Israel has carried out multiple air strikes on Lebanon after several rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, in the worst violence since a ceasefire came into effect in November.

The Israeli military said it had hit dozens of rocket launchers and a command centre belonging to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia and political group, in southern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s health ministry said seven people, including a child, were killed and 40 injured in the air strikes.

Several armed groups operate in Lebanon, including Hezbollah and Palestinian factions, and no-one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Hours after the first set of strikes, a second wave of attacks were carried out at night on targets that included what the Israeli military described as command centres, infrastructure sites and a weapons storage facility in Lebanon.

Saturday’s rocket attack from Lebanon came days after Israel reinforced its offensive against Hamas, a Hezbollah ally, in Gaza.

The Israeli military said it had intercepted three rockets in the northern Israeli town of Metula, and there were no casualties.

Hezbollah said it had no involvement, and it remained committed to the ceasefire.

The Lebanese military said it had dismantled “three primitive rocket launchers” in the south, and the country’s defence minister said an investigation had been launched into the attack.

The developments put pressure on a fragile truce, brokered by the US and France, that ended more than a year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

Under the terms of the ceasefire deal, the Lebanese military would deploy thousands of additional soldiers to the south of the country to prevent armed groups from attacking Israel.

Hezbollah was required to remove its fighters and weapons, while the Israeli military would withdraw from positions occupied in the war.

But Israel has carried out nearly daily air strikes on what it describes as Hezbollah targets, and has indicated that attacks will continue to prevent the group from rearming.

The Israeli military is still occupying five locations in southern Lebanon, in what the Lebanese government says is a violation of the country’s sovereignty and a breach of the deal.

Israel says the Lebanese military has not yet fully deployed to those areas, and that it needs to remain at those points to guarantee the security of its border communities.

Saturday’s attack is further proof of the challenges facing the Lebanese army, as it tries to exert control over southern areas where Hezbollah has traditionally had a strong presence and support.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, who came to power in January, has said only the state should have arms in the country, in what is seen as a reference to Hezbollah’s arsenal.

On Saturday, he condemned “attempts to drag Lebanon into a cycle of violence”, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the escalation carried the “risk of dragging the country into another war”.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, Unifil, said it was “alarmed by the possible escalation of violence”, urging both Israel and Lebanon to “uphold their commitments”.

Hezbollah was battered in the conflict with Israel: many of its leaders were assassinated, hundreds of fighters killed and much of its arsenal destroyed.

The group faces the huge challenge of providing financial help to its communities affected by the war, and pressure from its opponents to disarm.

Lebanon’s international partners say they will only help the country if the government acts to curb Hezbollah, the most powerful group in Lebanon.

Hezbollah launched its campaign the day after the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, saying it was acting in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The longstanding conflict escalated and led to an intense Israeli air campaign across Lebanon, and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.

The offensive killed about 4,000 people in Lebanon – including many civilians – and led to the displacement of more than 1.2 million residents.

Israel’s stated goal in its war against Hezbollah was to allow the return of about 60,000 residents who had been displaced from communities in the country’s north because of the group’s attacks, and to remove it from areas along the border.

Pope Francis will be discharged from Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Sunday and will need at least two months of rest at the Vatican, doctors treating him have said.

The 88-year-old was admitted to the hospital on 14 February with a severe respiratory infection that resulted in double pneumonia.

During the past five weeks, he presented “two very critical episodes” where his “life was in danger”, Dr Sergio Alfieri, one of the doctors treating the Pope, said.

Pope Francis was never intubated and always remained alert and oriented, Dr Alfieri said. The Pope is not completely healed, but no longer has pneumonia and is now in a stable condition, according to his doctors.

“Today we are happy to say that tomorrow he will be at home,” Dr Alfieri told reporters on Saturday.

The Pope will offer a blessing from his window at the Gemelli hospital on Sunday – the first time he will appear in public since he was admitted to hospital – before returning to his residence at the Vatican.

Dr Alfieri said that patients with double pneumonia lose their voice a little and “especially in the elderly, it will take time for your voice to return to normal”.

On Friday, Cardinal Victor Fernandez had said “high-flow oxygen dries everything out” and as a result the Pope “needs to relearn how to speak”, Reuters had reported.

If the trend of improvement continues, doctors said, the Pope would be able to return to work as soon as possible.

The Vatican had said on Friday that the Pope had seen some improvements in his breathing and mobility.

It had confirmed he no longer uses mechanical ventilation for breathing at night, but was instead receiving oxygen via a small tube under his nose. During the day, he is using less high-flow oxygen.

The Pope has only been seen by the public once since he was admitted to hospital, in a photograph released by the Vatican last week, which showed him praying in a hospital chapel.

Earlier this month, an audio recording of Pope Francis speaking in his native Spanish was played in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City.

His voice was breathless as he thanked the Catholic faithful for their prayers.

Pope Francis has spent nearly 12 years as leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

He has suffered a number of health issues throughout his life, including having part of one of his lungs removed at age 21, making him more prone to infections.

Maria’s life has been reduced to waiting for the next phone call from her husband – never knowing if it might be the last.

Ivan, a 31-year-old Ukrainian fighter pilot, began defending the skies from the very first hours of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, and has now flown more than 200 perilous missions in his old Soviet-era Mig-29 warplane.

The squadron commander has lost several comrades in the war. Some were close friends. Others were godfathers to each other’s children. The location of his current air base in western Ukraine cannot be revealed for security reasons.

But as US-led efforts to negotiate a ceasefire gather pace – and fresh talks with Russia and Ukraine planned on Monday – things have changed.

“If any ceasefire comes [about], we will feel safer,” says Maria.

Across Ukraine, more and more people are openly talking about war fatigue. They’re calling for an end to the most brutal fighting in Europe since World War Two, and for firm guarantees of Western protection to ensure Russia can’t attack again.

At the same time, Maria fears that any deal could involve accepting the loss of four Ukrainian regions in the south-east partially seized by Russia, as well as Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014. “Nobody will give us back our lost territories”, the 29-year-old says. “They will stay under Russian occupation.”

She asks: “What [did] so many men, our heroes, sacrifice their lives for if Ukraine can’t fight for them, and is forced to make concessions?”

When Maria and Ivan met, the prospect of a full-scale war in Ukraine seemed impossible.

Maria was an English teacher at a local children’s club in western Ukraine attended by the daughter of one of Ivan’s comrades. The comrade offered to set Ivan up with Maria, who he described as “a very nice teacher”.

At first Ivan felt pressured by the arrangement – but he eventually agreed to come.

He was glad he did. They soon started seeing each other.

On one of their first dates, Ivan warned Maria he had a dangerous job. She said it wouldn’t be a problem. Ivan was courageous, caring and protective, and Maria was falling in love.

He soon had to go on a long-term deployment far from home. They lost touch for a year, and it seemed like their relationship might be over.

But then he returned with a giant bouquet of flowers and promised her he didn’t want to waste her time. Within a year, the two were married and they were soon expecting their first child.

It was only once Russia launched its full-scale invasion that Maria understood what he’d meant about the harsh realities of his work.

Their daughter Yaroslava was only three months old at the time. Ivan missed her early milestones: helping her take her first steps, seeing her first teeth come through and comforting her during her first illness.

“When Ivan is deployed far away from home, I send him thousands of our daughter’s photos to help him feel that at least virtually he is spending the day with us,” says Maria.

On one nearby mission, Maria put her daughter in a pram and rushed to a checkpoint where he could run out to catch them for five minutes.

She brought him home-made food. They talked. And found that every minute together was worth the months they’d spent waiting.

Before Yaroslava could even speak, she would use her tiny hands to gesture that her dad was flying through the skies.

“Our daughter knows that her dad is a pilot,” she says. “When she had a birthday and her father ate a birthday cake over a video call, we explained to her that he couldn’t be with us as he was defending Ukraine from the Russians.”

The family now have a professional photo taken of them every six months. “It’s very hard for me to say but I have to be completely honest. We never know if it [will be] our final call or meeting,” Maria says, on the brink of tears.

She feels she has to be ready for “everything, including the worst-case scenario”.

During the first year of the war, she would regularly hear about casualties among friends. “You call their wives and can’t find the words to say. And you fear that one day, you may find yourself in the same situation.”

Ukrainians are seeking concrete guarantees of protection by the US and Europe, and an increased supply of Western fighter jets, to deter Russian aggression.

The country has received a number of US-made F-16s and French Mirage fighter jets, but the country’s air force still largely relies on old Soviet-era warplanes – hardly a match for more advanced Russian aircraft.

Maria is cautiously hoping for a ceasefire. It might “freeze” the conflict at best, she says, but finds it difficult to rely on as she doesn’t trust Russia.

Vladimir Putin wants an end to Western military aid to Kyiv and intelligence-sharing with the Ukrainians, as well as a halt to mobilisation in Ukraine.

Many experts say that his demands are simply a pretext to continue the war he launched, in spite of heavy Russian casualties.

There are also fears that Donald Trump – who has publicly stated that ending the war is one of his top priorities – could be preparing a behind-the-scenes deal with Russia which would force Ukraine to accept painful concessions.

Even after a ceasefire, Maria will still be waiting for calls and rare meetings, as the Ukrainian air force will have to stay alert for a long time.

And while there may be peace in Ukraine, she wonders if her husband will ever be at peace again. Maria says Ivan, who has been deeply affected by the fighting on the front line, has a “patriotic soul” and will continue serving even after the war.

Maria feels it is important for him to not feel the casualties were in vain, and remains hopeful that the Russian-held parts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk will one day be returned.

The priority for Maria now is to reassure her husband and offer him optimism. She dreams of a future where her young family can finally start to rebuild their life in a home of their own, in their own country.

“My husband needs to know that we are always waiting for him.”

Orlando police have recovered two sets of earrings worth a combined $769,500 (£597,000) after an alleged thief swallowed them more than two weeks ago.

Jaythan Gilder, 32, swallowed the Tiffany & Co. diamond earrings around the time he was taken into custody on 26 February, police said.

Mr Gilder was monitored by detectives at an Orlando hospital for “more than a dozen days” before the earrings were expelled from his system, according to the Orlando Police Department.

Mr Gilder faces charges of robbery with a mask and grand theft in the first degree.

Tiffany’s has since cleaned the earrings.

Police allege Mr Gilder posed as an assistant to an NBA player so he could be shown “very high-end jewellery” in a VIP room at a Tiffany & Co. store in Orlando, Florida on 26 February.

Mr Gilder allegedly distracted store employees, then ran from the store with two pairs of earrings. The suspect apparently also dropped a diamond ring valued at $587,000 as he fled the store.

When officers caught up with him later that day, they saw Mr Gilder “swallowing several objects believed to be the stolen earrings,” police said.

Officials transporting Mr Gilder to jail allegedly heard him say, “I should have thrown them out the window,” CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, reported.

At the jail, Mr Gilder allegedly asked staff, “Am I going to be charged with what’s in my stomach?”

Police later released an x-ray that appeared to show an individual’s abdomen with a foreign object inside.

Orlando police department said they took Mr Gilder to an area hospital and monitored him for about two weeks until the earrings were recovered.

Detective Aaron Goss said the case “quickly turned into a marathon, not a sprint”.

On 12 March, police said they recovered the fourth Tiffany & Co. earring.

When the earrings were brought back to the Tiffany’s, the store’s master jeweller confirmed that serial numbers on the jewellery matched the stolen pieces, Mr Goss said.

Gilder is currently in custody at the Orange County Jail.

Police allege his criminal history shows a 2022 robbery at a Tiffany & Co store in Texas.

There are 48 separate warrants out for his arrest in Colorado.

Saira Baloch was 15 when she stepped into a morgue for the first time.

All she heard in the dimly-lit room were sobs, whispered prayers and shuffling feet. The first body she saw was a man who appeared to have been tortured.

His eyes were missing, his teeth had been pulled out and there were burn marks on his chest.

“I couldn’t look at the other bodies. I walked out,” she recalled.

But she was relieved. It wasn’t her brother – a police officer who had been missing for nearly a year since he was arrested in 2018 in a counter-terrorism operation in Balochistan, one of Pakistan’s most restive regions.

Inside the morgue, others continued their desperate search, scanning rows of unclaimed corpses. Saira would soon adopt this grim routine, revisiting one morgue after another. They were all the same: tube lights flickering, the air thick with the stench of decay and antiseptic.

On every visit, she hoped she would not find what she was looking for – seven years on, she still hasn’t.

Activists say thousands of ethnic Baloch people have been disappeared by Pakistan’s security forces in the last two decades – allegedly detained without due legal process, or abducted, tortured and killed in operations against a decades-old separatist insurgency.

The Pakistan government denies the allegations, insisting that many of the missing have joined separatist groups or fled the country.

Some return after years, traumatised and broken – but many never come back. Others are found in unmarked graves that have appeared across Balochistan, their bodies so disfigured they cannot be identified.

And then there are the women across generations whose lives are being defined by waiting.

Young and old, they take part in protests, their faces lined with grief, holding up fading photographs of men no longer in their lives. When the BBC met them at their homes, they offered us black tea – Sulemani chai – in chipped cups as they spoke in voices worn down by sorrow.

Many of them insist their fathers, brothers and sons are innocent and have been targeted for speaking out against state policies or were taken as a form of collective punishment.

Saira is one of them.

She says she started going to protests after asking the police and pleading with politicians yielded no answers about her brother’s whereabouts.

Muhammad Asif Baloch was arrested in August 2018 along with 10 others in Nushki, a city along the border with Afghanistan. His family found out when they saw him on TV the next day, looking scared and dishevelled.

Authorities said the men were “terrorists fleeing to Afghanistan”. Muhammad’s family said he was having a picnic with friends.

Saira says Muhammad was her “best friend”, funny and always cheerful – “My mother worries that she’s forgetting his smile.”

The day he went missing, Saira had aced a school exam and was excited to tell her brother, her “biggest supporter”. Muhammad had encouraged her to attend universty in Quetta, the provincial capital.

“I didn’t know back then that the first time I’d go to Quetta, it would be for a protest demanding his release,” Saira says.

Three of the men who were detained along with her brother were released in 2021, but they have not spoken about what happened.

Muhammad never came home.

The journey into Balochistan, in Pakistan’s south-west, feels like you are stepping into another world.

It is vast – covering about 44% of the country, the largest of Pakistan’s provinces – and the land is rich with gas, coal, copper and gold. It stretches along the Arabian Sea, across the water from places like Dubai, which has risen from the sands into glittering, monied skyscrapers.

But Balochistan remains stuck in time. Access to many parts is restricted for security reasons and foreign journalists are often denied access.

It’s also difficult to travel around. The roads are long and lonely, cutting through barren hills and desert. As the infrastructure thins out the further you travel, roads are replaced by dirt tracks created by the few vehicles that pass.

Electricity is sporadic, water even scarcer. Schools and hospitals are dismal.

In the markets, men sit outside mud shops waiting for customers who rarely come. Boys, who elsewhere in Pakistan may dream of a career, only talk of escape: fleeing to Karachi, to the Gulf, to anywhere that offers a way out of this slow suffocation.

Balochistan became a part of Pakistan in 1948, in the upheaval that followed the partition of British India – and in spite of opposition from some influential tribal leaders, who sought an independent state.

Some of the resistance turned militant and, over the years, it has been stoked by accusations that Pakistan has exploited the resource-rich region without investing in its development.

Militant groups like the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), designated a terrorist group by Pakistan and other nations, have intensified their attacks: bombings, assassinations and ambushes against security forces have become more frequent.

Earlier this month, the BLA hijacked a train in Bolan Pass, seizing hundreds of passengers. They demanded the release of missing people in Balochistan in return for freeing hostages.

The siege lasted over 30 hours. According to authorities, 33 BLA militants, 21 civilian hostages and four military personnel were killed. But conflicting figures suggest many passengers remain unaccounted for.

The disappearances in the province are widely believed to be part of Islamabad’s strategy to crush the insurgency – but also to suppress dissent, weaken nationalist sentiment and support for an independent Balochistan.

Many of the missing are suspected members or sympathisers of Baloch nationalist groups that demand more autonomy or independence. But a significant number are ordinary people with no known political affiliations.

Balochistan’s Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti told the BBC that enforced disappearances are an issue but dismissed the idea that they were happening on a large scale as “systematic propaganda”.

“Every child in Balochistan has been made to hear ‘missing persons, missing persons’. But who will determine who disappeared whom?

“Self-disappearances exist too. How can I prove if someone was taken by intelligence agencies, police, FC, or anyone else or me or you?”

Pakistan’s military spokesperson Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif recently said in a press conference that the “state is solving the issue of missing persons in a systematic manner”.

He repeated the official statistic often shared by the government – of the more than 2,900 cases of enforced disappearances reported from Balochistan since 2011, 80% had been resolved.

Activists put the figure higher – at around 7,000 – but there is no single reliable source of data and no way to verify either side’s claims.

Women like Jannat Bibi refuse to accept the official number.

She continues to search for her son, Nazar Muhammad, who she claims was taken in 2012 while eating breakfast at a hotel.

“I went everywhere looking for him. I even went to Islamabad,” she says. “All I got were beatings and rejection.”

The 70-year-old lives in a small mud house on the outskirts of Quetta, not far from a symbolic graveyard dedicated to the missing.

Jannat, who runs a tiny shop selling biscuits and milk cartons, often can’t afford the bus fare to attend protests demanding information about the missing. But she borrows what she can so she can keep going.

“Silence is not an option,” she says.

Most of these men – including those whose families we spoke to – disappeared after 2006.

That was the year a key Baloch leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti, was killed in a military operation, leading to a rise in anti-state protests and armed insurgent activities.

The government cracked down in response – enforced disappearances increased, as did the number of bodies found on the streets.

In 2014, mass graves of missing people were discovered in Tootak – a small town near the city of Khuzdar, where Saira lives, 275km (170 miles) south of Quetta.

