US envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Friday as Donald Trump urged the Russian president to “get moving” on a ceasefire in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said the meeting lasted for more than four hours and focused on “aspects of a Ukrainian settlement”. The talks, Witkoff’s third with Putin this year, were described by special envoy Kirill Dmitriev as “productive”.

Trump has expressed frustration with Putin over the state of talks. On Friday, he wrote on social media: “Russia has to get moving. Too many people ere [sic] DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war.”

Earlier in the day, European nations agreed €21bn ($24bn; £18bn) in military aid for Kyiv.

At the event, Europe’s defence ministers said they saw no sign of an end to the war.

Ahead of the Putin-Witkoff talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was “no need to expect breakthroughs” as the “process of normalising relations is ongoing”.

Asked whether discussions could include setting up a date for Putin and Trump to meet, Peskov said: “Let’s see. It depends on what Witkoff has come with.”

Beforehand, Witkoff had a meeting with Dmitriev at the Grand Hotel Europe in St Petersburg, where a conference was held on stainless steel and the Russian market.

Dmitriev, the 49-year-old head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, visited Washington last week and was the most senior Russian official to go to the US since the country’s full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Meanwhile Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Kremlin of prolonging the war during a visit on Friday to the site of a 4 April Russian missile attack on his home town of Kryvyi Rih. The attack killed 19 people, including nine children.

He also alleged that hundreds of Chinese nationals were fighting with the Russian army. It comes after Ukraine said it had captured two Chinese nationals.

“We have information that at least several hundred Chinese nationals are fighting as part of Russia’s occupation forces,” Zelensky said.

“This means Russia is clearly trying to prolong the war even by using Chinese lives.”

Zelensky laid flowers in front of photos of Herman Tripolets, nine, and seven-year-olds Arina Samodina and Radyslav Yatsko.

He later reiterated a call for air defence systems “to protect lives and our cities”.

“We discussed this with President Trump – Ukraine is not just asking, we’re ready to purchase these additional systems,” he wrote on social media.

“Only powerful weapons can truly be relied upon to protect life when you have a neighbour like Russia.”

Trump has previously claimed he could end the Ukraine-Russia conflict “in 24 hours”. On Friday, he declared that it would not have happened at all if he’d been in the White House in 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

“A war that should ld [sic] have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were President!!!,” he wrote.

In February US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia for their first face-to-face talks since the invasion. Officials have also been meeting to discuss restoring full diplomatic relations.

Trump has also had a fractious relationship with Zelensky since his second term as US president began, culminating in an angry confrontation in the Oval Office in February.

The US attempted to broker a limited ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea, only for it to stall when the Kremlin asked for sanctions imposed after it launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour to be lifted.

Trump has since said he is “very angry” and “pissed off” with Putin over the lack of progress in agreeing a truce between Kyiv and Moscow.

Earlier this week, Washington and Moscow went ahead with a prisoner swap.

Ksenia Karelina, a Russian-American, was sentenced to 12 years in jail in Russia for donating $51 to a Ukrainian charity when the war began in February 2022.

The Los Angeles resident was freed on Thursday morning and exchanged for Arthur Petrov, a dual German-Russian citizen arrested in Cyprus in 2023.

He was accused of illegally exporting microelectronics to Russia for manufacturers working with the military.

A US judge has ruled the Trump administration can deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate detained last month over his role in pro-Palestinian protests.

Mr Khalil, a permanent legal US resident, has not been charged with a crime. In a letter written from the facility, he has said his “arrest was a direct consequence” of speaking out for Palestinian rights.

The government has cited a Cold War-era immigration law, declaring that his presence in the US was adverse to American foreign policy interests.

The immigration court’s ruling does not mean Mr Khalil would be immediately removed from the country. The judge gave his lawyers until 23 April to appeal against the order.

The activist has been held at a Louisiana detention centre since 8 March, when immigration officers told him he was being deported for taking part in protests against the war in Gaza.

• Who is Mahmoud Khalil, Palestinian student activist facing US deportation?

The 30-year-old was a prominent voice at Columbia University’s protests against the war in Gaza last year.

The Trump administration has cited a 1952 law that empowers the government to order someone deported if their presence in the country could pose unfavourable consequences for American foreign policy.

The judge said the Trump administration was allowed to move forward with its effort to deport Mr Khalil because the argument that he poses “adverse foreign policy consequences” for the US is “facially reasonable”.

Mr Khalil, who was otherwise silent, addressed the court after the ruling.

“I would like to quote what you said last time that there’s nothing that’s more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness,” Mr Khalil said in court.

“Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process,” he said. “This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, 1,000 miles away from my family.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) described the decision as “pre-written”.

The rights group said the ruling came less than 48 hours after the US government “handed over the ‘evidence’ they have on Mr. Khalil – which included nothing more than a letter from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that made clear Mr Khalil had not committed a crime and was being targeted solely based on his speech”.

The government, particularly Rubio, has said its efforts to deport Mr Khalil were also to “protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States” even if his activities were “otherwise lawful”.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem praised the judge’s ruling on Friday.

“It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America,” she wrote on social media. “When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans, and harass Jews, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country. Good riddance.”

