trump.

It is a high-stakes visits as European leaders scramble to put forward their own proposals for ending the war and keeping Russia at bay.

President Trump has been pushing for a quick deal to end the war in Ukraine, and US and Russia have held initial talks, which excluded Ukraine and European countries.

Trump has said he believes Russia has “the cards” in any peace talks to end the war because its military has “taken a lot of territory”.

There have been diplomatic tensions since President Trump called Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator without elections” last week.

Ukraine’s elections are suspended under martial law, which has been in place since Russia’s full-scale invasion was launched in February 2022.

The prime minister talked about extra sanctions as one way to “deliver an enduring peace” in Ukraine.

He said the other two ways were stepping up UK military support to Ukraine and bringing “our collective strength to the peace effort”.

“President Trump has changed the global conversation over the last few weeks,” Sir Keir said.

“And it has created an opportunity. Now, we must get the fundamentals right.”

He said Ukraine “must have a seat at the table” of peace talks and “a US backstop will be vital to deter Russia from another invasion”.

Sir Keir finished his speech by repeating what a patient at burns unit told him during a visit to Kyiv.

“If Ukraine fails, Europe will be next. That is what’s at stake here.”

Sir Keir has spoken on the phone to French President Emmanuel Macron, who is meeting Trump in Washington on Monday.

In the phone call on Sunday, Sir Keir and Macron “compared notes” on how best to approach President Trump, government sources told the BBC.

British officials said the prime minister is keen for European military powers to present a co-ordinated pitch to the US president, and also discuss economic issues, including tariffs.

Earlier, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged President Zelensky to secure Ukraine’s future by signing a minerals deal with the US.

Johnson said he believed Ukraine would sign a “promising” agreement to give the US access to valuable minerals, in return for security guarantees.

Zelensky had rejected a £400bn ($500bn) demand for mineral wealth, but over the weekend, US officials said they expected to sign a deal this week.

On Sunday, President Zelensky suggested talks had progressed, but rejected any agreement that would have to be “repaid by generations and generations of Ukrainians”.

In a post on X on Monday, Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, said the Ukrainian and US teams were “in the final stages of negotiations regarding the minerals agreement”.

Ukraine holds huge deposits of critical elements and minerals thought to be worth billions of dollars, including lithium and titanium, as well as sizeable quantities of coal, gas, oil and uranium.

Speaking to the BBC, Johnson – a Zelensky ally who was prime minister when the invasion started – said claims by some Americans that Ukraine had provoked the war were “a complete inversion of the truth”.

He described Trump’s comments as “Orwellian”, and said he might as well have blamed the US for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during World War Two.

But Johnson said it was important to focus on a minerals deal, which he called “the great prize”.

He rejected suggestions the deal was a “rip-off” and said “what the Ukrainians get from this is a United States commitment under Donald Trump to a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine”.

“I hope and believe that today, this week, that agreement is going to be signed,” Johnson said.

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