The bodies were disfigured beyond identification. The images from Tootak shook the country – but the horror was no stranger to people in Balochistan.

Mahrang Baloch’s father, a famous nationalist leader who fought for Baloch rights, had disappeared in early 2009. Abdul Gaffar Langove had worked for the Pakistani government but left the job to advocate for what he believed would be a safer Balochistan.

Three years later Mahrang received a phone call that his body had been found in Lasbela district in the south of the province.

“When my father’s body arrived, he was wearing the same clothes, now torn. He had been badly tortured,” she says. For five years, she had nightmares about his final days. She visited his grave “to convince myself that he was no longer alive and that he was not being tortured”.

She hugged his grave “hoping to feel him, but it didn’t happen”.

When he was arrested, Mahrang used to write him letters – “lots of letters and I would draw greeting cards and send them to him on Eid”. But he returned the cards, saying his prison cell was no place for such “beautiful” cards. He wanted her to keep them at home.

“I still miss his hugs,” she says.

After her father’s death, Mahrang says, her family’s world “collapsed”.

And then in 2017, her brother was picked up by security forces, according to the family, and detained for nearly three months.

“It was terrifying. I made my mother believe that what happened to my father wouldn’t happen to my brother. But it did,” Mahrang says. “I was scared of looking at my phone, because it might be news of my brother’s body being found somewhere.”

She says her mother and she found strength in each other: “Our tiny house was our safest place, where we would sometimes sit and cry for hours. But outside, we were two strong women who couldn’t be crushed.”

It was then that Mahrang decided to fight against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. Today, the 32-year-old leads the protest movement despite death threats, legal cases and travel bans.

“We want the right to live on our own land without persecution. We want our resources, our rights. We want this rule of fear and violence to end.”

Mahrang warns that enforced disappearances fuel more resistance, rather than silence it.

“They think dumping bodies will end this. But how can anyone forget losing their loved one this way? No human can endure this.”

She demands institutional reforms, ensuring that no mother has to send her child away in fear. “We don’t want our children growing up in protest camps. Is that too much to ask?”

Mahrang was arrested on Saturday morning, a few weeks after her interview with the BBC.

She was leading a protest in Quetta after 13 unclaimed bodies – feared to be missing persons – were buried in the city. Authorities claimed they were militants killed after the Bolan Pass train hijacking, though this could not be independently verified.

Earlier Mahrang had said: “I could be arrested anytime. But I don’t fear it. This is nothing new for us.”

And even as she fights for the future she wants, a new generation is already on the streets.

Masooma, 10, clutches her school bag tightly as she weaves through the crowd of protesters, her eyes scanning every face, searching for one that looks like her father’s.

“Once, I saw a man and thought he was my father. I ran to him and then realised he was someone else,” she says.

“Everyone’s father comes home after work. I have never found mine.”

Masooma was just three months old when security forces allegedly took her father away during a late-night raid in Quetta.

Her mother was told he would return in a few hours. He never did.

Today, Masooma spends more time at protests than in the classroom. Her father’s photograph is always with her, tucked safely in her school bag.

Before every lesson begins, she takes it out and looks at it.

“I always wonder if my father will come home today.”

She stands outside the protest camp, chanting slogans with the others, her small frame lost in the crowd of grieving families.

As the protest comes to an end she sits cross-legged on a thin mat in a quiet corner. The noise of slogans and traffic fades as she pulls out her folded letters – letters she has written but could never send.

Her fingers tremble as she smooths out the creases, and in a fumbling, uncertain voice, she begins to read them.

“Dear Baba Jan, when will you come back? Whenever I eat or drink water, I miss you. Baba, where are you? I miss you so much. I am alone. Without you, I cannot sleep. I just want to meet you and see your face.”

Having a chip in your brain that can translate your thoughts into computer commands may sound like science fiction – but it is a reality for Noland Arbaugh.

In January 2024 – eight years after he was paralysed – the 30-year-old became the first person to get such a device from the US neurotechnology firm, Neuralink.

It was not the first such chip – a handful of other companies have also developed and implanted them – but Noland’s inevitably attracts more attention because of Neuralink’s founder: Elon Musk.

But Noland says the important thing is neither him nor Musk – but the science.

He told the BBC he knew the risks of what he was doing – but “good or bad, whatever may be, I would be helping”.

“If everything worked out, then I could help being a participant of Neuralink,” he said.

“If something terrible happened, I knew they would learn from it.”

Noland, who is from Arizona, was paralysed below the shoulders in a diving accident in 2016.

His injuries were so severe he feared he might not be able to study, work or even play games again.

“You just have no control, no privacy, and it’s hard,” he said.

“You have to learn that you have to rely on other people for everything.”

The Neuralink chip looks to restore a fraction of his previous independence, by allowing him to control a computer with his mind.

It is what is known as a brain computer interface (BCI) – which works by detecting the tiny electrical impulses generated when humans think about moving, and translating these into digital command, such as moving a cursor on a screen.

It is a complex subject that scientists have been working on for several decades.

Inevitably, Elon Musk’s involvement in the field has catapulted the tech – and Noland Arbaugh – into the headlines.

It’s helped Neuralink attract lots of investment – as well as scrutiny over the safety and significance of what is an extremely invasive procedure.

When Noland’s implant was announced, experts hailed it as a “significant milestone”, while also cautioning that it would take time to really assess – especially given Musk’s adeptness at “generating publicity for his company.”

Musk was cagey in public at the time, simply writing in a social media post: “Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.”

In reality, Noland said, the billionaire – who he spoke to before and after his surgery – was far more optimistic.

“I think he was just as excited as I was to get started,” he said.

Nonetheless, he stresses that Neuralink is about more than its owner, and claims he does not consider it “an Elon Musk device”.

Whether the rest of the world sees it that way – especially given his increasingly controversial role in the US government – remains to be seen.

But there is no questioning the impact the device has had on Noland’s life.

When Noland awoke from the surgery which installed the device, he said he was initially able to control a cursor on a screen by thinking about wiggling his fingers.

“Honestly I didn’t know what to expect – it sounds so sci-fi,” he said.

But after seeing his neurons spike on a screen – all the while surrounded by excited Neuralink employees – he said “it all sort of sunk in” that he could control his computer with just his thoughts.

And – even better – over time his ability to use the implant has grown to the point he can now play chess and video games.

“I grew up playing games,” he said – adding it was something he “had to let go of” when he became disabled.

“Now I’m beating my friends at games, which really shouldn’t be possible but it is.”

Noland is a powerful demonstration of the tech’s potential to change lives – but there may be drawbacks too.

“One of the main problems is privacy,” said Anil Seth, Professor of Neuroscience, University of Sussex.

“So if we are exporting our brain activity […] then we are kind of allowing access to not just what we do but potentially what we think, what we believe and what we feel,” he told the BBC.

“Once you’ve got access to stuff inside your head, there really is no other barrier to personal privacy left.”

But these aren’t concerns for Noland – instead he wants to see the chips go further in terms of what they can do.

He told the BBC he hoped the device could eventually allow him to control his wheelchair, or even a futuristic humanoid robot.

Even with the tech in its current, more limited state, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing though.

At one point, an issue with the device caused him to lose control of his computer altogether, when it partially disconnected from his brain.

“That was really upsetting to say the least,” he said.

“I didn’t know if I would be able to use Neuralink ever again.”

The connection was repaired – and subsequently improved – when engineers adjusted the software, but it highlighted a concern frequently voiced by experts over the technology’s limitations.

Neuralink is just one of many companies exploring how to digitally tap into our brain power.

Synchron is one such firm, which says its Stentrode device aimed at helping people with motor neurone disease requires a less invasive surgery to implant.

Rather than requiring open brain surgery, it is installed into a person’s jugular vein in their neck, then moved up to their brain through a blood vessel.

Like Neuralink, the device ultimately connects to the motor region of the brain.

“It picks up when someone is thinking of tapping or not tapping their finger,” said chief technology officer Riki Bannerjee.

“By being able to pick up those differences it can create what we call a digital motor output.”

That output is then turned into computer signals, where it is currently being used by 10 people.

One such person, who did not want his last name to be used, told the BBC he was the first person in the world to use the device with Apple’s Vision Pro headset.

Mark said this has allowed him to virtually holiday in far-flung locations – from standing in waterfalls in Australia to strolling across mountains in New Zealand.

“I can see down the road in the future a world where this technology could really, really make a difference for someone that has this or any paralysis,” he said.

But for Noland there is one caveat with his Neuralink chip – he agreed to be part of a study which installed it for six years, after which point the future is less clear.

Whatever happens to him, he believes his experience may be merely scratching the surface of what might one day become a reality.

“We know so little about the brain and this is allowing us to learn so much more,” he said.

As Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 unfolds, all eyes are on MS Dhoni who continues to command superstar status in Indian cricket despite retiring from international cricket in 2020.

Dhoni continues to be a key figure in the world’s richest cricket league.

Alongside him are veterans like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah, and emerging stars like Shubhman Gill, Yashaswi Jaiswal, and Rishabh Pant. They are among the players who led India to two ICC titles in the past nine months – the T20 World Cup in June and the Champions Trophy last month.

Yet, it is Dhoni who still commands unrivalled attention, with his leadership and presence in the league continuing to captivate fans.

The cricketer, who turns 44 in July, is playing his 18th straight IPL season, 16 of these representing Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He is the oldest player in the tournament this year, though not the oldest to have played in the IPL.

Australian spin bowler Brad Hogg was 45 years and 92 days old when he last played in the IPL in 2016, representing Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Leg-spinner Pravin Tambe, the oldest debutant at 41 years and 212 days for Rajasthan Royals, played his final match in 2019 at 44 years and 219 days, capping an astonishing career.

Whether Dhoni will surpass Tambe and Hogg remains to be seen. Three seasons ago, when he gave up the CSK captaincy, his retirement seemed imminent. Last year, his infrequent appearances suggested the same. However, CSK used the retention clause in the IPL mega auction to keep Dhoni for the 2025 season as an uncapped player, given his five-year absence from international cricket.

In 18 IPL seasons, Dhoni has scored 5,243 runs, placing him sixth on the all-time run list, currently topped by Kohli.

His career batting average of 39.12 is higher than both Rohit Sharma and Kohli, and trails only David Warner (40.52) and AB de Villiers (39.70) among players with more than 5,000 runs in the league.

Among players with over 5,000 runs, Dhoni’s strike rate of 137.53 ranks behind only de Villiers (151.68) and Warner (139.77).

In sixes, Dhoni (252) trails only Gayle (357), Sharma (280) and Kohli (272).

These batting stats highlight just one aspect of Dhoni’s prowess. As a wicketkeeper, he boasts 180 dismissals (141 catches, 39 stumpings), a record unmatched by anyone. His quick reflexes and deft glovework earned him the nickname “pickpocket” from former Indian coach Ravi Shastri.

The “helicopter shot”, a flick-drive played over mid-wicket with a wrist-flex of the bottom hand, became the signature stroke of his batting brilliance.

The other notable aspect of his batting was his ability to control the match, taking the innings deep, virtually to the end, with a remarkable control of nerves, and interspersed with explosive strokes. He also ran like a hare between wickets, making him India’s best match-winner in his prime years.

Dhoni holds the record for most IPL matches as captain (210) and most wins (123), leading CSK to five IPL titles and two Champions League titles.

He also captained India to three ICC titles: the T20 World Cup (2007), ODI World Cup (2011) and Champions Trophy (2013).

Additionally, his impact in Test cricket is immense, having played 90 Tests and guiding India to the No1 ICC ranking before his sudden retirement mid-series in 2014-15.

Former Indian captains Sunil Gavaskar and Shastri have frequently hailed him as India’s finest cricketer ever. While this is open to debate, that Dhoni belongs to the same cluster as Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev is now widely acknowledged.

So what does the current season hold for him?

Advancing age has taken a physical toll on Dhoni, though he remains mentally tough and highly competitive. Last season, he stepped away from his finisher role, which he’d held since the league’s inception, and adapted his approach to provide valuable cameos that could impact the outcome.

With the impact player rule – which allows teams to pick an extra specialist batter or bowler based on the game situation – now an integral part of the IPL, Dhoni could well settle into this role, while continuing to be a sounding board for the captain and mentor to the squad in a non-designated informal manner.

For CSK, keeping Dhoni in the squad is a no-brainer. His appeal extends beyond CSK fans, offering massive commercial and branding benefits to both the franchise and the IPL. As CSK puts it, an IPL without Dhoni is “unthinkable”.

This may limit opportunities for young players, both Indian and overseas, but Ravi Shastri dismisses this argument. “The league operates on free-market dynamics. Franchise owners aren’t sentimental – they know what’s best for them, on and off the field,” he says.

Meanwhile, former India opener Robin Uthappa, who played under Dhoni for both India and CSK, warns rivals: “Write off Dhoni at your own risk. We could still see some old magic.”

Sir Keir Starmer’s plan for an international force to support a ceasefire in Ukraine has been dismissed as “a posture and a pose” by Donald Trump’s special envoy.

Steve Witkoff said the idea was based on a “simplistic” notion of the UK prime minister and other European leaders thinking “we have all got to be like Winston Churchill”.

In an interview with pro-Trump journalist Tucker Carlson, Witkoff praised Vladimir Putin, saying he “liked” the Russian president.

“I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy,” he said. “He’s super smart.”

Witkoff, who met Putin ten days ago, said the Russian president had been “gracious” and “straight up” with him. Putin told him, he added, that he had prayed for Trump after an assassination attempt against him last year. He also said Putin had commissioned a portrait of the US president as a gift and Trump was “clearly touched by it”.

During the interview, Witkoff repeated various Russian arguments, including that Ukraine was “a false country” and asked when the world would recognise occupied Ukrainian territory as Russian.

Witkoff is leading the US ceasefire negotiations with both Russia and Ukraine but he was unable to name the five regions of Ukraine either annexed or partially occupied by Russian forces.

He said: “The largest issue in that conflict are these so-called four regions, Donbas, Crimea, you know the names and there are two others.”

The five regions – or oblasts – are Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimea. Donbas refers to an industrial region in the east that includes much of Luhansk and Donetsk.

Witkoff made several assertions that are either not true or disputed:

• He said Ukrainian troops in Kursk were surrounded, something denied by Ukraine’s government and uncorroborated by any open-source data
• He said the four partially occupied regions of Ukraine had held “referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule”. There were referendums only in some of the occupied parts of Ukraine at different times and the methodology and results were widely discredited and disputed
• He said the four partially occupied oblasts were Russian-speaking. There are many Russian-speaking parts of Ukraine but this has never indicated support for Russia.

Witkoff also repeated several Kremlin talking points about the cause of Russia’s full-scale invasion. He said it was “correct” that from the Russian perspective the partially occupied territories were now part of Russia: “The elephant in the room is, there are constitutional issues within Ukraine as to what they can concede to with regard to giving up territory. The Russians are de facto in control of these territories. The question is: will the world acknowledge that those are Russian territories?”

He added: “There’s a sensibility in Russia that Ukraine is just a false country, that they just patched together in this sort of mosaic, these regions, and that’s what is the root cause, in my opinion, of this war, that Russia regards those five regions as rightfully theirs since World War Two, and that’s something nobody wants to talk about.”

Putin has repeatedly said that the “root causes” of his invasion were the threat posed to Russia by an expanded Nato and the sheer existence of Ukraine as an independent country.

Witkoff said in the Tucker Carlson interview: “Why would they want to absorb Ukraine? For what purpose? They don’t need to absorb Ukraine… They have reclaimed these five regions. They have Crimea and they have gotten what they want. So why do they need more?”

Asked about Keir Starmer’s plans to forge a “coalition of the willing” to provide military security guarantees for a post-war Ukraine, Witkoff said: “I think it’s a combination of a posture and a pose and a combination of also being simplistic. There is this sort of notion that we have all got to be like [British wartime prime minister] Winston Churchill. Russians are going to march across Europe. That is preposterous by the way. We have something called Nato that we did not have in World War Two.”

He said a ceasefire in the Black Sea would be “implemented over the next week or so” and “we are not far away” from a full 30-day ceasefire.

He also gave details of how Trump wanted to co-operate with Russia after relations had been normalised. “Who doesn’t want to have a world where Russia and the US are doing collaboratively good things together, thinking about how to integrate their energy polices in the Arctic, share sea lines maybe, send LNG gas into Europe together, maybe collaborate on AI together?”

An Israeli air strike in the southern city of Khan Younis in Gaza has killed top Hamas political leader Salah al-Bardaweel, a Hamas official told the BBC early on Sunday.

Locals say the air strike killed both Bardaweel, a member of the group’s political office, and his wife.

Israeli officials had no immediate comment.

Israel’s military resumed significant strikes on Gaza on Tuesday, blaming Hamas, abandoning a ceasefire agreement that began on 19 January and ended almost two months of calm.

Hamas rejected the Israeli accusations and, in turn, accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement that was signed and brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the US.

An official in the Hamas-run health ministry said 32 Palestinians had been killed over the past 24 hours across various parts of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

More than 49,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says, and there is large-scale destruction to homes and infrastructure in the Strip.

Readers have told the BBC about strangers’ random acts of kindness, following research that found people underestimated the good intentions of others.

In an experiment by the University of British Columbia, researchers deliberately lost wallets to see how many would be returned. Almost twice as many were handed in than was predicted by people who had been surveyed for the World Happiness Report.

Athena Rowley, 40, who lives in Ipswich with her four-year-old son Robert, was among readers who got in touch to say they’d benefitted from a random act of kindness.

During Halloween last year they went trick or treating in the Suffolk town and filled up a small bucket with sweets. Robert – whose cheery demeanour means he “makes friends everywhere he goes” – went dressed as the CBeebies character Hey Duggee.

After returning to their home, groups of older children came knocking asking for sweets. The last group, Athena tells us, were six teenagers who had dressed up and “looked very scary”.