Mr Khalil’s legal team has repeatedly said evidence of antisemitism has not been presented.

His lawyer, Marc Van Der Hout, condemned the decision and said his team was going to fight for Mr Khalil’s “right to speak out against what’s happening in the US”.

The legal team also said they expected further hearings in the case.

“Today was historic in its unfairness,” Johnny Sinodis, another member of Mr Khalil’s legal team, said during a news conference.

Mr Khalil has also filed a federal court lawsuit in New Jersey challenging his arrest as unconstitutional. His lawyers have said the outcome of that case could block his deportation if they win.

The Trump administration has separately alleged that the student committed immigration fraud by failing to disclose certain information on his green card application.

This includes working for the British embassy in Beirut and the United Nations agency for Palestinian migrants and refugees. But the government has not submitted any new evidence related to this.

In a statement, White House Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers said the Trump administration is “committed to the enforcement of our immigration laws and will take swift action to remove aliens who pose serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States”.

The remains of 36 Indigenous ancestors will be returned to Australia, in the latest repatriation of bodies taken from their traditional lands.

Six of the ancestors’ bodies were formally returned to their Queensland communities – Woppaburra, Warrgamay, Wuthathi and Yadhaighana – at a ceremony at London’s Natural History Museum.

The Australian government will take care of the other ancestors’ remains until their traditional custodians can be found.

The remains of Indigenous people were taken from Australia by a range of people, including scientists and explorers, following Britain’s colonisation of the country in the 18th Century.

These remains have ended up in museums, universities and private collections around the world.

However, growing ethical concerns about the collection, sale and display of human remains has led to an increase in efforts to return these in recent decades.

“The removal of our ancestors from their resting places was an act of deep disrespect—one that severed our spiritual and cultural connections to Country,” Thomas Holden, who represented the Warrgamay community, said at Thursday’s ceremony.

“Repatriation is about more than just bringing our ancestors home. It is about reaffirming our sovereignty, our rights, and our deep cultural and spiritual obligations to care for our people, even in death.”

This is the fourth group of ancestral remains that the Natural History Museum has returned to Australia. It said staff had undertaken “detailed archival research” involving several organisations to find out where the remains had come from.

According to the Australian government’s arts office, the latest repatriation brings the number of First Nations ancestors returned from around the world to 1,775. This includes more than 200 sets of remains from the Natural History Museum.

It added that discussions were being held with other institutions and private holders in the UK about the “unconditional and voluntary return of further ancestors”.

“The repatriation of our ancestors is a vital step in healing the wounds of the past and restoring the spiritual and cultural balance that was disrupted when they were taken from their homeland,” said Wuthathi representative Keron Murray.

Wayne Blair, an acclaimed actor and filmmaker who represented the Woppaburra people, described repatriation as “an eternal flame, the eternal healing is both spiritual and physical, for our elders and community”.

“You are not returning science specimens, you are returning ancestors to their families, their descendants.”

Thousands of Afghans and Cameroonians will have their temporary deportation protections terminated, the US Department of Homeland Security has said.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem found the conditions in Afghanistan and Cameroon no longer merited US protections, according to a statement from DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin.

An estimated 14,600 Afghans previously eligible for temporary protected status (TPS) are now set to lose it in May, while some 7,900 Cameroonians will lose it in June.

It comes on the same day a US judge ruled that the Trump administration could deport a university graduate, detained last month over his role in pro-Palestinian protests.

TPS is granted to nationals of designated countries facing conditions, such as armed conflict or environmental disasters, which make it unsafe for them to return home.

The status typically lasts for up to 18 months, can be renewed by the incumbent Homeland Security secretary, and offers deportation protection and access to work permits.

According to McLaughlin, in September 2023 the then Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that TPS for Afghans would be extended by 18 months until 20 May of this year.

But on 21 March, having consulted with US government agencies, Noem “determined that Afghanistan no longer continues to meet the statutory requirements for its TPS designation and so she terminated TPS for Afghanistan”, McLaughlin said.

She added that Noem’s decision was based on a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) review of conditions in Afghanistan, where the Taliban retook control almost four years ago.

A similar decision terminating Cameroon’s designation for TPS was made on 7 April, McLaughlin said.

Last month, Trump’s administration said it would similarly revoke the temporary legal status of more than half a million migrants from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua and Venezuela.

They were brought into the US under a Biden-era sponsorship process known as CHNV, which Trump suspended after taking office.

More than 120,700 Venezuelans, 110,900 Cubans and over 93,000 Nicaraguans were allowed into the US under the programme before it was closed.

Those being told to leave have been warned to do so ahead of their permits and deportation protections expiring later this month, on 24 April, according to a notice posted by the federal government.

But it is not just people granted TPS who have been affected by the US’s changing immigration rules.

Shukriah – not her real name – lives in Washington DC. She arrived in the US in January last year with her family. They had fled Afghanistan and endured a long journey to the US, across 11 countries, in a bid to claim asylum.

“The fear of deportation has deeply affected my mental and physical health. I can hardly sleep, my legs are in pain, and I cry constantly from fear and anxiety,” she told the BBC.

Shukriah, who is seven months pregnant, received an email – seen by the BBC – on 10 April from the Department of Homeland Security which read: “It is time for you to leave the United States.”

It added: “Unless it expires sooner, your parole will terminate seven days from the date of this notice.

“If you do not depart the United States immediately you will be subject to potential law enforcement actions.”

The Department of Homeland Security website has information for Afghan nationals about how to apply for extensions to stay in the US now that programmes which previously protected Afghans are being changed.

While Shukriah’s young children would all be eligible, because of their age, her and her husband’s path might be more complicated.

“My parole was granted under the humanitarian programme, and my asylum case is still pending,” Shukriah said.

“I don’t know what steps to take now, and I am very afraid of what will happen to me and my family.”

Immigration, specifically mass deportation, was a key focus of Trump’s election campaign – and has dominated policy since he took office.

Earlier this year, data obtained by Reuters showed that in his first month back in office, the US deported 37,660 people – less than the monthly average of 57,000 removals and returns in the last full year of the Biden administration.

The Trump administration has gone on to revoke the visas of hundreds of international students in a bid to clamp down on pro-Palestinian protests at university campuses across the US.

One such case saw a US immigration court rule on Friday that Trump’s administration could deport Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent legal US resident, who has been held at a Louisiana detention centre since 8 March.

In a letter written from the facility, he has said his “arrest was a direct consequence” of speaking out for Palestinian rights.

Noem, praising the decision on social media, said “it is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study” in the US, and that “when you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans, and harass Jews, that privilege should be revoked”.

“Good riddance,” she added.

Mr Khalil’s lawyer said his team was going to fight for his client’s “right to speak out against what’s happening in the US”.

Buying or renting a home has become unaffordable for the average Australian, driven by a perfect storm of astronomical house prices, relentless rental increases and a lack of social housing.

With less than a month until the federal election, housing remains among the top issues for voters, and the country’s two major parties – the Labor Party and the Liberal-National Coalition – have both pledged to tackle the crisis in a range of ways.

Australians are already struggling under cost-of-living pressures and bracing for the effects of Donald Trump’s global tariff war. And it remains to be seen whether either party will sway voters with their promise of restoring the Australian dream.

Simply put, Australia has not been building enough homes to meet the demands of its rapidly growing population, creating a scarcity that makes any available home more expensive to buy or rent.

Compounding the issue are Australia’s restrictive planning laws, which prevent homes being built where most people want to live, such as in major cities.

Red tape means that popular metropolitan areas like Melbourne and Sydney are far less dense than comparably sized cities around the world.

The steady decline of public housing and ballooning waitlists have made matters worse, tipping people into homelessness or overcrowded living conditions.

Climate change has also made many areas increasingly unliveable, with natural disasters such as bushfires and severe storms destroying large swathes of properties.

Meanwhile, decades of government policies have commercialised property ownership. So the ideal of owning a home, once seen as a right in Australia, has turned into an investment opportunity.

In short: it depends where you live.

Sydney is currently the second least affordable city in the world to buy a property, according to a 2023 Demographia International Housing Affordability survey.

The latest data from property analytics company CoreLogic shows the average Sydney home costs almost A$1.2m (£570,294, $742,026).

Across the nation’s capital cities, the combined average house price sits at just over A$900,000.

House prices in Australia overall have also jumped 39.1% in the last five years – and wages have failed to keep up.

It now takes the average prospective homeowner around 10 years to save the 20% deposit usually required to buy an average home, according to a 2024 State of the Housing System report.

The rental market has provided little relief, with rents increasing by 36.1% nationally since the onset of Covid – an equivalent rise of A$171 per week.

Sydney topped the charts with a median weekly rent of A$773, according to CoreLogic’s latest rental review. Perth came in second with average rents at A$695 per week, followed by Canberra at A$667 per week.

Immigration and foreign property purchases are often cited as causes for Australia’s housing crisis. But experts say that they are not significant contributors statistically.

Many people who move to Australia are temporary migrants, such as international students who live in dedicated student accommodation rather than entering the housing market, according to Michael Fotheringham, head of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.

“The impact [of migrants] on the housing market is not as profound as some commentators have suggested,” Mr Fotheringham tells the BBC.

Foreign purchases of homes, meanwhile, is “a very small issue” with not much meaningful impact on housing strain, says Brendan Coates, from the Grattan Institute public policy think tank.

The latest data released by the Australian Taxation Office supports this, with homes purchased by foreign buyers in 2022-23 representing less than one percent of all sales.

“It’s already very difficult for foreigners to purchase homes under existing foreign investment rules. They are subject to a wide range of taxes, particularly in some states,” Mr Coates explains.

Labor and the Coalition have both promised to invest in building more homes – with Labor offering 1.2 million by 2029, and the Coalition vowing to unlock 500,000.

Labor announced a A$33bn housing investment plan in their latest budget, which pledges to help first-time homebuyers purchase properties with smaller deposits through shared-equity loans.

They have also promised to create more social housing and subsidies to help low-to-moderate-income earners own and rent more affordably.