Robert offered them the last of the sweets that were in the bucket. He also hugged each of them. Five minutes later, the teenagers returned.

“I thought, ‘oh no – I don’t have anything left,'” Athena says. “I opened the door and the kids were stood their with bags of candy.

“And then they handed them to my child because they thought that he might not have any more candy.”

She adds: “It was absolutely wonderful because teenagers get such a bad rap nowadays.”

Athena says their behaviour just reaffirms her faith in humanity and young people in particular. “The next generation has so much kindness and empathy… at some point, the world is going to be in really good hands.”

Her positive view of young people is shared by Jocelyn Tress, 88, and her husband Mark, 89.

The couple were on their way to the airport from their home in Fulham, southwest London when one of their tyres was punctured on the M25.

Given their age and the speed of the traffic, they didn’t dare change the tyre themselves, and rang the AA. They were told someone might be there in around half an hour. They feared they would miss their flight to Portugal, where they were supposed to be going on holiday.

Ten minutes later, however, a young man in a white van pulled up behind them on the hard shoulder. He said he had noticed them parked there after initially driving past them, so he turned off the motorway and came back to see if they needed any help.

“He quickly changed our tyre,” says Jocelyn. In the hurry she forgot to find out his name but did ask why he had stopped.

Jocelyn recalls him saying: “When I went past and saw you were in trouble, I thought, suppose they were my granny and grandpa?”

She adds: “He would accept nothing for his kindness.”

Jocelyn says there have been occasions when she has fallen on the pavement, only to be helped up by a young person nearby. “I think on the whole young people are very, very helpful,” she says.

The stranger who helped Sarah Marten, 66, was older but intervened at a similar time of need. Her story is from 25 years ago, but the impression it left on her remains today.

She was in the John Lewis store in Brent Cross, west London with her children to find a leotard, tutu and tights for her three-year-old daughter Emily, who was about to start ballet lessons.

Finding the right size and style had taken quite a long time. Her son Joel, who is 19 months younger than his sister, was not enjoying himself. “Because he was so young, it had been quite a stressful morning to be honest,” Sarah tells us. “He was ready to get back in the car.”

At the till, Sarah’s debit card was declined by her bank. She had neither a credit card nor enough cash with her to make the purchase. After such a trying morning, and with her children now desperate to go home, Sarah became upset.

Then a man behind her in the queue stepped forward and asked her how much money she needed.

He opened his wallet and insisted he pay for the ballerina clothes.

He gave her £40. “That was quite a lot back then,” says Sarah. “I was very surprised that somebody would do something like that and not expect the money back.”

Though Sarah did write down his address and sent him the money shortly afterwards.

“I remember him being really charming and very kind,” she says. “I have actually told other people that he was an angel for me in those circumstances.”

Sarah, whose children are now musicians, says remembering that act of kindness and hearing of similar deeds helps restore her faith in human nature.

Protests have raged on for a fourth night in Turkey following the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor, part of the largest demonstrations the country has seen in more than a decade.

Ekrem Imamoglu, a rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was detained on Wednesday, days before he was due to be selected as a 2028 presidential candidate.

Imamoglu appeared at an Istanbul court on Saturday and prosecutors requested his formal arrest on terrorism and corruption charges. He has denied the allegations.

In a speech, Erdogan repeated his condemnation of the unrest and accused Imamoglu’s opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) of trying to “disturb the peace and polarise our people”.

Outside the mayor’s office in Istanbul, before the protests had even properly begun, tear gas hung in the air.

As the crowds had grown throughout the evening, it became hard to breathe as round after round was fired to disperse demonstrators.

Chanting “rights, law, justice”, people of all ages defied a government ban on gatherings to protest against what they see as an unlawful detention.

One young woman, dressed in black and wearing a face mask, told the BBC she was not protesting for political reasons or because she supported the opposition, but instead to defend democracy.

“I’m here for justice, I’m here for liberty. We’re free people and Turkish people cannot accept this. This is against our behaviour and culture.”

Another woman, who had brought her 11-year-old son to the protests, said she wanted to bring him as she is worried about his future.

“It’s getting harder to live in Turkey day by day, we can’t control our lives, we can’t choose who we want and there is no real justice here.”

It is very telling that no one the BBC spoke to felt comfortable giving their name or showing their face.

Many on the streets on Saturday night, braving arrest themselves, told the BBC they were out fighting for a future they could believe in.

In Ankara and Izmir, police deployed water cannons against protesters.

For the past four nights, thousands have taken to the streets across Turkey in largely peaceful demonstrations.

Authorities tried to stifle the street demonstrations with a four-day ban on all gatherings in Istanbul, which was extended to Ankara and Izmir as protests spread across the country.

Since Thursday, riot police have repeatedly clashed with protestors and could be seen firing pepper gas and water cannons towards crowds of demonstrators.

Turkish authorities said 343 people were arrested on Friday night, the third day of protests, across the country.

Imamoglu is seen as one of Erdogan’s most formidable political rivals. He is the only person running in the CHP’s presidential candidate selection, which is set to take place on Sunday.

However, on Wednesday, he was one of more than 100 people, including other politicians, journalists and businessmen, detained as part of an investigation.

A day before his arrest, Istanbul University announced it was revoking Imamoglu’s degree due to alleged irregularities, a measure – which if upheld – would put his ability to run as president into doubt.

According to the Turkish constitution, presidents must have completed higher education to hold office.

Erdogan has held office for the past 22 years, as both prime minister and president of Turkey. However, due to term limits, he cannot run for office again in 2028 unless he changes the constitution.

Opposition figures say the arrests are politically motivated. But the ministry of justice has criticised those who link Erdogan to the arrests, and insist on their judicial independence.

Canada’s Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly has told the BBC she believes Canada can win the trade war which was sparked by a series of tariffs ordered by US President Donald Trump.

“We are the biggest customer of the US,” Joly told the BBC’s World Service Weekend programme. “We buy more from the Americans than China, Japan, the UK and France combined.”

Joly said tariffs and increased prices are a priority for Canadians as voters prepare to head to the polls to elect a new prime minister later this year.

The US president has imposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Canada. Trump has also vowed to impose a sweeping range of “reciprocal” tariffs on 2 April.

Joly said that because the US and Canadian economies are so intertwined, “we have the most leverage in the world when it comes to the US”.

She noted it is not just Canadians feeling the pain from tariffs, but “hardworking Americans” too.

But Joly said it could be Americans who are the most successful in urging an end to the trade war.

“We think that ultimately the only ones that will be able to help us win this war… are the Americans themselves because they’re the ones that can send a message to their lawmakers,” she told the BBC.

“We can win the hearts and minds of Americans, because ultimately they’re the ones paying for this” she added, noting that both American and Canadian jobs are at risk because of the tariffs.

Trump has vowed to impose further tariffs Canada, and other countries around the world, on 2 April – calling these tariffs “the big one”.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has promised to impose reciprocal tariffs if Trump’s tariff threats come to fruition.

It will bring to head a weeks-long back and forth between the North American countries.

The frustration over trade war has led some Canadians to start protesting.

In Toronto on Saturday, Canadians are holding an “elbows up” protest to push back against President Trump’s stated desire of making Canada the 51st state of the US, and the ongoing trade war.

The phrase, used in hockey to describe defending oneself or fighting back, has been repurposed by protesters in Canada.

In the BBC World Service Weekend interview, Joly was also asked about the upcoming federal election. Reports suggest Prime Minister Carney could call for a snap election soon.

She said the Liberal party is “very keen” to make sure Canadians give the party “a clear mandate” to deal with Trump and the threat of tariffs.

Joly said Canadians are “preoccupied” by what is happening in the White House and they are looking for a prime minister who has “strong values”.

The race will likely come down to a choice between Carney and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.

Tariffs are a central part of Trump’s overall economic vision.

He says tariffs will boost US manufacturing and protect jobs, raising tax revenue and growing the domestic economy.

He also wants to restore America’s trade balance with its foreign partners – reducing the gap that exists between how much the US imports from and exports to individual countries.

But he has refused to rule out the prospect of a recession as a result of his trade policies, which sent US stocks sharply down in the days before the metal tariffs took effect.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick later said the tariffs were “worth it” even if they did lead to an economic downturn.

Trump’s tariffs initially targeted goods from China, Mexico and Canada.

These accounted for more than 40% of imports into the US in 2024.

But Trump has accused the three countries of not doing enough to end the flow of migrants and illegal drugs such as fentanyl into the US.

All three countries have rejected the accusations.

US President Donald Trump revoked security clearances from his previously defeated Democratic election rivals, Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton, as well as a number of other former officials and critics.

Trump said in February he was revoking security clearance for his predecessor Joe Biden. His order confirmed that decision, adding that he was also revoking the security clearance of “any other member” of the Biden family.

“I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information,” Trump’s memorandum read.

Former US presidents and top security officials usually keep their security clearance as a courtesy.

Trump ordered department and agency leaders to “revoke unescorted access to secure United States government facilities for these individuals.”

“This action includes, but is not limited to, receipt of classified briefings, such as the President’s Daily Brief, and access to classified information held by any member of the intelligence community by virtue of the named individuals’ previous tenure in the Congress,” the order stated.

For several named figures, the loss of access to classified material and spaces will have a more symbolic impact.

It may limit the materials they are able to review, or restrict access to some government buildings or secure facilities.

The lawyers and prosecutors named by Trump, however, could potentially face roadblocks in accessing or reviewing information for their cases or clients.

Trump’s revocations focus on top Biden administration officials, as well as prominent political critics and attorneys who have challenged Trump or his allies in court.

Biden’s secretary of state Antony Blinken, national security advisor Jake Sullivan, and deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco all lost their clearances.

Trump also targeted two of his own former officials from his first term: Fiona Hill and Alexander Vindman, who testified during his first impeachment trial that began in 2019.

Trump also revoked access for high-profile Republican critics, former Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.

They were the only two Republican lawmakers who joined a US House investigation into Trump’s role in the 6 January 2021 attack on Congress.

Both also voted to charge Trump in his second impeachment, which a Democratic-led US House of Representatives instigated after the riot. Trump was acquitted by the Senate on the charge of inciting the 6 January riot.

Trump has also singled out top legal opponents in his latest decision on security access. His order revoked clearance for New York attorney general Letitia James, who brought multiple lawsuits against Trump and his businesses.

In a civil fraud lawsuit that concluded in 2024, a judge found Trump liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in fines. Trump is appealing the decision.

Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, who prosecuted and won Trump’s criminal hush money case last year, also lost his clearance.

Trump’s legal targets went beyond elected prosecutors. He withdrew security clearance for Norm Eisen, an attorney leading multiple lawsuits against the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the federal workforce.

Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor who joined an investigation of Trump during his first term and later provided media commentary about the hush money trial, also lost his clearance.

Previous media reports had indicated that the administration had pulled the security clearance for a top whistleblower attorney in Washington, Mark Zaid.

Friday’s order listed him among the individuals who would lose access.

However, Mr Zaid told the BBC that “despite being told three times that my clearance has been revoked, I still have not received anything formally.”

He claimed losing his security clearance would harm “the federal employees, including Trump supporters, who count on me to handle cases few other lawyers could.”

Several of the individuals chosen by Trump derided his order in social media statements.

“I don’t care what noises Donald Trump makes about a security clearance that hasn’t been active for five years,” Mr Vindman wrote on X.

Mr Eisen wrote on X that being targeted by Trump’s order “just makes me file even more lawsuits!”

Trump had earlier pulled security clearances of more than four dozen former intelligence officials whom he accused of meddling in the 2020 election in Joe Biden’s favour. He provided no evidence for these claims.

In February, Trump announced he was revoking Biden’s security access. In a social media post, Trump said Biden “set this precedent in 2021, when he instructed the Intelligence Community (IC) to stop the 45th President of the United States (ME!) from accessing details on National Security, a courtesy provided to former Presidents”.

In 2021, Biden – serving as president at the time – barred his defeated rival Trump from having access to intelligence briefings citing his “erratic behaviour”.

A 2024 Justice Department special counsel report found Biden had improperly retained classified documents from his time as vice president. The report noted that Biden had cooperated with federal investigators and returned the discovered documents.

In 2023, Justice Department special prosecutor Jack Smith indicted Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents following his first term in office and obstructing their return to the government.

Trump pleaded not guilty and a Florida federal judge dismissed the case in July 2024. Smith officially dropped the case that December after Trump won re-election.

For most people, the idea of a holiday abroad involves packing a suitcase and being away for at least a weekend, if not a week or more.

But for Monica Stott, a single day is enough to fly to another country, explore, and return home before bedtime.

The 37-year-old from Wrexham enjoys taking part in holidays that have become known online as extreme day trips – and has visited Milan, Bergamo, Lisbon, Amsterdam and even Reykjavik for a single day.

“I think people are always surprised that you really do feel like you’ve had a holiday,” said Monica.

Monica, who is a full-time travel blogger, said the idea of an extreme day trip first occurred to her while travelling for work.

“My first few extreme day trips were to Ireland when I had clients over there,” she explained.

“I’d quite often pop over for a one or two-hour meeting and come home. Then I realised I could stay [a bit longer] and make a full day of it.”

Monica then discovered a number of Facebook groups where people were sharing their own experiences of extreme day trips, and became inspired to start booking her own in her spare time.

“There’s research suggesting that most of your best holiday memories are made in the first one or two days. When I thought about it, I agreed. A lot of the best moments happen when you first arrive.

“You arrive in time for breakfast, squeeze as much as you possibly can, and then fly home at night. It’s an intense, busy, crazy day.”

While Monica enjoys busy days in one location, Luka Chijiutomi-Ghosh, an 18-year-old student from Cardiff, has taken things a step further.

“It began on Christmas Eve when I found a return flight to Prague for under £15. I booked it immediately, but then I realised the flight landed in Prague at 21:00 and returned to the UK at 09:00,” said Luka.

“So, I thought I could treat it as if it was daytime, sleep in the day and walk around the city at night.”

Luka said he realised that he only needed six hours to explore a city.

A few weeks later, when on holiday in Paris, he decided to see how many neighbouring countries he could travel to within a day by train.

“I went to Luxembourg, Brussels and Amsterdam, and returned to Paris all within the same day,” he said.

Luka’s logic, he said, was that he would probably have spent as much time travelling if he was on a day trip in the UK.

Facebook groups where people share their experiences of taking extreme day trips have acquired hundreds of thousands of members, with some focused specifically on regional UK airports.

Monica and Luka said their trips were efficient, budget-friendly, and helped to break up their routines without needing a week away from home.

“People always say they’d love to visit places like Paris or Rome but don’t have the time or money for a long trip. This is a way around that,” Monica said.

For Luka, it’s also a practical choice.

“I look at how much I spend on a student night out, sometimes up to £60 or £70. If I can get a return flight for under £20 and experience a whole new city instead, why not?”

Despite Monika and Luka’s enthusiasm, extreme day trips have drawn criticism over their environmental impact.

Flying is responsible for 2.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 8% of UK emissions.

These gases warm the atmosphere, contributing to global warming and climate change.

Both Monica and Luka acknowledge this issue.

“I think if it means people are taking way more flights, and airlines are putting on more flights, then I do see that as a negative impact,” Monica said.

“But a lot of people doing extreme day trips are doing it because they either can’t afford to take a longer holiday or don’t have time.

“I don’t think it’s fair to say one person’s holiday is more important than another person’s holiday, because they’re going for longer.”

Luka argued that the flights would often go ahead regardless.

“The seat will be filled by someone,” he said.

“Also, if another form of transport can be used then that would be a good idea. For example, on my trip involving three cities, I didn’t take a single flight.”

Both also said that extreme day trips were appealing due to the high cost of public transport within the UK.

Monica said her trips required careful planning.

“I try to choose destinations that are less than a two-hour flight. Once you get in over two hours, it’s just such a long day of travel.”

She also said she tried to stay calm at the airport to avoid unnecessary stress.

“A lot of people get really excited or anxious at the airport, and that can be exhausting,” she said.

“If you just treat it like getting on a train or a bus, you don’t use up all your energy with that pre-holiday anxiety.”

In an old gun barrel factory in Sheffield’s industrial heartland, hundreds of people are raving under the fluorescent lights of Hope Works club for one of the last times before it closes. One young woman has dressed all in black to signify the loss of her “favourite place”.

“This is a landmark of Sheffield,” says one reveller. “It’s the reason a lot of people come to university here,” adds another.

Its owner Liam O’Shea believes that nightlife venues like this are “the vital underbelly of everything”.

“It’s where people find themselves,” he says. “It’s where people find their tribe.”

Mr O’Shea, who calls himself a child of the the “rave generation”, started Hope Works because he wanted to tap into that original spirit. Only now, Hope Works has gone. It closed its doors permanently in February after 13 years.

And according to Mr O’Shea, grassroots clubs in the UK – places where up and coming artists often perform live – are “dropping like flies”.

In the last five years, around 400 clubs have closed in Britain – more than a third of the total number.

In London, a dedicated taskforce is being launched by the mayor’s office to help boost nightlife and save venues at risk of closing.

“A complex matrix of factors are all conspiring against and placing pressure on the sector, making for a perfect storm for nightclubs,” says Tony Rigg, music industry advisor and programme leader at the University of Central Lancashire.

There are many factors that could be at play – among them, rising costs, less disposable income and changing lifestyle choices.

But the closures prompt broader questions too. Some experts have suggested, for example, that the lasting impact of the Covid-19 lockdowns may have led to people going out less than they once did

And if that is the case, could the closure of so many clubs nod to a wider cultural shift, particularly among Generation Z?

For several years during the pandemic, young people were unable to experience nightlife in the same way previous generations had, so perhaps it is not surprising that there have since been shifts in the way they socialise.

A recent Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) study of more than 2,000 people aged between 18 and 30 found that nearly two thirds were going out less frequently than the year before.