Central to the Coalition’s housing affordability policy is cutting migration, reducing the number of international students and implementing a two-year ban on foreign investment in existing properties.

Additionally, they have promised a A$5bn boost to infrastructure to support local councils by paying for water, power and sewerage at housing development sites.

The Greens’ policies, meanwhile, have focused on alleviating pressures on renters by calling for national rent freezes and caps.

They have also said that in the event of a minority government, they will be pushing to reform tax incentives for investors.

In short, experts say that while both Labor and the Coalition’s policies are steps in the right direction, neither are sufficient to solve the housing problem.

“A combination of both parties’ platforms would be better than what we’re seeing from either side individually,” Mr Coates tells the BBC.

A 2025 State of the Land report by the Urban Development Institute of Australia says the federal government will fail to meet its target of 1.2 million new homes by 2029 – falling short by almost 400,000.

The Coalition’s focus on reducing immigration, meanwhile, will only make housing marginally cheaper while making Australia poorer in the long-term, according to Mr Coates.

The cuts to migration will mean fewer skilled migrants, he explains, and the loss of revenue from those migrants will result in higher taxes for Australians.

Decades of underinvestment in social housing also means demand in that area is massively outstripping supply – which at 4% of housing stock is significantly lower than many other countries, according to Mr Fotheringham.

There’s also concern about grants for first homebuyers, which drive prices up further.

While commending the fact that these issues are finally being treated seriously, Mr Fotheringham believes it will take years to drag Australia out of a housing crisis that has been building for decades.

“We’ve been sleepwalking into this as a nation for quite some time,” he says. “[Now] the nation is paying attention, the political class is paying attention.”

When Omri Miran finally opens his WhatsApp account, he’s going to receive a torrent of messages.

Photos of his daughters. Late night musings from his wife, Lishay, as she lies in bed. Snapshots from an Israeli family life that’s gone on for 18 painful months without him.

Lishay started sending the messages three weeks after Hamas gunmen violently snatched Omri from their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, on 7 October 2023.

She calls the chat Notes to Omri. She’s lost count of the number of messages she’s sent.

“My love, there are so many people you’ll need to meet when you come back,” she wrote at the end of October 2023.

“Amazing people who are helping me. Strangers who have become as close as can be.”

Three-and-a-half months later, she posted a message from the couple’s eldest daughter.

“Roni just said goodnight to you at the window like every night. She says you don’t hear her and she doesn’t see you… You’re really missing from her life and it’s getting harder for her to deal with your absence.”

Friday was Omri’s birthday. His second in captivity. As he turns 48, somewhere in the tunnels of Gaza, Lishay will be writing again, with tales of two daughters who were still babies when he last saw them.

Released hostages say Omri was seen alive last July. Lishay’s belief in her husband’s survival seems unshakeable, but this is the toughest time of the year. Not just Omri’s birthday, but also the eve of Pesach (Passover), when Jews celebrate the Biblical story of Exodus, in which Moses led their ancestors out of slavery in Egypt.

“You know, Pesach is the holiday of freedom,” Lishay says when we meet in a park near Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square.

“I don’t feel free. I don’t think anyone in Israel can feel free.”

In the square itself, Omri’s birthday was marked on Friday.

The posters calling for his release once listed the hostage’s age as 46. Then 47.

Danny, Omri’s father, crossed out both, and wrote 48.

Nearby, preparations were well under way for a symbolic Passover Seder, or ritual feast.

A long table was being set, with places for each of the remaining 59 hostages still in Gaza (of whom 24 are believed to be alive).

The square is full of symbols: a mock-up of a Gaza tunnel, tents to represent the Nova music festival where hundreds were killed.

Along with a merchandise stall to support the families and a “virtual reality hostage experience”, it’s all part of a collective effort to keep the plight of the missing in the public eye and maintain political pressure on the Israeli government.

Lishay and her daughters have yet to return to the house where family life was blown apart in a few traumatic hours, 18 months ago.

But Lishay says she goes back to Nahal Oz from time to time to commune with her husband.

The kibbutz is just 700m from the border with Gaza. It’s as close as she can get to Omri.

“I can feel him over there,” she says. “I can speak with him.”

After a ceasefire came into effect in mid-January, the border was quiet. Lishay allowed herself to hope, even though she knew Omri’s age meant that he would not be among the first to be freed.

But the ceasefire ended after just two months. Now the border area – which Israelis call “the Gaza pocket” – echoes once more to the sounds of war, reigniting the deepest fears of all hostage families.

“I was terrified,” she says of her most recent trip.

Lishay is careful not to condemn her government, as some hostage families have. But she says that when she realised the war had resumed, she was “really angry”.

When Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Hungary’s Viktor Orban last week, he posted that the two men had discussed “the Hungarian hostage”, a reference to Omri’s dual Israel-Hungarian citizenship.

For Lishay, it stung.

“I was really, really hard to see this,” she says. “Omri has a name. He’s not just a hostage.”

In a Passover message delivered on Friday, Netanyahu once again promised the families that hostages would return and Israel’s enemies would be defeated.

Recent days have seen talk of another ceasefire deal, but it doesn’t feel imminent.

“The last time that it happened,” Lishay says, referring to the first ceasefire deal in November 2023, “we waited more than a year for another agreement. So now we are going to wait one year more? They can’t survive over there.”

For now, it seems her WhatsApp messages to Omri are destined to remain unopened.

But that doesn’t stop her looking for the grey ticks to turn blue.

“I know someday it’ll happen.”

The resentencing hearing of Menendez brothers can move forward despite opposition from the district attorney, a Los Angeles court has ruled.

The brothers’ attorneys are attempting to have them resentenced to a lesser term, which could potentially make them eligible for freedom.

Erik and Lyle were convicted of killing their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989, a notorious case that still divides Americans. They are currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole in California.

Friday’s ruling means a pair of high-profile hearings next week to decide whether the convicted killers will be resentenced, will continue.

Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman has voiced fierce opposition to resentencing the pair, after his predecessor put the process in motion just before the November election.

The brothers’ effort is based on a California law that allows certain inmates who were aged under 26 at the time of their crimes to seek resentencing and potential parole eligibility – recognising that brain development continues into a person’s mid-20s.

If the brothers are resentenced to 50 years to life as they have requested, it would make them immediately eligible for parole.

Lyle and Erik Menendez appeared for hearing remotely via a video stream from a San Diego prison. Both were dressed in blue prison jumpsuits and appeared nervous at times – looking down, rocking in chairs and taking deep breaths – as prosecutors recounted graphic details of the killings.

The district attorney’s office argued that while prosecutors can recognise inmates have rehabilitated while behind bars, the act of resentencing someone should be used with care.

Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian criticised the former DA George Gascón, whose backing of the resentencing effort allowed it to move forward.

He said the decision by Gascón to announce his support for the brothers to be resentenced just before the November election, which Gascón lost to Hochman by a wide margin, was politically driven.

The DA’s office has argued the brothers have not fully taken responsibility and have continued to grasp at alleged lies in the case to shed blame.

• Three possible paths to freedom: What’s next for the Menendez brothers?
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Mark Geragos, an attorney for the Menendez brothers, argued that the district attorney’s office was more concerned with re-litigating the previous trial and hadn’t examined what the pair had been doing the last 35 years in prison.

The pair had completed schooling while behind bars and worked to start rehabilitation programs for disabled and elderly inmates, along with incarcerated individuals suffering with trauma, he said.

The judge ruled that prosecutors failed to show why the resentencing effort should not continue and emphasised the importance of maintaining consistency even with shifts in leadership.

“There’s no new information,” the judge said. “None of this is really new. They’ve stuck with their story. It goes to whether they’ve been rehabilitated.”

The case was thrust back into the public eye last year as new evidence emerged and the release of a new Netflix drama, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

The series introduced the case to a new generation and garnered attention from celebrities – including Kim Kardashian and Rosie O’Donnell – who called for the brothers to be released.

Legal experts say the outcome of the Menendez brothers’ resentencing hearing could take several forms, depending on how the judge rules.

The most straightforward path would be to deny resentencing altogether, leaving their current sentence—life without the possibility of parole—intact. This is the outcome Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman is pushing for, arguing the brothers have not fully accepted responsibility for their crimes and therefore don’t qualify for a reduced sentence.

Alternatively, the court could side with former DA George Gascón’s earlier recommendation and resentence the brothers to 50 years to life. This would make them immediately eligible for parole, as they’ve already served more than 30 years. But eligibility doesn’t guarantee release; they would still need to convince a parole board they are no longer a danger to society.

Another possibility is that the judge opts for a modified sentence that reduces their punishment but does not immediately open the door to parole. In that case, the brothers could face several more years behind bars before becoming eligible.

The resentencing bid is one of three routes the brothers have been chasing in recent months in hopes of being freed.

California Gov Gavin Newsom is still weighing another option: granting the brothers clemency.

Newsom said the brothers were scheduled to appear before the state’s parole board on 13 June to discuss the findings of a risk assessment he’d ordered, examining whether Erik and Lyle pose a danger to society.

Depending on the results, the governor could grant clemency, commuting their sentences to make them eligible for parole or even releasing them outright.

The third route the brothers have eyed – asking for a new trial – hit a roadblock when Hochman’s office announced they would oppose the request.

Workers have been told to hurry home, classes have been suspended and outdoor events have been cancelled as northern China braces for extreme winds this weekend.

Millions have been urged to stay indoors, with some state media outlets warning that people weighing less than 50kg (110lbs – about eight stone) may be “easily blown away”.

Winds reaching 150kph (93mph) are expected to sweep Beijing, Tianjin and other parts of Hebei region from Friday to Sunday, as a cold vortex moves southeast from Mongolia.

For the first time in a decade, Beijing has issued an orange alert for gales – the second-highest in a four-tier weather warning system.

Strong winds sweeping from Mongolia are not uncommon, especially at this time of the year. But the impending winds are expected to be stronger than anything the area has seen in years.

Temperatures in Beijing are expected to drop by 13C within 24 hours, when the strongest winds hit on Saturday, authorities said.

“This strong wind is extreme, lasts for a long time, affects a wide area, and is highly disastrous,” the Beijing Meteorological Service said.