Psychologist Dr Elizabeth Feigin of Dr Elizabeth Consultancy says Gen Z is being driven by a number of factors – both offline and online. Part of this seems to be a rising consciousness around health, both physical and mental – and “we are seeing less of a drinking culture”.

A YouGov survey of 18 to 24-year-olds shows Gen Z continue to be the most sober group overall, with 39% of them not drinking alcohol at all.

Dr Meg Jay, author of The Defining Decade, suggests there are several factors driving this change. “Although some might imagine that young people are going out less post-Covid because depressed Gen Zers are still sitting around in their rooms, I don’t think this is the case.”

There is more awareness about the dangers of substances as well as messaging on social media around healthy lifestyles, she says.

When lockdown restrictions were in place, Dr Jay recalls some young clients saying they’d have to find new ways to have a good time. “[I had] clients telling me how much happier they were as they spent less time feeling drunk, hungover, or broke and more time feeling in charge of their lives.”

Of course social media is also playing a role in how people socialise. For some, “social media and texting with friends scratches some of the itch of meeting up”.

This rings true with Mr Rigg. “We have a massive dependence on social media that has taken us away from more social pastimes,” he argues.

But Dr Feigin believes that the lag in social communication across the younger generations predates the lockdowns. “I think it’s been exacerbated by the pandemic. But I think it was already declining on the back of social media and technology and also helicopter parents.”

There might be some healthy reasons for the decline in night life, she points out – but she also thinks that there’s “some damage as well”.

“[This is] potentially around mental health, of social anxiety, loneliness and people actually not having the skills – not even bravery – to go out and socialise anymore because so much has become dependent online.”

“It’s getting harder and harder for young people to socialise face to face… I do think that we are seeing higher rates of social anxiety and high rates of loneliness”.

Not everyone is convinced that this is the reason for the club closures. Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, thinks that finances play a big role. “The reality is, is people can’t afford it”.

Entry fees vary depending on the club. Early release tickets in some city centres can be around £10, while on-the-door entry or last-minute tickets will likely be more. Then comes the cost of any drinks, taxis, late-night trips to the kebab shop.

In an NTIA study, 68% of people reported that the current economic climate had reduced how much they go out.

“Clubbing is becoming a luxury, and that’s just crazy,” says Sherelle Thomas, DJ on BBC 6 Music. “You should be able to enter a club and be with friends at any time you want because it’s something that makes you happy.”

Mr Rigg suggests there is a “storm” coming for clubs, as a result of new economic challenges such as national insurance hikes.

If clubs cannot absorb economic challenges and so put prices up, this could make them less affordable and a less attractive proposition still, argues Mr Rigg – particularly at a time when consumers are burdened with rising living costs.

In 2024, the company which owned Pryzm and Atik, two well-known nightlife chains, went into administration. It closed 17 and sold 11 venues (which included clubs and bars), citing changing student habits as the reason for closures.

Russell Quelch, CEO of Neos, which runs the remaining venues, believes students have less money than they used to. “People really care about how they spend their money,” he argues. “Gone are the days of students going out four or five nights a week”.

The company now has several “party bars” which are open in the day too, meaning the trading window is longer. Many are themed, with events such as bingo, and they are not as alcohol orientated.

The Acapulco in Halifax has seen thousands of people on its dancefloor since it opened in 1961. It is thought to be the UK’s oldest nightclub. Its bar is lit in red and blue, and the beat of the music ebbs through its doors as people spill in to dance, often several nights in a row.

But its owner Simon Jackson has noticed some shifts in the way people go clubbing. Some will come before the night properly begins and film themselves dancing for TikTok, he explains.

The Acca, as it is known locally, is defying its environment. In Yorkshire, 40 percent of clubs have shut down since 2020 – the most out of any region in Britain. Mr Jackson attributes the club’s longevity – in a challenging market – to, among other things, “value for money”.

There are also other models of clubbing that are seeing some success.

Gut Level, a queer-led community project in Sheffield that runs inclusive club nights, is built on a membership model with reduced prices for those on low incomes.

Co-founder Katie Matthews says: “The music scene was run a lot by guys and it maybe didn’t think about the safety of people like women and queer people as much.”

Then there is the safety aspect. In 2023, more incidents of drink spiking occurred in bars (41%) and clubs (28%) than anywhere else, and many people say they have experienced sexual violence during a night out.

“It’s about safety of members,” says Katie Matthews – at Gut Level, people have to sign up in advance.

Ultimately, though, many clubs that continue to thrive do so because they are built around a sense of community. DJ Ahad Elley (known as Ahadadream), who moved to the UK from Pakistan at the age of 12, believes that this is a valuable aspect of many clubs.

“For some people it’s almost the only place they’ve got where they can go and feel a sense of belonging and real community,” he says.

Cat Rossi has spent years researching the creative significance of nightclubs, in her capacity as a design historian and professor of architecture at University for the Creative Arts Canterbury. “Since the dawn of civilisation we’ve needed to go out and dance and be together at night,” she says. “Social gathering is a core part of our social fabric.

“I think that nightclubs are really undervalued as these hugely creative forms of architecture and design, but also nightclubs and club culture more generally are these huge engines of creativity.”

Many fashion labels have been born in clubs, she points out, making them part of a “bigger creative ecosystem” along with theatres, opera houses and television studios.

In 2016, a German court officially designated Berghain, a famous Berlin nightclub, as a cultural institution, which gave it the same tax status as the city’s opera houses and theatres.

The following year, Zurich recognised techno culture as part of its “intangible cultural heritage” in partnership with Unesco.

It is a sentiment is shared by some in Britain too. As Mr Kill puts it: “They are a British institution. There’s no two ways about it.”

And the key to preserving this, and ensuring the future of nightclubs, is evolution, argues Mr Rigg.

“Nightclubs do need to evolve to maintain relevance due to the cultural behavioural shifts and also modify the business model to mitigate some of the other economic pressures.”

But without that transformation, the UK risks losing more of them.

The Sudanese army has regained control of key areas of the capital, Khartoum, from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary faction seeking to overthrow the overthrow the UN-recognised government.

On Friday, jubilant army soldiers took photos of themselves in front of the battle-scarred entrance to the presidential palace in the heart of the city.

Fighting in Sudan broke out in April 2023, when the RSF launched attacks on Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) bases throughout Sudan, capturing significant territory, including key parts of the capital city and its airport.

Tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict, millions have been forced from their homes and many have been left facing famine in what the UN has described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

BBC Verify has been analysing videos and images posted during the conflict, frequently by fighters on both sides, to build a picture of the army’s push to take back control of Khartoum.

• Sudan war: A simple guide

The city is bounded by two great rivers, the Blue and White Nile, and the army’s fight to regain control has been defined by these geographical constraints.

The offensive to retake the capital began in earnest on 26 September when the army launched air strikes against RSF-held areas in Khartoum.

Then in January, the beginning of the dry season saw fresh pushes by the army – bolstered by a new alliance with Islamists and ethnic militias – leading to a string of strategic victories.

We’ve identified video and photographs from key moments in the retaking of the city.

The army headquarters in central Khartoum had been encircled by RSF forces for 21 months, trapping soldiers unable to link up with other army units closing in on the city.

Then in late January, following military advances further north, the army was able to send reinforcements to break through RSF lines and end the siege.

Verified social media footage posted on 25 January shows soldiers celebrating in the grounds of the army HQ.

The following day, the army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, visited the army HQ saying his forces would “eradicate” the RSF and pursue them to the corners of the country.

Many RSF fighters attempted to withdraw across the White Nile River to safer areas on the western side as pressure mounted on their positions.

They found their escape route blocked following a reported air strike by the SAF on the main bridge across the river.

Footage posted on 6 February shows this crossing point at Jebel Awliya dam about 40 km south of Khartoum, blocked by badly damaged vehicles, with black smoke visible in the distance.

BBC Verify has been able to confirm the location of this footage using satellite imagery which also shows black smoke rising at that location on the bridge.

Army forces approaching Khartoum attempted to take control of the Manshiya Bridge, the last major crossing under RSF control.

On 3 March, the SAF posted drone footage from the battle for control of the bridge.

In it we can see the army targeting RSF vehicles and fighters trying to flee. A truck, carrying some men, and others running alongside, can be seen going up in flames as it is hit on the bridge.

Further drone footage shows more than a dozen men scampering through shrubs towards the bridge.

In the following days the army was able to hold its position at the bridge and to close in on the remaining RSF fighters trapped in the area.

BBC Verify has identified dramatic footage, posted on 16 March, of what appears to be an RSF fighter caught in an army ambush as they flee the SAF advance towards the city centre.

Along a tarmac street, a speeding motorcycle comes under a hail of bullets and suddenly flips over throwing off its rider.

The men firing – identifiable as belonging to the army from their uniform and yellow headbands – can be heard in the footage congratulating themselves following the attack.

By matching the buildings and the trees we see in the videos to satellite imagery, we have established the incident took place at a location about 2 km (1.2 miles) south of the presidential palace.

We’ve identified video of the army striking a convoy of vehicles travelling along al-Qasr Avenue, moving away from the palace, posted online early on the morning of 20 March.

The footage shows a huge fire erupting, with multiple explosions and projectiles emerging from within the fire, suggesting the detonation of munitions being carried on the vehicles.

The video is accompanied by voices, speaking in Arabic, describing the attack on the RSF convoy vehicles containing weaponry.

We have managed to establish the location from two buildings seen in the footage which match buildings we see on Google Maps at a junction just over 1km from the presidential palace.

Just a few hours later, jubilant Sudan army soldiers posed for pictures in front of the palace building, their arms raised in victory.

The RSF still hold control over significant parts of the city as well as large areas of western Sudan. But the taking of the palace by the army is hugely symbolic moment in the conflict.

We asked our readers to send in their best pictures on the theme of “my best photo”. Here is a selection of the photographs we received from around the world.

All photographs subject to copyright.

Scenes playing out in Nigeria during holiday periods could be in a movie: emotional reunions at airport terminals, champagne flowing like water in high-end clubs and A-list Afrobeats performers dominating stages to packed audiences nationwide.

This is when Nigerians abroad return for a visit to the home country. They are nicknamed I Just Got Back (IJGB) and bring with them more than full suitcases.

Their Western accents dip in and out of Pidgin, their wallets are boosted by the exchange rate, and their presence fuels the economy.

But it also highlights an uncomfortable truth.

Those who live in Nigeria, earning in the local naira currency, feel shut out of their own cities, especially in the economic hub of Lagos and the capital, Abuja, as prices go up during festive periods.

Residents say this is particularly the case for “Detty December”, a term used to refer the celebrations around Christmas and New Year.

Detty December makes Lagos almost unliveable for locals – traffic is horrible, prices inflate and businesses stop prioritising their regular customers, a radio presenter based in Lagos tells the BBC.

The popular media personality asked not to be named for voicing what some might consider controversial opinions.

But he is not the only one to hold these views and has some are pondering, with Easter and the diaspora summer holiday season approaching, whether the IJGBs are helping bridge Nigeria’s class divide or are making it even wider.

“Nigeria is very classist. Ironically, we’re a poor country, so it’s a bit silly,” the radio presenter adds.

“The wealth gap is massive. It’s almost like we’re worlds apart.”

It is true that despite oil-rich Nigeria being one of Africa’s biggest economies and the continent’s most populous country, its more than 230 million citizens face huge challenges and limited opportunities.

At the beginning of the year, the charity Oxfam warned the wealth gap in Nigeria was reaching a “crisis level”.

Statistics from 2023 are startling.

According to the World Inequality Database more than 10% of the population owned more than 60% of Nigeria’s wealth. For those with jobs, 10% of the population took home 42% of the income.

The World Bank says the figure of those living below the poverty line is 87 million – “the world’s second-largest poor population after India“.

Martins Ifeanacho, professor of sociology at the University of Port Harcourt, says this gap and resulting class divide has grown since Nigeria’s independence from the UK in 1960.

“We’ve gone through so much economic hardship,” the academic, who returned to Nigeria after studying in Ireland in the 1990s, tells the BBC.

He points the finger at the greed of those who are in position of political power – be it at a federal or state level.

“We have a political elite that bases its calculations on how to acquire power, amass wealth for the purpose of capturing more power.

“The ordinary people are left out of the equation, and that’s why there is a lot of hardship.”

But it is not just about money in the bank account.

Wealth, real or perceived, can dictate access, status and opportunity – and the presence of the diaspora can magnify the class divide.

“Nigeria’s class system is hard to pinpoint. It’s not just about money, it’s about perception,” explains the radio presenter.

He gives the example of going out for a meal in Lagos and how peacocking is so important.

At restaurants, those arriving in a Range Rover are quickly attended to, while those in a Kia may be ignored, says the radio presenter.

Social mobility is difficult when the nation’s wealth remains within a small elite.

With odds stacked against those trying to climb the ladder, for many Nigerians the only realistic path to a better life is to leave.

The World Bank blames “weak job creation and entrepreneurial prospects” that stifle the absorption of “the 3.5 million Nigerians entering the labour force every year”.

“Many workers choose to emigrate in search of better opportunities,” it says.

Since the 1980s, middle-class Nigerians have sought opportunities abroad, but in recent years, the urgency has intensified, especially among Gen Z and millennials.

This mass exodus has been dubbed “japa”, a Yoruba word meaning “to escape”.

A 2022 survey found that at least 70% of young Nigerians would relocate if they could.

But for many, leaving is not simple. Studying abroad, the most common route, can cost tens of thousands of dollars, not including travel, accommodation and visa expenses.

“Japa creates this aspirational culture where people now want to leave the country,” says Lulu Okwara, a 28-year-old recruitment officer.

She went the UK to study finance in 2021 – and is one of the IJGBs, having returned to Nigeria at least three times since moving.

Ms Okwara notes that in Nigeria there is a pressure to succeed. A culture where achievement is expected.

“It’s success or nothing,” she tells the BBC. “There is no room for failure.”

This deeply embedded sentiment makes people feel they must do anything to succeed.

Especially for those who come from more working-class backgrounds. The IJGBs have a point to prove.

“When people go out there, their dream is always to come back as heroes, mostly during Christmas or other festivities,” says Prof Ifeanacho.

“You come back home and you mix with your people that you’ve missed for a long time.

“The type of welcome they will give to you, the children that will be running to you, is something that you love and cherish.”

Success is chased at any cost and putting on a foreign accent can help you climb Nigeria’s social ladder – even if you have not been abroad.

“People fake accents to get access. The more you sound British, the higher your social status,” says Prof Ifeanacho.

He recalls a story about a pastor who preached every Sunday on the radio.

“When they told me that this man had not left Nigeria, I said, ‘No, that’s not possible.’ Because when you hear him speak, everything is American,” he says in disbelief.

American and British accents, especially, act as a different kind of currency, smoothing paths in both professional and social settings.

Pushback on social media suggests some IJGBs are all front – they may lap up the returning hero adulation but in fact lack financial clout.

Bizzle Osikoya, the owner at The Plug Entertainment, a business that hosts live music events in West Africa, says he has encountered some issues that reflect this.

He tells the BBC about how several IJGBs have attended his events – but who have gone on to try and get their money back.

“They went back to the US and Canada and put a dispute on their payments,” he says.

This may reflect the desperate effort to maintain a façade of success in a society where every display of wealth is scrutinised.

In Nigeria, it seems, performance is key – and the IJGBs who are able to show off will certainly be able to climb the class ladder.

The Romanian village of Poeni has a couple of shops, a kebab grill and a pack of stray dogs.

It also has a fair few voters who wanted a far-right candidate to become president.

Poeni, just over an hour’s drive from the capital, is not alone in that.

Last November, Calin Georgescu – who admires Vladimir Putin and is no fan of Nato – came from the extremist fringe to win the first round of Romania’s presidential election with 23% of the vote.

In Poeni he did even better, with 24%.

Then the constitutional court scrapped the entire election in an unprecedented move, citing intelligence that Georgescu’s online campaign had been boosted by Russia.

In Poeni, a young voter called those claims “lies”, angry at the cancelled vote. “They should have let him run to see what happens,” Maria argues.

A new ballot will be held in May but Georgescu has been barred from participating.

In Bucharest, supporters who took to the streets yelled that the judges were destroying democracy. A handful clashed briefly with police, who used tear gas.

Now nationalist politician George Simion has stepped into the race and is polling strongly instead.

Many Romanians fear their country’s core European values, and its global alliances, are still in danger.

“We are in the middle of a battle of ideas. We don’t have options here,” is how one democracy activist describes the mood. “The fight is now.”

In Poeni village there’s less talk of values and of Russian meddling, more about the money in their pockets. Or rather the lack of it.

By the side of the main road, where the traffic alternates between heavy trucks and horses and carts, men buy charred chunks of kebab and pensioners chat on dusty benches.

A metal public phone box is bent out of shape, its sign dangling as it probably has for years.

Incomes here are small, prices are climbing and life is tough as in much of Romania.

“I want Georgescu to straighten everyone out. They tricked us. They promised us more pension money,” a middle-aged woman speaks quietly at first, then becomes bolder. “The others have done nothing for us here!”

In the village store, Ionela is just as disenchanted.

“Young people finish college here and can’t get work, so they go abroad. That isn’t normal. We need our young people to have places here to work,” she complains from behind the shop counter.

Millions of Romanians work elsewhere in the EU and send money home to their families. In Poeni you can see where some of that ends up, in all the half-done new homes.

Ionela’s whole family voted for Georgescu. He promised to cut taxes, she thinks, but she doesn’t seem to have registered his far-right ideology.

A man who’s praised extremist figures from Romania’s past, he’s now under investigation for suspected links to a group with “fascist, racist or xenophobic characteristics”.

Emerging after questioning, the politician was filmed giving a fascist-style salute.

Other villagers in Poeni did see that and do know all about the murky characters Georgescu has been linked to.

On hearing his name, one pensioner grabs her crutch and wields it like a machine gun, shouting that he is dangerous.