China measures wind speed with a scale that goes from level 1 to 17. A level 11 wind, according to the China Meteorological Administration, can cause “serious damage”, while a level 12 wind brings “extreme destruction”.

The winds this weekend are expected to range from level 11 to 13.

Several sporting events slated for the weekend have been suspended, including the world’s first humanoid robot half marathon, which will now be held on 19 April.

Parks and tourist attractions have been closed as authorities have told residents to avoid outdoor activities, while construction works and train services have been suspended.

Thousands of trees across the city have been reinforced or pruned to prevent them from falling.

Officials have warned people to avoid entering mountains and forests, where gusts are expected to be especially strong.

As residents hunker down, social media users are finding humour in their shelved weekend plans.

“This wind is so sensible, it starts on Friday evening and ends on Sunday, without disrupting work on Monday at all,” said a Weibo user.

Hashtags about the strong winds, and the warning that those weighing less than 50kg could be swept away, have been trending on Chinese social media. One Weibo user quipped: “I eat so much all the time, just for this day.”

Beijing has also issued an alert for forest fires and prohibited people from starting fires outdoors.

The winds are expected to start weakening on Sunday night.

In response to why Beijing is not backing down to Donald Trump on tariffs, the answer is that it doesn’t have to.

China’s leaders would say that they are not inclined to cave in to a bully – something its government has repeatedly labelled the Trump administration as – but it also has a capacity to do this way beyond any other country on Earth.

Before the tariff war kicked in, China did have a massive volume of sales to the US but, to put it into context, this only amounted to 2% of its GDP.

That said, the Communist Party would clearly prefer not to be locked in a trade war with the US at a time when it has been struggling to fix its own considerable economic headaches, after years of a real estate crisis, overblown regional debt and persistent youth unemployment.

However, despite this, the government has told its people that it is in a strong position to resist the attacks from the US.

It also knows its own tariffs are clearly going to hurt US exporters as well.

Trump has been bragging to his supporters that it would be easy to force China into submission by simply hitting the country with tariffs, but this has proven to be misleading in the extreme.

Beijing is not going to surrender.

China’s leader Xi Jinping told the visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday that his country and the European Union should “jointly resist the unilateral bullying practices” of the Trump administration.

Sanchez, in turn, said that China’s trade tensions with the US should not impede its cooperation with Europe.

Their meeting took place in the Chinese capital in the hours before Beijing again increased its tariffs on goods from the US – though it has said it will not respond to further US tariff increases.

Next week Xi will visit Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia. These are all countries which have been hit hard by Trump’s tariffs.

His ministers have been meeting counterparts from South Africa, Saudi Arabia and India, talking up greater trade co-operation.

In addition, China and the EU are reportedly in talks about potentially removing European tariffs on Chinese cars, to be replaced by a minimum price instead, to rein in a new round of dumping.

In short, wherever you look, you can see that China has options.

And analysts have said that these mutual tariff increases by the two superpowers are now becoming almost meaningless, as they’ve already passed the point of cutting out much of the trade between them.

So, the tit-for-tat tariff increases in both directions have become more like symbolism.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning has, over the past two days, posted images of Chairman Mao on social media, including a clip during the Korean War when he told the US that “no matter how long this war lasts we will never yield”.

Above this, she posted her own comments, saying: “We are Chinese. We are not afraid of provocations. We won’t back down.”

When the Chinese government wheels out Chairman Mao, you know they’re getting serious.

A Pakistan-born Chicago businessman wanted in India for his role in the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai city has been remanded in custody for 18 days.

Tahawwur Rana, a Canadian citizen, landed in Delhi on Thursday. India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) confirmed his extradition had been successful.

Indian authorities accuse 64-year-old Rana of aiding the Mumbai attacks by working with childhood friend David Headley to support Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani group blamed for the assault.

On 26 November 2008, 10 militants launched deadly attacks across Mumbai, killing 166 and injuring hundreds, before being stopped by security forces on 29 November.

Rana was extradited from the US and arrested by the NIA upon arrival in Delhi on Thursday evening.

He was escorted to a special court under heavy security, trailed by dozens of journalists vying for a glimpse of Rana.

On Friday, the NIA said in a statement that the agency would question Rana “in detail in order to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the deadly 2008 attacks”.

India’s home ministry has appointed well-known lawyer Narendra Mann to lead the prosecution in the case.

Rana or his lawyers have not made any public comments yet.

On Friday, the US Embassy in Delhi said in a press release that Rana was to stand trial in India on 10 criminal charges stemming from his alleged role in the attacks.

“Rana’s extradition is a critical step toward seeking justice for the six Americans and scores of other victims who were killed in the heinous attacks,” it said.

In 2011, a US court cleared Rana of directly plotting the attacks but convicted him of supporting the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

He was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2013 but released in 2020 on health grounds. He was re-arrested later that year after India requested his extradition.

A US court approved Rana’s extradition in 2023, but he remained in custody awaiting final government clearance.

In February, President Donald Trump approved the move following a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The US Supreme Court later rejected Rana’s appeals against the decision.

US prosecutors in the case said that in 2006, Rana allowed Headley to open an office of his Chicago-based immigration services firm in Mumbai, which Headley then used as cover to scout sites for the 2008 attacks.

The charges brought against Rana by the NIA include criminal conspiracy, waging war against the Indian government and terrorism.

The head of the British armed forces has visited China for the first time in a decade.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin discussed “issues of common concern” with China’s military leaders in Beijing, its defence ministry said in a short statement.

“We agreed that in an unstable world we must play our part as responsible nations with global interests,” Sir Tony wrote on X, “and we reflected on the importance of military-to-military communications”.

The last time a Chief of the Defence Staff visited China was in 2015. Since becoming prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer has sought to strengthen ties with the country.

The admiral’s visit coincided with the escalation of an intense trade war between China and the US after President Trump’s announcement of higher tariffs.

Defence Secretary John Healey confirmed on Thursday that the trip had happened earlier this week.

“It’s always good to have military to military engagement and that is what he was establishing”, Healey told reporters in Brussels.

He said that the admiral’s visit followed in the footsteps of one made recently by Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who became only the second foreign secretary to visit China in six years when he went in October last year.

Healey said that in the discussions the admiral was “very firm in the arguments about peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific” region “and concerns about any use of military aggression or assertiveness to pursue political ends”.

Healey did not specifically mention Taiwan, where China has launched major military drills which have been seen as provocation towards the island and wider region.

Beijing sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that will, eventually, be part of the country, and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve this.

But many Taiwanese consider themselves to be part of a separate nation – although most are in favour of maintaining the status quo where Taiwan neither declares independence from China nor unites with it.

Sir Tony has now joined the defence secretary in Brussels for meetings with allies on Ukraine.

The head of the US military base in Greenland has been fired after she reportedly sent an email distancing herself from Vice-President JD Vance’s criticism of Denmark.

The US military’s Space Operations Command said Col Susannah Meyers had been removed from her role at Pituffik Space Base due to a “loss of confidence in her ability to lead”.

Last month, Vance said Denmark had “not done a good job” for Greenlanders and had not spent enough on security while visiting the Danish territory.

The alleged email, released by a military news site, told staff Vance’s comments were “not reflective” of the base. A Pentagon spokesman cited the article, saying “undermining” US leadership was not tolerated.

Following Vance’s trip, on 31 March, Col Meyers is reported to have written: “I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the US administration discussed by Vice-President Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik Space Base.”

Military.com – which published the email – said the contents had been confirmed as accurate to them by the US Space Force.

Appearing to confirm this was the reason for her firing, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell linked to the Military.com article in a post on X, writing: “Actions [that] undermine the chain of command or to subvert President [Donald] Trump’s agenda will not be tolerated at the Department of Defense.”

The Space Force’s statement announcing Col Meyers’ removal on Thursday said that Col Shawn Lee was replacing her.

It added: “Commanders are expected to adhere to the highest standards of conduct, especially as it relates to remaining nonpartisan in the performance of their duties.”

Col Meyers had assumed command of the Arctic station in July last year. Col Lee was previously a squadron commander at the Clear Space Force Station in Alaska.

During his whirlwind trip, Vance had also reiterated Trump’s desire to annex Greenland for security reasons.

Since the US delegation’s visit, both Greenland and Denmark have shown a united front, opposing a US annexation of the autonomous Danish territory.

Earlier this month, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s official visit saw her stand side-by-side with her Greenlandic counterpart Jens-Frederik Nielsen and his predecessor, Mute Egede.

Speaking to reporters, Frederiksen directly addressed Trump, telling him: “You can’t annex other countries.”

She added that Denmark was fortifying its military presence in the Arctic, and offered closer collaboration with the US in defending the region.

The US has long maintained a security interest in Greenland as a strategically important territory. It has had a military presence on the island since occupying it following the occupation of Denmark by Nazi Germany during World War Two.

“If Russia were to send missiles towards the US, the shortest route for nuclear weapons would be via the North Pole and Greenland,” Marc Jacobsen, an associate professor at the Royal Danish Defence College, previously told the BBC.

“That’s why the Pituffik Space Base is immensely important in defending the US.”

Greenland, the world’s largest island, has been under Danish control for around 300 years.

Polls show that the vast majority of Greenlanders want to gain independence from Denmark – but do not wish to become part of the US.

Greenland has had the right to call an independence referendum since 2009, though in recent years some political parties have begun pushing harder for one to take place.

An Indian forest worker, who was suspended after he was seen offering water to a cheetah and her cubs in a viral video, has been restored in his job at the sanctuary.

Satyanarayan Gurjar, a driver at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh state, violated instructions which said only authorised personnel could go near the big cats.

Cheetahs became extinct in India in 1952 but they were reintroduced in Kuno in 2022 as part of an ambitious plan to repopulate the species.

“I was suspended but have now been reinstated,” Mr Gurjar told BBC Hindi. “I am thankful to the authorities,” he said, adding that the region’s top forest official was incensed at his act.

Forest officials confirmed his reinstatement after protests by members of his community. Since this was his first offence, forest officials said they let him go with a warning, telling him that if he encountered an animal in distress in future, he should contact the authorities and not intervene himself.