Another told me people were suspicious of someone who surged to prominence from nowhere and of his focus on sovereignty over economic sense.

“He tells us we don’t need Europe to help us with money. So how are we going to live? Let’s face it: Europe feeds us!” she says.

Romania’s vote has become the topic of talk far beyond the streets of Poeni, or even Bucharest.

When US Vice President JD Vance shocked Europe with a speech in Munich, claiming that the EU’s greatest threat came from within and not from Russia, he cited Romania several times.

He declared that the country’s election had been cancelled on “flimsy suspicions” under “enormous pressure” from the EU. Then Elon Musk slammed the court’s move as “‘crazy” on X.

Moscow would have enjoyed that.

Russia’s external intelligence agency came out in full agreement with the US that the “liberal mainstream” in Europe was suppressing dissent.

This from an authoritarian regime.

“It’s the new world we are living in. It’s Maga ideology. They try to find partners and their partners are far-right parties in all Europe,” is how journalist Ion Ionita sees the US-Russia alignment.

To him, annulling the presidential elections was not only constitutional but justified.

“We are living through a hybrid war, democracy is under pressure,” he argues. The threat is real.

But Romania, which borders Ukraine and hosts a big Nato base, now has to deal with US hostility too.

“It’s a dramatic change. America is our ally, the biggest one, and the most important security provider for Romania,” Ion Ionis points out. “We need this partnership to go further and to be stronger.

“People are worried.”

For Florin Buhuceanu the dispute isn’t only political – it’s personal.

His Bucharest flat, a modernist gem, is a mini museum “dedicated to gay memory”.

On one wall there’s a large photograph from the 1930s of three gay men under arrest. In the next room is a wooden cabinet that once displayed Romanian fascist-era memorabilia in an antique store. Now it contains pictures of gay icons.

Romania only decriminalised homosexuality in 2001.

“No state museum would take such donations,” Florin says, so he and his partner display the exhibits at home for invited guests.

A prominent LGBT activist, he’s had so many threats in the heat of this election campaign that the security services have warned him to be careful.

Even with Georgescu disappearing as swiftly as he appeared, the atmosphere is febrile.

George Simion, now considered a frontrunner, has been investigated after calling for election officials to be “skinned alive” for barring Georgescu from the race.

He describes his nationalist AUR as a “patriotic party of conservative essence” whose pillars are “Faith, Nation, Family and Freedom.”

LGBT rights group Mozaiq has warned of a surge in anti-Semitic, racist and homophobic rhetoric in recent weeks. It had to alert police after social media messages urging attacks on its office.

So Florin Buhuceanu fears his country is being thrown back to the past.

“Before 2001, it was absolutely impossible for us to breathe. Now we hear again and again the same rhetoric,” he says.

Worse still, the US, Russia and the Romanian far right now coincide.

“It’s obvious that our rights are fragile and the world is regrouping, so we have to continue this battle,” the activist warns. “It’s not just for our community. It’s for the soul of Romanian democracy.”

Venezuela will resume flights for its nationals deported by the US, after reaching an agreement with the Trump administration.

Venezuela, which does not have diplomatic relations with the US, had initially agreed to accept deportees in February. But President Nicolás Maduro halted flights in March after a dispute with the Trump administration.

“Tomorrow, thanks to the government’s perseverance, we’ll resume flights to continue rescuing and freeing migrants from prisons in the United States,” Maduro said in a televised address on Saturday, Reuters reports.

The White House and US State Department did not respond to BBC requests for comment.

Trump’s special envoy, Richard Grenell, had initially brokered a deal with Venezuela’s government to take back its citizens deported from the US.

“Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their Country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the US, including gang members of Tren de Aragua,” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time. “Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back.”

But Maduro halted deportation flights from the US on 8 March, after the US Treasury Department suspended the energy giant Chevron’s permission to export oil from Venezuela, the AP reported.

On 15 March, the Trump administration deported 238 Venezuelans, who they alleged belonged to the Tren de Aragua gang, to El Salvador, where they were detained at a mega-prison.

The administration has not named the individuals deported, or provided details of their alleged criminal behaviour

In a statement issued on Saturday, Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela’s national assembly, appeared to address the matter of the Venezuelan nationals currently held in El Salvador.

He said Venezuela accepted a deal to assure “the return of our compatriots to their nation with the safeguard of their Human Rights,” the AP reported.

“Migrating isn’t a crime, and we won’t rest until everyone who wants to return is back and we rescue our kidnapped brothers in El Salvador.”

Trump has used the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as a legal basis for removing 137 of those Venezuelan deportees, which immediately prompted a legal challenge.

A federal judge in Washington, DC sought to block the deportation flights to El Salvador via a verbal order.

However, the planes landed in El Salvador, and the country’s president Nayib Bukele posted on social media that the intervention came “too late”.

The White House has faced allegations of defying the judge’s order, which it refutes.

The judge, James Boesberg, demanded more details from a government lawyer at a hearing on Friday.

Flights have resumed at Heathrow Airport, a day after a fire at a nearby electrical substation shut down operations at one of the world’s major transport hubs.

Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport, said on Saturday morning it was open and fully operational, however flight disruptions are expected to last days.

British Airways estimated 85% of its planned flights would run on Saturday, but with delays throughout. As of 07:00 GMT the majority of departures had left as expected but of arrivals nine of the first 20 flights scheduled to land were cancelled.

More than 1,300 flights were affected on Friday, tracking website Flightradar24 said, and passengers were told not to travel to the airport unless their airline advised them to.

National Grid said that an “interim solution” had been found to allow power to be restored to customers including Heathrow Airport, saying that the network had been “reconfigured to restore all customers impacted”.

Firefighters worked throughout the day to bring the blaze at North Hyde substation in Hayes, west London, under control.

Here’s what we know so far.

• LIVE: First flights of day land at Heathrow as services resume after day of chaos
• What are my rights if my flight is cancelled or delayed?

A fire at an electrical substation in west London, which supplies Heathrow, caused a major power outage at the airport, prompting its closure.

It is not yet known what caused the fire at the substation, but Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said there was no suggestion of foul play as counter-terrorism police investigate.

“The counter-terrorism command has specific capabilities and capacities that mean that they are used to conducting investigations at pace,” she said, adding that they were needed as the fire took place next to a critical piece of national infrastructure.

Emergency services were first called to Nestles Avenues in Hayes, west London at 23:23 GMT on Thursday.

Jonathan Smith, London Fire Brigade (LFB) deputy commissioner, said the fire at the electrical substation involved a transformer containing 25,000 litres of cooling oil.

The fire was “very visible and significant,” he said. The LFB said the fire was under control by 06:28.

On Friday evening, the service said the fire was “believed to be non-suspicious” and the investigation will “focus on the electrical distribution equipment”.

Commander Simon Messinger, who is leading the Metropolitan Police’s response to the fire, said: “Various specialist investigators continue to examine the scene and it is expected to take some time before full assessments can be completed.”

But he repeated that “at this stage, there remains no indication of any foul play”.

The substation is about a mile and a half away from the airport.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the substation’s back-up generator “appears to have been knocked out”.

Videos shared on social media showed tall flames and plumes of smoke billowing from the substation overnight.

People living nearby were advised to keep doors and windows closed to avoid smoke inhalation.

With Heathrow being such a busy airport for passenger journeys and global trade, questions have been raised over whether it has back-up systems in the event of power cuts.

The BBC understands that Heathrow does have back-up power for its key systems, but kickstarting these alternative power supplies for the whole airport takes time.

A source said it was not possible to switch the power back on immediately.

A Heathrow source also told the BBC that they have “multiple sources” of energy at the airport – with diesel generators and “uninterruptable power supplies” in place.

They added that when the power outage happened the back-up systems “all operated as expected”.

The systems, however, are not enough to run the whole airport – hence the decision to close it down.

And even once the power is back on, there are countless systems which need to be rebooted and checked to ensure they are working properly and are stable.

It is unclear why Heathrow’s own back-up systems were not adequate to keep the airport running when one critical component of its energy supply was knocked out, and it is also unclear why the National Grid transmission network was not set up to supply sufficient electricity.

A Heathrow source said these questions would be investigated.

The first flights since the fire took off from and landed at Heathrow on Friday evening, with the airport initially saying it would prioritise repatriation and relocation of aircraft.

Heathrow said the airport was “open and fully operational” on Saturday morning, however a number of flights were cancelled and disruptions were expected to last days.

The closure had knock-on effects at many other airports, as airlines cancelled and diverted flights.

The airport has apologised for the disruption and has advised passengers to contact their airlines for further information.

Its helpline number is 020 8757 2700.

Late on Friday, the Department for Transport said on X that restrictions on overnight flights at Heathrow had been temporarily lifted to ease congestion.

Only 5,800 flights are allowed to take off or land at Heathrow between 23:30 and 06:00 each year, under government restrictions designed to limit how much noise the airport makes at night.

At least 1,351 flights to and from Heathrow were affected on Friday, Flightradar24 said, with some 120 affected aircraft already in the air when the closure was announced.

The Foreign Office has advised UK citizens who are abroad and require urgent assistance to contact their teams via an online query form.

Air Canada and United Airlines have announced they will be resuming some or all of their flights from Friday evening. Virgin Atlantic has said it hopes to operate “a near full schedule” on Saturday with limited cancellations, adding that it will continuously review flights.

Gatwick Airport told the BBC it was aware of the situation at Heathrow Airport and stands “ready to support as required”.

Several of Australia’s Qantas airline planes have been diverted from London to Paris, with other flights likely to be affected, it said.

British Airways has cancelled all its short-haul flights due to operate to and from the airport on Friday.

Some long-haul flights – including to Cape Town, Johannesburg, Singapore and Rio de Janeiro – were later given clearance to depart from Heathrow from 1900 GMT and the airline said it was reviewing the fire’s implications for Saturday’s schedule and beyond.

Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s main airline cancelled all its flights to London on Friday.

The Heathrow Express railway service said it was running a reduced service from Paddington to Heathrow.

In addition to passengers expecting to fly, disruption has been caused to thousands of homes in west London, which have been left without power.

About 150 people had to be evacuated from surrounding properties.

More than 16,300 homes lost power in a large-scale outage caused by the fire, energy supplier Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said.

“We’re aware of a widespread power cut affecting many of our customers around the Hayes, Hounslow and surrounding areas,” it added.

National Grid said on Friday afternoon the network had been “reconfigured to restore all customers impacted, including the ability to resupply the parts of Heathrow airport that are connected to North Hyde”.

Meanwhile, two nurseries and four schools in Hillingdon – the London borough Heathrow Airport is located in – are shut today.

Hillingdon Council are assisting 12 people who were evacuated from their homes by the emergency services with hotel accommodation.

Bin collections will also be impacted on Friday, the council warned.

Bus routes in the Hillingdon area have been affected and the M4 is closed between junction three and four, while the Terminal Four spur roads are also closed.

No injuries from the fire have been reported.

Counter-terrorism officers from the Metropolitan Police are now leading the investigation into the fire because of the location of the substation and the “impact on critical national infrastructure”.

It added there was currently no indication of foul play but it is keeping “an open mind”.

London Fire Brigade said it was working closely with the Metropolitan Police.

The Trump administration is planning to import eggs from Turkey and South Korea and is in talks with other countries in hopes of easing all-time high prices for the American consumer, officials confirmed.

“We are talking in the hundreds of millions of eggs for the short term,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters at the White House.

It follows the administration’s announcement of a $1bn (£792m) plan to combat a raging bird flu epidemic that has forced US farmers to cull tens of millions of chickens.

Despite President Trump’s campaign promise to reduce prices, the cost of eggs has surged more than 65% over the past year, and it is projected to rise by 41% in 2025.

Rollins said her department was also in talks with other countries to secure new supplies, but did not specify which regions.

“When our chicken populations are repopulated and we’ve got a full egg laying industry going again, hopefully in a couple of months, we then shift back to our internal egg layers and moving those eggs out onto the shelf, ” she said.

Polish and Lithuanian poultry associations said on Friday they had also been approached by US embassies regarding possible egg exports, the AFP reported.

“Back in February, the American embassy in Warsaw asked our organisation whether Poland would be interested in exporting eggs to the US market,” Katarzyna Gawronska, director of the National Chamber of Poultry and Feed Producers, told the news agency.

• Farmers say bird flu a ‘crisis’ as egg prices soar
• 100,000 eggs stolen from one US grocer as bird flu drives up prices

In February, the US Department of Agriculture unveiled a $1bn, five-point plan to tackle the price of eggs, with a budget of $500m for biosecurity measures, roughly $100m for vaccine research and development, and $400m for farmer financial relief programs.

The Trump administration said it will provide commercial egg farms with best practices and consulting services for free, and pay up to 75% of the costs to address vulnerabilities to help prevent the spread of bird flu.

“Our plan was to invest a significant amount of money to do audits across the country to have USDA help these egg laying companies to secure their barns,” Rollins said. “…and since we began doing that most recently, we’ve seen a significant decline in the bird flu.”

Though the avian flu, or H5N1, has circulated among American poultry flocks for years, an outbreak starting in 2022 has wreaked havoc on farms, killing more than 156 million birds and sending egg prices skyrocketing.

Egg prices became a rallying point for Trump in last year’s presidential run as he sought to capitalise on voters’ frustrations with the rising cost of essential items.

During his address to the US Congress earlier this month, he blamed the soaring egg prices on his predecessor Joe Biden.

“Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control – and we are working hard to get it back down,” he added.

Egg prices rose as the Biden administration directed millions of egg-laying birds to be culled last year amid a bird flu outbreak, though prices have continued rising during the early stages of Trump’s second presidency.

Israel’s defence minister has told the military to “seize additional areas in Gaza” and threatened to permanently occupy parts of it, if Hamas does not free all remaining hostages.

Israel Katz said that the military would continue its ground operation in Gaza “with increasing intensity” until all of the hostages “both living and dead” were returned.

It is thought 24 of the 59 hostages still held in Gaza are alive, but their fate remains in the balance after negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire deal failed to progress.

The fragile ceasefire that had been in place since January ended this week as Israel resumed its ground campaign and bombing of Gaza, killing hundreds of people.

The situation in the Strip has been described as “gravely, gravely concerning” with “absolutely desperate tragedies occurring all over Gaza” by Sam Rose from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa.

Israel and the US have accused Hamas of rejecting proposals to extend the ceasefire. Hamas has said it is “engaging with the mediators with full responsibility and seriousness”.

However, Katz said in a statement on Friday that “the more Hamas continues its refusal, the more territory it will lose to Israel”.

Katz added that Israel still agreed to a proposal, which was brought by US envoy Steve Witkoff, “to release all the kidnapped, both living and dead, in advance and in two stages with a ceasefire in between”.

“We will intensify the fighting with strikes from the air, sea and land and by expanding the ground manoeuvre until the hostages are released and Hamas is defeated,” Katz wrote.

The defence minister also said Israel would “implement US President Trump’s voluntary transfer plan for Gaza residents”.

Trump said he wants the US to take over and rebuild the Gaza Strip, while permanently removing its population of two million Palestinians.

• Why did the ceasefire not hold?
• Explaining the latest on the war in Gaza
• Decoding the Ukraine ceasefire plan line by line

The Palestinian Authority and Hamas have said Gaza is “not for sale”, while the UN warned that any forced displacement of civilians from occupied territory is strictly prohibited under international law and “tantamount to ethnic cleansing”.

Months of negotiations, led by the US, Qatar and Egypt, saw a ceasefire deal proposed in three stages. Israel and Hamas failed to agree on how to take the truce beyond the first phase.

The plan stalled when the US and Israel proposed to extend stage one. Hamas rejected the change and said it was a “blatant attempt” by Israel “to evade the agreement”.

The ceasefire was broken on Tuesday when Israel launched a heavy wave of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 430 people in two days, the Hamas-run health ministry said. On Thursday, Hamas launched three rockets at Tel Aviv.

Blaming Hamas for the resumption of violence, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said the group had “rejected every hostage deal”.

Israel says Hamas is still holding 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to still be alive.

On Friday, the acting US ambassador to the UN squarely blamed Hamas for the ongoing war and resumption of fighting.

“Every death would have been avoided had Hamas accepted the bridge proposal,” Dorothy Shea told the UN Security Council.

Hamas has denied it is responsible for stalling the negotiations, and said it “remains deeply involved” and is “engaging with the mediators with full responsibility and seriousness”.

In a statement on Telegram, Hamas wrote it is discussing “the Witkoff proposal and other different ideas put forward, all with the goal of securing a prisoner exchange deal that ensures the release of prisoners, ends the war, and achieves a withdrawal” [of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip].

In his statement, Katz also said that civilians would be evacuated from the areas the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are targeting.

Previous evacuation orders have sent panic through Palestinians families, many of whom have been displaced repeatedly by the war and have few safe options left.

Israel blocked all food, fuel and medical supplies entering Gaza at the beginning of March in order to put pressure on Hamas. It accused Hamas of commandeering the provisions as part of its strategy against Israel, though did not provide evidence for this claim.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

More than 49,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says, and there is large-scale destruction to homes and infrastructure in the Strip.

One of the most talked-about TV shows of recent years, Netflix’s hard-hitting drama Adolescence, has been the hot topic of discussion this week, from the House of Commons to US talk shows to the gates of the scriptwriter’s son’s school.

Those discussions have been sparked by the fictional story of a 13-year-old boy who is accused of stabbing a girl, and the factors that could have turned him into a killer.

“I’ve had lots of responses from people I haven’t heard from for years, telling me about conversations they’re now having with their children,” writer Jack Thorne says. “That’s really gratifying.

“My son’s headteacher stopped me at the school gates to say, ‘I’d like to talk to you about this, and I’d like to think about what our school can do and what other schools can do’,” Thorne adds.

“The conversations seem to be starting in all sorts of different places.”

Thorne is now calling for the government to take “radical action” to help tackle the issues the programme raises.

Chief among them are social media and the influence of incel (involuntary celibate) ideas, which encourage men to blame women for their lack of relationships and opportunities.

But the drama, which Thorne created with actor Stephen Graham, is not just pointing the finger at incel culture, the writer tells the BBC.

“I really hope this is a drama that suggests that Jamie is like this because of a whole number of complicated factors.”

His parents, school and friends are all shown as playing a part in various ways.

But Jamie, played by Owen Cooper, is bullied on social media to make him feel ugly, and is exposed to incel messaging and skewed views on sexual violence.

“He is this vulnerable kid, and then he hears this stuff which makes sense to him about why he’s isolated, why he’s alone, why he doesn’t belong, and he ingests it. He doesn’t have the filters to understand what’s appropriate,” Thorne says.

“At this age, with all these different pressures on him and with the peculiarities of his society around him, he starts to believe that the only way to reset this balance is through violence.”

The writer went down similar online wormholes himself on sites like 4Chan and Reddit in order to see the world through Jamie’s eyes.

He found that these messages were not simply coming from the obvious places.

“It was far from just Andrew Tate. It was not those big guns of the manosphere,” he says.

“It was the smaller blogs and vlogs and the little bits like people talking about a video game, but then explaining through that video game why women hate you.

“That was the stuff that I found most disturbing.”

These issues aren’t new, but the show has come as others are also discussing the dangerous messages aimed at boys and young men.

On Wednesday, former England football manager Sir Gareth Southgate delivered a speech warning against “callous, manipulative and toxic influencers”.

“They are as far away as you could possibly get from the role models our young men need in their lives,” he said.

Thorne says Sir Gareth is “amazing” – but he believes the solution is about more than having better role models.

“We’ve been having that conversation since I was a kid,” the writer says. “This has got to be a point where we do something a bit more radical than that. It’s not about role models.

“Role models obviously can have a huge impact on people. But truthfully, we’ve got to change the culture that they’re consuming and the means by which our technology is facilitating this culture.

“It was a really interesting speech, but I was hoping he was going to propose more radical things than he did.”

So what could more radical solutions be?

This week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told Parliament he’s been watching the “very good” drama with his teenage children.

Violence carried out by young men who are influenced by what they see online is “abhorrent and we have to tackle it”, and is “also a matter of culture”, he told the Commons.

Thorne hopes the PM will get the message that “there’s a crisis happening in our schools, and we need to think about how to stop boys from harming girls, and each other”.

“That’s going to take a mass of different things to facilitate in schools and in homes, and that requires government help,” he says.

He urges Sir Keir to “rather urgently” consider a smartphone ban in schools and a “digital age of consent”, similar to Australia, which has passed a law banning children under 16 from using social media.

The writer has also suggested extending that to all smartphone use and gaming.

“I think we should be doing what Australia is doing, and separating our children from this pernicious disease of thought that is infecting them,” he says.

A ban would be a tough sell to teenagers, though.

Thorne appeared on BBC Two’s Newsnight this week alongside three men aged 18, 19 and 21.

When asked about a social media ban for under-16s, they had mixed feelings.

One said it was “a great idea, within reason”, another said it would be “quite unfair”, while the third was against the idea, arguing that “social media has brought a lot of good to young generations as well”.

For Thorne, the question about how to police smartphones and social media is about to come very close to home.

His son is eight, and Thorne says he wants to make sure he establishes “a method of communicating with him” as he grows up. Soon, he will want his own phone.

While working on the series, he has been thinking about how to handle his son’s future use of technology. “And I’m still processing how to do it.”

Researching and writing Adolescence has opened his eyes about the challenges facing young people and parents, he says. But how to tackle them? That’s the hardest part.

A US federal judge has reprimanded government lawyers as he questioned President Donald Trump’s invocation of rarely used powers to deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants.

Judge James Boasberg repeatedly clashed with justice department attorney Drew Ensign during a court hearing in Washington DC, saying he was not used to such “intemperate, disrespectful language” in government filings.

Trump last Saturday deported 238 Venezuelan alleged gang members to a mega-prison in El Salvador after invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, last used during World War Two.

Speaking in the Oval Office earlier on Friday, the Republican president insisted his administration was getting “bad people out of our country”, and renewed his attacks on Judge Boasberg, describing him as a “radical left lunatic”.

The Trump administration maintains the men were “carefully vetted” and verified as gang members before being flown to El Salvador.

Some of their family members, however, have disputed that allegation, and US officials have acknowledged “many” of the men have no US criminal record. Venezuela’s interior ministry has also disputed that the men had links to the Tren de Aragua gang.

• What is the 1798 law that Trump used to deport migrants?
• Mother spots son deported from US in mega-prison footage
• What is Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang targeted by Trump?

At Friday’s hearing, Judge Boasberg said he agreed that the US president had “wide latitude” to enforce immigration law.

But he expressed reservations that the deported migrants had no legal remedy to contest whether they were gang members or not.

“The policy ramifications of this are incredibly troublesome and problematic and concerning,” Judge Boasberg said.

Last Saturday, he issued a verbal order to the government to turn around the deportation flights, but the White House said it was too late as the planes were already in international airspace.

The timing of the flights was a contentious issue in court on Friday.

“Did you not understand that when I said do that immediately, I meant it?” Judge Boasberg told Mr Ensign.

He said the Trump administration would be held accountable if they breached his court order.

“The government’s not being terribly co-operative at this point, but I will get to the bottom of whether they violated my word,” he said.

The judge could hold specific Trump officials in contempt of court for defying his ruling, although the president himself has broad immunity from any legal repercussions for official acts while in office.

Outside the White House on Friday, a journalist asked Trump about the signing of last week’s presidential proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act.

“I don’t know when it was signed because I didn’t sign it,” he said.

The White House later told the BBC that Trump did personally sign the executive order. Their emailed statement said the president was talking about the 1798 law when he said he did not sign it.

The deportations case has raised constitutional questions given that US government agencies are generally expected to comply with a federal judge’s ruling.

At another hearing on Thursday, Judge Boasberg dismissed a government court filing on the migrant deportation flights as “woefully insufficient”.

Trump has called for the judge to be impeached, and accused him of trying to usurp the presidency.

Earlier this week Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare admonishment, without naming Trump, saying impeachment was “not an appropriate response”.

The government has appealed against Judge Boasberg’s temporary restraining order. A hearing is due at the city’s court of appeals on Monday.

Sir Keir Starmer’s plan for an international force to support a ceasefire in Ukraine has been dismissed as “a posture and a pose” by Donald Trump’s special envoy.

Steve Witkoff said the idea was based on a “simplistic” notion of the UK prime minister and other European leaders thinking “we have all got to be like Winston Churchill”.

In an interview with pro-Trump journalist Tucker Carlson, Witkoff praised Vladimir Putin, saying he “liked” the Russian president.

“I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy,” he said. “He’s super smart.”

Witkoff, who met Putin ten days ago, said the Russian president had been “gracious” and “straight up” with him. Putin told him, he added, that he had prayed for Trump after an assassination attempt against him last year. He also said Putin had commissioned a portrait of the US president as a gift and Trump was “clearly touched by it”.

During the interview, Witkoff repeated various Russian arguments, including that Ukraine was “a false country” and asked when the world would recognise occupied Ukrainian territory as Russian.

Witkoff is leading the US ceasefire negotiations with both Russia and Ukraine but he was unable to name the five regions of Ukraine either annexed or partially occupied by Russian forces.

He said: “The largest issue in that conflict are these so-called four regions, Donbas, Crimea, you know the names and there are two others.”

The five regions – or oblasts – are Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimea. Donbas refers to an industrial region in the east that includes much of Luhansk and Donetsk.

Witkoff made several assertions that are either not true or disputed:

• He said Ukrainian troops in Kursk were surrounded, something denied by Ukraine’s government and uncorroborated by any open-source data
• He said the four partially occupied regions of Ukraine had held “referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule”. There were referendums only in some of the occupied parts of Ukraine at different times and the methodology and results were widely discredited and disputed
• He said the four partially occupied oblasts were Russian-speaking. There are many Russian-speaking parts of Ukraine but this has never indicated support for Russia.

Witkoff also repeated several Kremlin talking points about the cause of Russia’s full-scale invasion. He said it was “correct” that from the Russian perspective the partially occupied territories were now part of Russia: “The elephant in the room is, there are constitutional issues within Ukraine as to what they can concede to with regard to giving up territory. The Russians are de facto in control of these territories. The question is: will the world acknowledge that those are Russian territories?”

He added: “There’s a sensibility in Russia that Ukraine is just a false country, that they just patched together in this sort of mosaic, these regions, and that’s what is the root cause, in my opinion, of this war, that Russia regards those five regions as rightfully theirs since World War Two, and that’s something nobody wants to talk about.”

Putin has repeatedly said that the “root causes” of his invasion were the threat posed to Russia by an expanded Nato and the sheer existence of Ukraine as an independent country.

Witkoff said in the Tucker Carlson interview: “Why would they want to absorb Ukraine? For what purpose? They don’t need to absorb Ukraine… They have reclaimed these five regions. They have Crimea and they have gotten what they want. So why do they need more?”

Asked about Keir Starmer’s plans to forge a “coalition of the willing” to provide military security guarantees for a post-war Ukraine, Witkoff said: “I think it’s a combination of a posture and a pose and a combination of also being simplistic. There is this sort of notion that we have all got to be like [British wartime prime minister] Winston Churchill. Russians are going to march across Europe. That is preposterous by the way. We have something called Nato that we did not have in World War Two.”

He said a ceasefire in the Black Sea would be “implemented over the next week or so” and “we are not far away” from a full 30-day ceasefire.

He also gave details of how Trump wanted to co-operate with Russia after relations had been normalised. “Who doesn’t want to have a world where Russia and the US are doing collaboratively good things together, thinking about how to integrate their energy polices in the Arctic, share sea lines maybe, send LNG gas into Europe together, maybe collaborate on AI together?”

Having a chip in your brain that can translate your thoughts into computer commands may sound like science fiction – but it is a reality for Noland Arbaugh.

In January 2024 – eight years after he was paralysed – the 30-year-old became the first person to get such a device from the US neurotechnology firm, Neuralink.

It was not the first such chip – a handful of other companies have also developed and implanted them – but Noland’s inevitably attracts more attention because of Neuralink’s founder: Elon Musk.

But Noland says the important thing is neither him nor Musk – but the science.

He told the BBC he knew the risks of what he was doing – but “good or bad, whatever may be, I would be helping”.

“If everything worked out, then I could help being a participant of Neuralink,” he said.

“If something terrible happened, I knew they would learn from it.”

Noland, who is from Arizona, was paralysed below the shoulders in a diving accident in 2016.

His injuries were so severe he feared he might not be able to study, work or even play games again.

“You just have no control, no privacy, and it’s hard,” he said.

“You have to learn that you have to rely on other people for everything.”

The Neuralink chip looks to restore a fraction of his previous independence, by allowing him to control a computer with his mind.

It is what is known as a brain computer interface (BCI) – which works by detecting the tiny electrical impulses generated when humans think about moving, and translating these into digital command, such as moving a cursor on a screen.

It is a complex subject that scientists have been working on for several decades.

Inevitably, Elon Musk’s involvement in the field has catapulted the tech – and Noland Arbaugh – into the headlines.

It’s helped Neuralink attract lots of investment – as well as scrutiny over the safety and significance of what is an extremely invasive procedure.

When Noland’s implant was announced, experts hailed it as a “significant milestone”, while also cautioning that it would take time to really assess – especially given Musk’s adeptness at “generating publicity for his company.”

Musk was cagey in public at the time, simply writing in a social media post: “Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.”

In reality, Noland said, the billionaire – who he spoke to before and after his surgery – was far more optimistic.

“I think he was just as excited as I was to get started,” he said.

Nonetheless, he stresses that Neuralink is about more than its owner, and claims he does not consider it “an Elon Musk device”.

Whether the rest of the world sees it that way – especially given his increasingly controversial role in the US government – remains to be seen.

But there is no questioning the impact the device has had on Noland’s life.

When Noland awoke from the surgery which installed the device, he said he was initially able to control a cursor on a screen by thinking about wiggling his fingers.

“Honestly I didn’t know what to expect – it sounds so sci-fi,” he said.

But after seeing his neurons spike on a screen – all the while surrounded by excited Neuralink employees – he said “it all sort of sunk in” that he could control his computer with just his thoughts.

And – even better – over time his ability to use the implant has grown to the point he can now play chess and video games.

“I grew up playing games,” he said – adding it was something he “had to let go of” when he became disabled.

“Now I’m beating my friends at games, which really shouldn’t be possible but it is.”

Noland is a powerful demonstration of the tech’s potential to change lives – but there may be drawbacks too.

“One of the main problems is privacy,” said Anil Seth, Professor of Neuroscience, University of Sussex.

“So if we are exporting our brain activity […] then we are kind of allowing access to not just what we do but potentially what we think, what we believe and what we feel,” he told the BBC.

“Once you’ve got access to stuff inside your head, there really is no other barrier to personal privacy left.”

But these aren’t concerns for Noland – instead he wants to see the chips go further in terms of what they can do.

He told the BBC he hoped the device could eventually allow him to control his wheelchair, or even a futuristic humanoid robot.

Even with the tech in its current, more limited state, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing though.

At one point, an issue with the device caused him to lose control of his computer altogether, when it partially disconnected from his brain.

“That was really upsetting to say the least,” he said.

“I didn’t know if I would be able to use Neuralink ever again.”

The connection was repaired – and subsequently improved – when engineers adjusted the software, but it highlighted a concern frequently voiced by experts over the technology’s limitations.

Neuralink is just one of many companies exploring how to digitally tap into our brain power.

Synchron is one such firm, which says its Stentrode device aimed at helping people with motor neurone disease requires a less invasive surgery to implant.

Rather than requiring open brain surgery, it is installed into a person’s jugular vein in their neck, then moved up to their brain through a blood vessel.

Like Neuralink, the device ultimately connects to the motor region of the brain.

“It picks up when someone is thinking of tapping or not tapping their finger,” said chief technology officer Riki Bannerjee.

“By being able to pick up those differences it can create what we call a digital motor output.”

That output is then turned into computer signals, where it is currently being used by 10 people.

One such person, who did not want his last name to be used, told the BBC he was the first person in the world to use the device with Apple’s Vision Pro headset.

Mark said this has allowed him to virtually holiday in far-flung locations – from standing in waterfalls in Australia to strolling across mountains in New Zealand.

“I can see down the road in the future a world where this technology could really, really make a difference for someone that has this or any paralysis,” he said.

But for Noland there is one caveat with his Neuralink chip – he agreed to be part of a study which installed it for six years, after which point the future is less clear.

Whatever happens to him, he believes his experience may be merely scratching the surface of what might one day become a reality.

“We know so little about the brain and this is allowing us to learn so much more,” he said.

US President Donald Trump revoked security clearances from his previously defeated Democratic election rivals, Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton, as well as a number of other former officials and critics.

Trump said in February he was revoking security clearance for his predecessor Joe Biden. His order confirmed that decision, adding that he was also revoking the security clearance of “any other member” of the Biden family.

“I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information,” Trump’s memorandum read.

Former US presidents and top security officials usually keep their security clearance as a courtesy.

Trump ordered department and agency leaders to “revoke unescorted access to secure United States government facilities for these individuals.”

“This action includes, but is not limited to, receipt of classified briefings, such as the President’s Daily Brief, and access to classified information held by any member of the intelligence community by virtue of the named individuals’ previous tenure in the Congress,” the order stated.

For several named figures, the loss of access to classified material and spaces will have a more symbolic impact.

It may limit the materials they are able to review, or restrict access to some government buildings or secure facilities.

The lawyers and prosecutors named by Trump, however, could potentially face roadblocks in accessing or reviewing information for their cases or clients.

Trump’s revocations focus on top Biden administration officials, as well as prominent political critics and attorneys who have challenged Trump or his allies in court.

Biden’s secretary of state Antony Blinken, national security advisor Jake Sullivan, and deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco all lost their clearances.

Trump also targeted two of his own former officials from his first term: Fiona Hill and Alexander Vindman, who testified during his first impeachment trial that began in 2019.

Trump also revoked access for high-profile Republican critics, former Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.

They were the only two Republican lawmakers who joined a US House investigation into Trump’s role in the 6 January 2021 attack on Congress.

Both also voted to charge Trump in his second impeachment, which a Democratic-led US House of Representatives instigated after the riot. Trump was acquitted by the Senate on the charge of inciting the 6 January riot.

Trump has also singled out top legal opponents in his latest decision on security access. His order revoked clearance for New York attorney general Letitia James, who brought multiple lawsuits against Trump and his businesses.

In a civil fraud lawsuit that concluded in 2024, a judge found Trump liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in fines. Trump is appealing the decision.

Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, who prosecuted and won Trump’s criminal hush money case last year, also lost his clearance.

Trump’s legal targets went beyond elected prosecutors. He withdrew security clearance for Norm Eisen, an attorney leading multiple lawsuits against the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the federal workforce.

Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor who joined an investigation of Trump during his first term and later provided media commentary about the hush money trial, also lost his clearance.

Previous media reports had indicated that the administration had pulled the security clearance for a top whistleblower attorney in Washington, Mark Zaid.

Friday’s order listed him among the individuals who would lose access.

However, Mr Zaid told the BBC that “despite being told three times that my clearance has been revoked, I still have not received anything formally.”

He claimed losing his security clearance would harm “the federal employees, including Trump supporters, who count on me to handle cases few other lawyers could.”

Several of the individuals chosen by Trump derided his order in social media statements.

“I don’t care what noises Donald Trump makes about a security clearance that hasn’t been active for five years,” Mr Vindman wrote on X.

Mr Eisen wrote on X that being targeted by Trump’s order “just makes me file even more lawsuits!”

Trump had earlier pulled security clearances of more than four dozen former intelligence officials whom he accused of meddling in the 2020 election in Joe Biden’s favour. He provided no evidence for these claims.

In February, Trump announced he was revoking Biden’s security access. In a social media post, Trump said Biden “set this precedent in 2021, when he instructed the Intelligence Community (IC) to stop the 45th President of the United States (ME!) from accessing details on National Security, a courtesy provided to former Presidents”.

In 2021, Biden – serving as president at the time – barred his defeated rival Trump from having access to intelligence briefings citing his “erratic behaviour”.

A 2024 Justice Department special counsel report found Biden had improperly retained classified documents from his time as vice president. The report noted that Biden had cooperated with federal investigators and returned the discovered documents.

In 2023, Justice Department special prosecutor Jack Smith indicted Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents following his first term in office and obstructing their return to the government.

Trump pleaded not guilty and a Florida federal judge dismissed the case in July 2024. Smith officially dropped the case that December after Trump won re-election.

Israel has carried out multiple air strikes on Lebanon after several rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, in the worst violence since a ceasefire came into effect in November.

The Israeli military said it had hit dozens of rocket launchers and a command centre belonging to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia and political group, in southern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s health ministry said seven people, including a child, were killed and 40 injured in the air strikes.

Several armed groups operate in Lebanon, including Hezbollah and Palestinian factions, and no-one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Hours after the first set of strikes, a second wave of attacks were carried out at night on targets that included what the Israeli military described as command centres, infrastructure sites and a weapons storage facility in Lebanon.

Saturday’s rocket attack from Lebanon came days after Israel reinforced its offensive against Hamas, a Hezbollah ally, in Gaza.

The Israeli military said it had intercepted three rockets in the northern Israeli town of Metula, and there were no casualties.

Hezbollah said it had no involvement, and it remained committed to the ceasefire.

The Lebanese military said it had dismantled “three primitive rocket launchers” in the south, and the country’s defence minister said an investigation had been launched into the attack.

The developments put pressure on a fragile truce, brokered by the US and France, that ended more than a year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

Under the terms of the ceasefire deal, the Lebanese military would deploy thousands of additional soldiers to the south of the country to prevent armed groups from attacking Israel.

Hezbollah was required to remove its fighters and weapons, while the Israeli military would withdraw from positions occupied in the war.

But Israel has carried out nearly daily air strikes on what it describes as Hezbollah targets, and has indicated that attacks will continue to prevent the group from rearming.

The Israeli military is still occupying five locations in southern Lebanon, in what the Lebanese government says is a violation of the country’s sovereignty and a breach of the deal.

Israel says the Lebanese military has not yet fully deployed to those areas, and that it needs to remain at those points to guarantee the security of its border communities.

Saturday’s attack is further proof of the challenges facing the Lebanese army, as it tries to exert control over southern areas where Hezbollah has traditionally had a strong presence and support.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, who came to power in January, has said only the state should have arms in the country, in what is seen as a reference to Hezbollah’s arsenal.

On Saturday, he condemned “attempts to drag Lebanon into a cycle of violence”, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the escalation carried the “risk of dragging the country into another war”.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, Unifil, said it was “alarmed by the possible escalation of violence”, urging both Israel and Lebanon to “uphold their commitments”.

Hezbollah was battered in the conflict with Israel: many of its leaders were assassinated, hundreds of fighters killed and much of its arsenal destroyed.

The group faces the huge challenge of providing financial help to its communities affected by the war, and pressure from its opponents to disarm.

Lebanon’s international partners say they will only help the country if the government acts to curb Hezbollah, the most powerful group in Lebanon.

Hezbollah launched its campaign the day after the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, saying it was acting in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The longstanding conflict escalated and led to an intense Israeli air campaign across Lebanon, and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.

The offensive killed about 4,000 people in Lebanon – including many civilians – and led to the displacement of more than 1.2 million residents.

Israel’s stated goal in its war against Hezbollah was to allow the return of about 60,000 residents who had been displaced from communities in the country’s north because of the group’s attacks, and to remove it from areas along the border.

Saira Baloch was 15 when she stepped into a morgue for the first time.

All she heard in the dimly-lit room were sobs, whispered prayers and shuffling feet. The first body she saw was a man who appeared to have been tortured.

His eyes were missing, his teeth had been pulled out and there were burn marks on his chest.

“I couldn’t look at the other bodies. I walked out,” she recalled.

But she was relieved. It wasn’t her brother – a police officer who had been missing for nearly a year since he was arrested in 2018 in a counter-terrorism operation in Balochistan, one of Pakistan’s most restive regions.

Inside the morgue, others continued their desperate search, scanning rows of unclaimed corpses. Saira would soon adopt this grim routine, revisiting one morgue after another. They were all the same: tube lights flickering, the air thick with the stench of decay and antiseptic.

On every visit, she hoped she would not find what she was looking for – seven years on, she still hasn’t.

Activists say thousands of ethnic Baloch people have been disappeared by Pakistan’s security forces in the last two decades – allegedly detained without due legal process, or abducted, tortured and killed in operations against a decades-old separatist insurgency.

The Pakistan government denies the allegations, insisting that many of the missing have joined separatist groups or fled the country.

Some return after years, traumatised and broken – but many never come back. Others are found in unmarked graves that have appeared across Balochistan, their bodies so disfigured they cannot be identified.

And then there are the women across generations whose lives are being defined by waiting.

Young and old, they take part in protests, their faces lined with grief, holding up fading photographs of men no longer in their lives. When the BBC met them at their homes, they offered us black tea – Sulemani chai – in chipped cups as they spoke in voices worn down by sorrow.

Many of them insist their fathers, brothers and sons are innocent and have been targeted for speaking out against state policies or were taken as a form of collective punishment.

Saira is one of them.

She says she started going to protests after asking the police and pleading with politicians yielded no answers about her brother’s whereabouts.

Muhammad Asif Baloch was arrested in August 2018 along with 10 others in Nushki, a city along the border with Afghanistan. His family found out when they saw him on TV the next day, looking scared and dishevelled.

Authorities said the men were “terrorists fleeing to Afghanistan”. Muhammad’s family said he was having a picnic with friends.

Saira says Muhammad was her “best friend”, funny and always cheerful – “My mother worries that she’s forgetting his smile.”

The day he went missing, Saira had aced a school exam and was excited to tell her brother, her “biggest supporter”. Muhammad had encouraged her to attend universty in Quetta, the provincial capital.

“I didn’t know back then that the first time I’d go to Quetta, it would be for a protest demanding his release,” Saira says.

Three of the men who were detained along with her brother were released in 2021, but they have not spoken about what happened.

Muhammad never came home.

The journey into Balochistan, in Pakistan’s south-west, feels like you are stepping into another world.

It is vast – covering about 44% of the country, the largest of Pakistan’s provinces – and the land is rich with gas, coal, copper and gold. It stretches along the Arabian Sea, across the water from places like Dubai, which has risen from the sands into glittering, monied skyscrapers.

But Balochistan remains stuck in time. Access to many parts is restricted for security reasons and foreign journalists are often denied access.

It’s also difficult to travel around. The roads are long and lonely, cutting through barren hills and desert. As the infrastructure thins out the further you travel, roads are replaced by dirt tracks created by the few vehicles that pass.

Electricity is sporadic, water even scarcer. Schools and hospitals are dismal.

In the markets, men sit outside mud shops waiting for customers who rarely come. Boys, who elsewhere in Pakistan may dream of a career, only talk of escape: fleeing to Karachi, to the Gulf, to anywhere that offers a way out of this slow suffocation.

Balochistan became a part of Pakistan in 1948, in the upheaval that followed the partition of British India – and in spite of opposition from some influential tribal leaders, who sought an independent state.

Some of the resistance turned militant and, over the years, it has been stoked by accusations that Pakistan has exploited the resource-rich region without investing in its development.

Militant groups like the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), designated a terrorist group by Pakistan and other nations, have intensified their attacks: bombings, assassinations and ambushes against security forces have become more frequent.

Earlier this month, the BLA hijacked a train in Bolan Pass, seizing hundreds of passengers. They demanded the release of missing people in Balochistan in return for freeing hostages.

The siege lasted over 30 hours. According to authorities, 33 BLA militants, 21 civilian hostages and four military personnel were killed. But conflicting figures suggest many passengers remain unaccounted for.

The disappearances in the province are widely believed to be part of Islamabad’s strategy to crush the insurgency – but also to suppress dissent, weaken nationalist sentiment and support for an independent Balochistan.

Many of the missing are suspected members or sympathisers of Baloch nationalist groups that demand more autonomy or independence. But a significant number are ordinary people with no known political affiliations.

Balochistan’s Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti told the BBC that enforced disappearances are an issue but dismissed the idea that they were happening on a large scale as “systematic propaganda”.

“Every child in Balochistan has been made to hear ‘missing persons, missing persons’. But who will determine who disappeared whom?

“Self-disappearances exist too. How can I prove if someone was taken by intelligence agencies, police, FC, or anyone else or me or you?”

Pakistan’s military spokesperson Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif recently said in a press conference that the “state is solving the issue of missing persons in a systematic manner”.

He repeated the official statistic often shared by the government – of the more than 2,900 cases of enforced disappearances reported from Balochistan since 2011, 80% had been resolved.

Activists put the figure higher – at around 7,000 – but there is no single reliable source of data and no way to verify either side’s claims.

Women like Jannat Bibi refuse to accept the official number.

She continues to search for her son, Nazar Muhammad, who she claims was taken in 2012 while eating breakfast at a hotel.

“I went everywhere looking for him. I even went to Islamabad,” she says. “All I got were beatings and rejection.”

The 70-year-old lives in a small mud house on the outskirts of Quetta, not far from a symbolic graveyard dedicated to the missing.

Jannat, who runs a tiny shop selling biscuits and milk cartons, often can’t afford the bus fare to attend protests demanding information about the missing. But she borrows what she can so she can keep going.

“Silence is not an option,” she says.

Most of these men – including those whose families we spoke to – disappeared after 2006.

That was the year a key Baloch leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti, was killed in a military operation, leading to a rise in anti-state protests and armed insurgent activities.

The government cracked down in response – enforced disappearances increased, as did the number of bodies found on the streets.

In 2014, mass graves of missing people were discovered in Tootak – a small town near the city of Khuzdar, where Saira lives, 275km (170 miles) south of Quetta.

The bodies were disfigured beyond identification. The images from Tootak shook the country – but the horror was no stranger to people in Balochistan.

Mahrang Baloch’s father, a famous nationalist leader who fought for Baloch rights, had disappeared in early 2009. Abdul Gaffar Langove had worked for the Pakistani government but left the job to advocate for what he believed would be a safer Balochistan.

Three years later Mahrang received a phone call that his body had been found in Lasbela district in the south of the province.

“When my father’s body arrived, he was wearing the same clothes, now torn. He had been badly tortured,” she says. For five years, she had nightmares about his final days. She visited his grave “to convince myself that he was no longer alive and that he was not being tortured”.

She hugged his grave “hoping to feel him, but it didn’t happen”.

When he was arrested, Mahrang used to write him letters – “lots of letters and I would draw greeting cards and send them to him on Eid”. But he returned the cards, saying his prison cell was no place for such “beautiful” cards. He wanted her to keep them at home.

“I still miss his hugs,” she says.

After her father’s death, Mahrang says, her family’s world “collapsed”.

And then in 2017, her brother was picked up by security forces, according to the family, and detained for nearly three months.

“It was terrifying. I made my mother believe that what happened to my father wouldn’t happen to my brother. But it did,” Mahrang says. “I was scared of looking at my phone, because it might be news of my brother’s body being found somewhere.”

She says her mother and she found strength in each other: “Our tiny house was our safest place, where we would sometimes sit and cry for hours. But outside, we were two strong women who couldn’t be crushed.”

It was then that Mahrang decided to fight against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. Today, the 32-year-old leads the protest movement despite death threats, legal cases and travel bans.

“We want the right to live on our own land without persecution. We want our resources, our rights. We want this rule of fear and violence to end.”

Mahrang warns that enforced disappearances fuel more resistance, rather than silence it.

“They think dumping bodies will end this. But how can anyone forget losing their loved one this way? No human can endure this.”

She demands institutional reforms, ensuring that no mother has to send her child away in fear. “We don’t want our children growing up in protest camps. Is that too much to ask?”

Mahrang was arrested on Saturday morning, a few weeks after her interview with the BBC.

She was leading a protest in Quetta after 13 unclaimed bodies – feared to be missing persons – were buried in the city. Authorities claimed they were militants killed after the Bolan Pass train hijacking, though this could not be independently verified.

Earlier Mahrang had said: “I could be arrested anytime. But I don’t fear it. This is nothing new for us.”

And even as she fights for the future she wants, a new generation is already on the streets.

Masooma, 10, clutches her school bag tightly as she weaves through the crowd of protesters, her eyes scanning every face, searching for one that looks like her father’s.

“Once, I saw a man and thought he was my father. I ran to him and then realised he was someone else,” she says.

“Everyone’s father comes home after work. I have never found mine.”

Masooma was just three months old when security forces allegedly took her father away during a late-night raid in Quetta.

Her mother was told he would return in a few hours. He never did.

Today, Masooma spends more time at protests than in the classroom. Her father’s photograph is always with her, tucked safely in her school bag.

Before every lesson begins, she takes it out and looks at it.

“I always wonder if my father will come home today.”

She stands outside the protest camp, chanting slogans with the others, her small frame lost in the crowd of grieving families.

As the protest comes to an end she sits cross-legged on a thin mat in a quiet corner. The noise of slogans and traffic fades as she pulls out her folded letters – letters she has written but could never send.

Her fingers tremble as she smooths out the creases, and in a fumbling, uncertain voice, she begins to read them.

“Dear Baba Jan, when will you come back? Whenever I eat or drink water, I miss you. Baba, where are you? I miss you so much. I am alone. Without you, I cannot sleep. I just want to meet you and see your face.”

As Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 unfolds, all eyes are on MS Dhoni who continues to command superstar status in Indian cricket despite retiring from international cricket in 2020.

Dhoni continues to be a key figure in the world’s richest cricket league.

Alongside him are veterans like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah, and emerging stars like Shubhman Gill, Yashaswi Jaiswal, and Rishabh Pant. They are among the players who led India to two ICC titles in the past nine months – the T20 World Cup in June and the Champions Trophy last month.

Yet, it is Dhoni who still commands unrivalled attention, with his leadership and presence in the league continuing to captivate fans.

The cricketer, who turns 44 in July, is playing his 18th straight IPL season, 16 of these representing Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He is the oldest player in the tournament this year, though not the oldest to have played in the IPL.

Australian spin bowler Brad Hogg was 45 years and 92 days old when he last played in the IPL in 2016, representing Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Leg-spinner Pravin Tambe, the oldest debutant at 41 years and 212 days for Rajasthan Royals, played his final match in 2019 at 44 years and 219 days, capping an astonishing career.

Whether Dhoni will surpass Tambe and Hogg remains to be seen. Three seasons ago, when he gave up the CSK captaincy, his retirement seemed imminent. Last year, his infrequent appearances suggested the same. However, CSK used the retention clause in the IPL mega auction to keep Dhoni for the 2025 season as an uncapped player, given his five-year absence from international cricket.

In 18 IPL seasons, Dhoni has scored 5,243 runs, placing him sixth on the all-time run list, currently topped by Kohli.

His career batting average of 39.12 is higher than both Rohit Sharma and Kohli, and trails only David Warner (40.52) and AB de Villiers (39.70) among players with more than 5,000 runs in the league.

Among players with over 5,000 runs, Dhoni’s strike rate of 137.53 ranks behind only de Villiers (151.68) and Warner (139.77).

In sixes, Dhoni (252) trails only Gayle (357), Sharma (280) and Kohli (272).

These batting stats highlight just one aspect of Dhoni’s prowess. As a wicketkeeper, he boasts 180 dismissals (141 catches, 39 stumpings), a record unmatched by anyone. His quick reflexes and deft glovework earned him the nickname “pickpocket” from former Indian coach Ravi Shastri.

The “helicopter shot”, a flick-drive played over mid-wicket with a wrist-flex of the bottom hand, became the signature stroke of his batting brilliance.

The other notable aspect of his batting was his ability to control the match, taking the innings deep, virtually to the end, with a remarkable control of nerves, and interspersed with explosive strokes. He also ran like a hare between wickets, making him India’s best match-winner in his prime years.

Dhoni holds the record for most IPL matches as captain (210) and most wins (123), leading CSK to five IPL titles and two Champions League titles.

He also captained India to three ICC titles: the T20 World Cup (2007), ODI World Cup (2011) and Champions Trophy (2013).

Additionally, his impact in Test cricket is immense, having played 90 Tests and guiding India to the No1 ICC ranking before his sudden retirement mid-series in 2014-15.

Former Indian captains Sunil Gavaskar and Shastri have frequently hailed him as India’s finest cricketer ever. While this is open to debate, that Dhoni belongs to the same cluster as Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev is now widely acknowledged.

So what does the current season hold for him?

Advancing age has taken a physical toll on Dhoni, though he remains mentally tough and highly competitive. Last season, he stepped away from his finisher role, which he’d held since the league’s inception, and adapted his approach to provide valuable cameos that could impact the outcome.

With the impact player rule – which allows teams to pick an extra specialist batter or bowler based on the game situation – now an integral part of the IPL, Dhoni could well settle into this role, while continuing to be a sounding board for the captain and mentor to the squad in a non-designated informal manner.

For CSK, keeping Dhoni in the squad is a no-brainer. His appeal extends beyond CSK fans, offering massive commercial and branding benefits to both the franchise and the IPL. As CSK puts it, an IPL without Dhoni is “unthinkable”.

This may limit opportunities for young players, both Indian and overseas, but Ravi Shastri dismisses this argument. “The league operates on free-market dynamics. Franchise owners aren’t sentimental – they know what’s best for them, on and off the field,” he says.

Meanwhile, former India opener Robin Uthappa, who played under Dhoni for both India and CSK, warns rivals: “Write off Dhoni at your own risk. We could still see some old magic.”

If royal visits are about sending a message, then the picture of the Prince of Wales in a tank near the Russian border must be one of the most direct.

Prince William has come to Estonia to support UK troops in what is now the British Army’s biggest operational deployment overseas, defending the Baltic state from the threat of Russia.

On Friday, in a freezing cold, mud-churned military training area, the prince saw the soldiers and military equipment guarding Nato’s eastern flank.

The prince, in camouflage uniform, peering from a Challenger 2 tank and then an armoured fighting vehicle, was sending a signal about the UK’s commitment to deter any aggression from Russia.

During his two-day trip to Estonia, Prince William visited some of the 900 British troops in this multinational force, including soldiers of the Mercian regiment of which the prince is colonel-in-chief.

He was given a tour of the military training grounds at Tapa Camp – part of Operation Cabrit which is the UK’s contribution to secure Nato’s “collective security and defence” in this vulnerable Baltic region.

The prince, who was wearing a Nato badge on his uniform, was shown field training for this battlegroup, meeting Estonian and French troops too.

He asked soldiers about their deployment in terms of the “context of being so near to Russia” and wondered whether this felt more real than previous training.

This is what deterrence to Russia looks like on the ground – and the base shows how much the balance of power can shift.

Before Estonia regained its independence in 1991, this had been a base for Soviet air defences, with MIG fighter planes poised to take on the West.

Now the positions are reversed, with Estonian troops and their Nato allies located here to prevent a Russian incursion.

The strategically-important army base has been expanding, with the icy streets lined with military vehicles.

As well as riding in a Challenger 2 tank, the prince saw a Warrior armoured vehicle, a French Griffon fighting vehicle, a multiple launch rocket system, a Trojan vehicle for clearing obstacles and he drove an Archer mobile artillery system.

The war in Ukraine has shown how fast the technology of combat is changing and on Thursday the prince saw a hydrogen-powered drone, on a visit to designers in Estonia’s capital Tallinn.

At the Tapa army base he asked soldiers about the new “drone threat” facing modern armies and “the change of tactics” that would require.

Around the base there were warning signs saying: “Report drone sightings.”

The visit also focused on the wellbeing of service men and women who are posted here. Prince William asked whether there was still a stigma when it comes to talking about mental health problems in the armed forces. “It’s going in the right direction,” welfare officer Amy-Jane Hale replied.

While touring the facilities, the prince managed to try his hand at pool and table football. That quickly became a game between his team Aston Villa and a supporter of their rivals Birmingham City.

On Thursday, hundreds of local Estonians waited in the cold to meet the prince in Tallinn, lining the railings to shake his hand or to take a selfie. He was warmly welcomed to this small, tech-savvy country, which increasingly relies upon its allies.

Estonia has been a strong supporter of Ukraine, sharing a border with Russia and having been under Soviet rule in the past. All around the capital there are Ukrainian flags flying alongside the Estonian blue, black and white tricolour.

Many Ukrainian families have taken refuge in Estonia. During a visit to a school in Tallinn for Ukrainian child refugees, Prince William praised Ukraine’s strength.

“The Ukrainian resilience is everywhere,” Prince William told the students. “You have a very good spirit, very good souls, it’s very important.”

Maria’s life has been reduced to waiting for the next phone call from her husband – never knowing if it might be the last.

Ivan, a 31-year-old Ukrainian fighter pilot, began defending the skies from the very first hours of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, and has now flown more than 200 perilous missions in his old Soviet-era Mig-29 warplane.

The squadron commander has lost several comrades in the war. Some were close friends. Others were godfathers to each other’s children. The location of his current air base in western Ukraine cannot be revealed for security reasons.

But as US-led efforts to negotiate a ceasefire gather pace – and fresh talks with Russia and Ukraine planned on Monday – things have changed.

“If any ceasefire comes [about], we will feel safer,” says Maria.

Across Ukraine, more and more people are openly talking about war fatigue. They’re calling for an end to the most brutal fighting in Europe since World War Two, and for firm guarantees of Western protection to ensure Russia can’t attack again.

At the same time, Maria fears that any deal could involve accepting the loss of four Ukrainian regions in the south-east partially seized by Russia, as well as Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014. “Nobody will give us back our lost territories”, the 29-year-old says. “They will stay under Russian occupation.”

She asks: “What [did] so many men, our heroes, sacrifice their lives for if Ukraine can’t fight for them, and is forced to make concessions?”

When Maria and Ivan met, the prospect of a full-scale war in Ukraine seemed impossible.

Maria was an English teacher at a local children’s club in western Ukraine attended by the daughter of one of Ivan’s comrades. The comrade offered to set Ivan up with Maria, who he described as “a very nice teacher”.

At first Ivan felt pressured by the arrangement – but he eventually agreed to come.

He was glad he did. They soon started seeing each other.

On one of their first dates, Ivan warned Maria he had a dangerous job. She said it wouldn’t be a problem. Ivan was courageous, caring and protective, and Maria was falling in love.

He soon had to go on a long-term deployment far from home. They lost touch for a year, and it seemed like their relationship might be over.

But then he returned with a giant bouquet of flowers and promised her he didn’t want to waste her time. Within a year, the two were married and they were soon expecting their first child.

It was only once Russia launched its full-scale invasion that Maria understood what he’d meant about the harsh realities of his work.

Their daughter Yaroslava was only three months old at the time. Ivan missed her early milestones: helping her take her first steps, seeing her first teeth come through and comforting her during her first illness.

“When Ivan is deployed far away from home, I send him thousands of our daughter’s photos to help him feel that at least virtually he is spending the day with us,” says Maria.

On one nearby mission, Maria put her daughter in a pram and rushed to a checkpoint where he could run out to catch them for five minutes.

She brought him home-made food. They talked. And found that every minute together was worth the months they’d spent waiting.

Before Yaroslava could even speak, she would use her tiny hands to gesture that her dad was flying through the skies.

“Our daughter knows that her dad is a pilot,” she says. “When she had a birthday and her father ate a birthday cake over a video call, we explained to her that he couldn’t be with us as he was defending Ukraine from the Russians.”

The family now have a professional photo taken of them every six months. “It’s very hard for me to say but I have to be completely honest. We never know if it [will be] our final call or meeting,” Maria says, on the brink of tears.

She feels she has to be ready for “everything, including the worst-case scenario”.

During the first year of the war, she would regularly hear about casualties among friends. “You call their wives and can’t find the words to say. And you fear that one day, you may find yourself in the same situation.”

Ukrainians are seeking concrete guarantees of protection by the US and Europe, and an increased supply of Western fighter jets, to deter Russian aggression.

The country has received a number of US-made F-16s and French Mirage fighter jets, but the country’s air force still largely relies on old Soviet-era warplanes – hardly a match for more advanced Russian aircraft.

Maria is cautiously hoping for a ceasefire. It might “freeze” the conflict at best, she says, but finds it difficult to rely on as she doesn’t trust Russia.

Vladimir Putin wants an end to Western military aid to Kyiv and intelligence-sharing with the Ukrainians, as well as a halt to mobilisation in Ukraine.

Many experts say that his demands are simply a pretext to continue the war he launched, in spite of heavy Russian casualties.

There are also fears that Donald Trump – who has publicly stated that ending the war is one of his top priorities – could be preparing a behind-the-scenes deal with Russia which would force Ukraine to accept painful concessions.

Even after a ceasefire, Maria will still be waiting for calls and rare meetings, as the Ukrainian air force will have to stay alert for a long time.

And while there may be peace in Ukraine, she wonders if her husband will ever be at peace again. Maria says Ivan, who has been deeply affected by the fighting on the front line, has a “patriotic soul” and will continue serving even after the war.

Maria feels it is important for him to not feel the casualties were in vain, and remains hopeful that the Russian-held parts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk will one day be returned.

The priority for Maria now is to reassure her husband and offer him optimism. She dreams of a future where her young family can finally start to rebuild their life in a home of their own, in their own country.

“My husband needs to know that we are always waiting for him.”

In an old gun barrel factory in Sheffield’s industrial heartland, hundreds of people are raving under the fluorescent lights of Hope Works club for one of the last times before it closes. One young woman has dressed all in black to signify the loss of her “favourite place”.

“This is a landmark of Sheffield,” says one reveller. “It’s the reason a lot of people come to university here,” adds another.

Its owner Liam O’Shea believes that nightlife venues like this are “the vital underbelly of everything”.

“It’s where people find themselves,” he says. “It’s where people find their tribe.”

Mr O’Shea, who calls himself a child of the the “rave generation”, started Hope Works because he wanted to tap into that original spirit. Only now, Hope Works has gone. It closed its doors permanently in February after 13 years.

And according to Mr O’Shea, grassroots clubs in the UK – places where up and coming artists often perform live – are “dropping like flies”.

In the last five years, around 400 clubs have closed in Britain – more than a third of the total number.

In London, a dedicated taskforce is being launched by the mayor’s office to help boost nightlife and save venues at risk of closing.

“A complex matrix of factors are all conspiring against and placing pressure on the sector, making for a perfect storm for nightclubs,” says Tony Rigg, music industry advisor and programme leader at the University of Central Lancashire.

There are many factors that could be at play – among them, rising costs, less disposable income and changing lifestyle choices.

But the closures prompt broader questions too. Some experts have suggested, for example, that the lasting impact of the Covid-19 lockdowns may have led to people going out less than they once did

And if that is the case, could the closure of so many clubs nod to a wider cultural shift, particularly among Generation Z?

For several years during the pandemic, young people were unable to experience nightlife in the same way previous generations had, so perhaps it is not surprising that there have since been shifts in the way they socialise.

A recent Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) study of more than 2,000 people aged between 18 and 30 found that nearly two thirds were going out less frequently than the year before.

Psychologist Dr Elizabeth Feigin of Dr Elizabeth Consultancy says Gen Z is being driven by a number of factors – both offline and online. Part of this seems to be a rising consciousness around health, both physical and mental – and “we are seeing less of a drinking culture”.

A YouGov survey of 18 to 24-year-olds shows Gen Z continue to be the most sober group overall, with 39% of them not drinking alcohol at all.

Dr Meg Jay, author of The Defining Decade, suggests there are several factors driving this change. “Although some might imagine that young people are going out less post-Covid because depressed Gen Zers are still sitting around in their rooms, I don’t think this is the case.”

There is more awareness about the dangers of substances as well as messaging on social media around healthy lifestyles, she says.

When lockdown restrictions were in place, Dr Jay recalls some young clients saying they’d have to find new ways to have a good time. “[I had] clients telling me how much happier they were as they spent less time feeling drunk, hungover, or broke and more time feeling in charge of their lives.”

Of course social media is also playing a role in how people socialise. For some, “social media and texting with friends scratches some of the itch of meeting up”.

This rings true with Mr Rigg. “We have a massive dependence on social media that has taken us away from more social pastimes,” he argues.

But Dr Feigin believes that the lag in social communication across the younger generations predates the lockdowns. “I think it’s been exacerbated by the pandemic. But I think it was already declining on the back of social media and technology and also helicopter parents.”

There might be some healthy reasons for the decline in night life, she points out – but she also thinks that there’s “some damage as well”.

“[This is] potentially around mental health, of social anxiety, loneliness and people actually not having the skills – not even bravery – to go out and socialise anymore because so much has become dependent online.”

“It’s getting harder and harder for young people to socialise face to face… I do think that we are seeing higher rates of social anxiety and high rates of loneliness”.

Not everyone is convinced that this is the reason for the club closures. Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, thinks that finances play a big role. “The reality is, is people can’t afford it”.

Entry fees vary depending on the club. Early release tickets in some city centres can be around £10, while on-the-door entry or last-minute tickets will likely be more. Then comes the cost of any drinks, taxis, late-night trips to the kebab shop.

In an NTIA study, 68% of people reported that the current economic climate had reduced how much they go out.

“Clubbing is becoming a luxury, and that’s just crazy,” says Sherelle Thomas, DJ on BBC 6 Music. “You should be able to enter a club and be with friends at any time you want because it’s something that makes you happy.”

Mr Rigg suggests there is a “storm” coming for clubs, as a result of new economic challenges such as national insurance hikes.

If clubs cannot absorb economic challenges and so put prices up, this could make them less affordable and a less attractive proposition still, argues Mr Rigg – particularly at a time when consumers are burdened with rising living costs.

In 2024, the company which owned Pryzm and Atik, two well-known nightlife chains, went into administration. It closed 17 and sold 11 venues (which included clubs and bars), citing changing student habits as the reason for closures.

Russell Quelch, CEO of Neos, which runs the remaining venues, believes students have less money than they used to. “People really care about how they spend their money,” he argues. “Gone are the days of students going out four or five nights a week”.

The company now has several “party bars” which are open in the day too, meaning the trading window is longer. Many are themed, with events such as bingo, and they are not as alcohol orientated.

The Acapulco in Halifax has seen thousands of people on its dancefloor since it opened in 1961. It is thought to be the UK’s oldest nightclub. Its bar is lit in red and blue, and the beat of the music ebbs through its doors as people spill in to dance, often several nights in a row.

But its owner Simon Jackson has noticed some shifts in the way people go clubbing. Some will come before the night properly begins and film themselves dancing for TikTok, he explains.

The Acca, as it is known locally, is defying its environment. In Yorkshire, 40 percent of clubs have shut down since 2020 – the most out of any region in Britain. Mr Jackson attributes the club’s longevity – in a challenging market – to, among other things, “value for money”.

There are also other models of clubbing that are seeing some success.

Gut Level, a queer-led community project in Sheffield that runs inclusive club nights, is built on a membership model with reduced prices for those on low incomes.

Co-founder Katie Matthews says: “The music scene was run a lot by guys and it maybe didn’t think about the safety of people like women and queer people as much.”

Then there is the safety aspect. In 2023, more incidents of drink spiking occurred in bars (41%) and clubs (28%) than anywhere else, and many people say they have experienced sexual violence during a night out.

“It’s about safety of members,” says Katie Matthews – at Gut Level, people have to sign up in advance.

Ultimately, though, many clubs that continue to thrive do so because they are built around a sense of community. DJ Ahad Elley (known as Ahadadream), who moved to the UK from Pakistan at the age of 12, believes that this is a valuable aspect of many clubs.

“For some people it’s almost the only place they’ve got where they can go and feel a sense of belonging and real community,” he says.

Cat Rossi has spent years researching the creative significance of nightclubs, in her capacity as a design historian and professor of architecture at University for the Creative Arts Canterbury. “Since the dawn of civilisation we’ve needed to go out and dance and be together at night,” she says. “Social gathering is a core part of our social fabric.

“I think that nightclubs are really undervalued as these hugely creative forms of architecture and design, but also nightclubs and club culture more generally are these huge engines of creativity.”

Many fashion labels have been born in clubs, she points out, making them part of a “bigger creative ecosystem” along with theatres, opera houses and television studios.

In 2016, a German court officially designated Berghain, a famous Berlin nightclub, as a cultural institution, which gave it the same tax status as the city’s opera houses and theatres.

The following year, Zurich recognised techno culture as part of its “intangible cultural heritage” in partnership with Unesco.

It is a sentiment is shared by some in Britain too. As Mr Kill puts it: “They are a British institution. There’s no two ways about it.”

And the key to preserving this, and ensuring the future of nightclubs, is evolution, argues Mr Rigg.

“Nightclubs do need to evolve to maintain relevance due to the cultural behavioural shifts and also modify the business model to mitigate some of the other economic pressures.”

But without that transformation, the UK risks losing more of them.

Iceland’s minister for children has resigned after admitting she had a child with a teenager more than 30 years ago.

Ásthildur Lóa Thórsdóttir said in a media interview she had first started a relationship when the boy was 15 years old, and she was a 22-year-old counsellor at a religious group which he attended.

She then gave birth to his child when he was 16 years old and she was 23.

“It’s been 36 years, a lot of things change in that time and I would definitely have dealt with these issues differently today,” the 58-year-old told Icelandic media.

Iceland’s Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir told the press this was “a serious matter”, although she said she knew little more than “the average person”.

“This is a very personal matter [and] out of respect for the person concerned, I will not comment on the substance,” she said.

According to Visir newspaper, Frostadóttir said she had only received confirmation of the story on Thursday night.

She immediately summoned the Thórsdóttir to her office, where she resigned.

Icelandic news agency RUV broke the story on Thursday night.

Thórsdóttir revealed in an interview with them that she had met the father, who RUV name as Eirík Ásmundsson, while she was working at the religious group Trú og líf (Religion and Life), which he had reportedly joined because of a difficult home life.

He was 15 years old and she was 22 at the time of their meeting. Thórsdóttir gave birth to their son when they were both a year older.

RUV report that the relationship was secret, but that Ásmundsson was present at his child’s birth and spent the first year with him.

However, the news agency writes this changed when Thórsdóttir met her current husband.

They report they have seen documents Ásmundsson submitted to Iceland’s justice ministry requesting access to his son, but that Thórsdóttir denied it, while also requesting – and receiving – child support payments from him over the following 18 years.

A relative of Ásmundsson tried twice to contact the Icelandic prime minister about the relationship last week.

Frostadóttir said last night that when the woman revealed it involved a government minister she asked for more information, which led to the revelation and the resignation.

In her TV interview with RUV last night, Thórsdóttir said she was upset that the woman had contacted the prime minister.

“I understand… what it looks like,” she said, adding that it is “very difficult to get the right story across in the news today”.

While the age of consent in Iceland is 15, it is illegal to have sex with a person under the age of 18 if you are their teacher or mentor, if they are financially dependent on you, or work for you. The maximum sentence for this crime is three years in jail.

Despite resigning from her ministerial job, Thórsdottir said she had no plans to leave parliament.