The viral footage surfaced on Sunday with a video showing him pouring water into a metal pan, urged by off-camera voices. Moments later, a cheetah called Jwala and her four cubs drink from it.

Mr Gurjar said he was not at fault and blamed those who made the videos viral.

Referring to the cheetah and her cubs in the video, he said, “I called her by her name, saying ‘Jwala come, Jwala come’. They come only when you call them by their names.”

While initial reports called the video “heart-warming” and praised Mr Gurjar for his “kindness” and “bravery”, many on social media raised safety concerns and urged authorities to create water sources within the park to prevent such encounters.

Mr Gurjar says he isn’t afraid of wild animals as his ancestors have lived in forests for generations.

“I can sense the feelings of 99% of animals just by looking at them. I could immediately sense that the cheetah and her cubs were thirsty and I offered them water,” he said.

Officials say staff sometimes offer water to big cats near park boundaries to lure them back into the forest.

Chief Conservator of Forests Uttam Kumar Sharma said earlier that only trained personnel wre allowed near cheetahs to guide them back and avoid conflict. The man’s actions violated protocol, which clearly instructs staff to keep their distance, he added.

Mr Gurjar also has some advice about what to do if you encounter a big cat. “If you ever face a cheetah, speak to it with love – don’t hit it or throw stones,” he said.

Between 2022 and 2023, 20 cheetahs were relocated from South Africa and Namibia to Kuno – the first intercontinental move of its kind.

Since then, eight have died from causes like kidney failure and mating injuries, raising concerns about the park’s suitability.

Park authorities deny the allegations, saying 26 cheetahs remain -17 in the wild and nine in enclosures.

India is expected to receive 20 more from South Africa this year.

Donald Trump announced a massive tariff plan last week that would have upended the global economic order as well as long-established trading relationships with America’s allies.

But that plan – or at least a significant part of it – is on ice after the president suspended higher tariffs on most countries for 90 days while leaning into a trade war with China.

So with this partial reversal, is Trump any closer to realising his goals on trade? Here’s a quick look at five of his key ambitions and where they now stand.

WHAT TRUMP SAID:

Trump’s original trade plan packed a big punch that landed around the world, with a flat 10% baseline tariff on everyone (including some uninhabited islands) and additional “reciprocal” tariffs on the 60 countries that he said were the worst offenders.

It sent allies and adversaries scrambling, as they stared down the prospect of a debilitating blow to their economies.

The White House has been quick to boast about all the world leaders who have reached out to the president to make deals and offer trade concessions – “more than 75”, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Although the administration hasn’t released a list of all the countries that Trump said on Tuesday were “kissing my ass” and promising to do anything, the US has announced it is in negotiations with South Korea and Japan, among others.

THE TAKEAWAY: America’s trading partners have 90 days to strike some sort of agreement with Trump, and the clock is ticking. But the fact that talks are happening indicates that the president has a good chance of getting something for his efforts.

• What are tariffs and why is Trump using them?
• What does the tariff pause mean for global trade?

WHAT TRUMP SAID:

Trump has said for decades that tariffs are an effective way of rebuilding America’s manufacturing base by shielding it from unfair foreign competition. While some factories may be able to increase production in current facilities, more substantive efforts take time. And for business leaders to pull the trigger on “reshoring” their production lines and investing in new US factories, they will want to know that the rules of the game are relatively stable.

The president’s on-again, off-again tariff moves over the past week are inherently unstable, however. For the moment, it’s difficult to predict where the final tariff levels will land and which industries will receive the greatest protections. It could be car manufacturers and steel producers today, and high-tech electronics companies tomorrow.

THE TAKEAWAY: When tariffs are applied and removed seemingly at the president’s whim, it’s much more likely that companies – both in the US and abroad – will hunker down and wait for the dust to settle before making any big commitments.

WHAT TRUMP SAID:

After Trump’s tariff about-face on Wednesday, several White House officials – including Treasury Secretary Bessent – were quick to say that Trump’s goal was to drop the hammer on the real villain, China.

“They are the biggest source of the US trade problems,” Bessent told reporters, “and indeed they are the problem for the rest of the world.

If Trump wanted a battle of wills with China, testing each side’s tolerance for economic and political pain, he got one – even if the president and his aides have hinted that they are looking for an exit ramp.

On Wednesday, Trump said that he blamed past US leaders, not China, for the current trade dispute. The prior day, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president would be “incredibly gracious” if China reaches out to make a deal.

THE TAKEAWAY: Even if this showdown is one Trump wants, picking a fight with the second-largest economy in the world, with military power to match, comes at enormous risk. And along the way America may have alienated the allies it needs most in such a confrontation.

• Why Trump is hitting China – and what might happen next

WHAT TRUMP SAID:

During last year’s presidential campaign, Trump regularly touted that his proposed tariffs would bring in vast sums in new revenue, which the US could then use to shrink its budget deficit, fund tax cuts and pay for new government programmes.

A study last year by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated that a 10% universal tariff – which is what Trump has landed on for at least the next 90 days – would generate $2tn in new revenue over the next 10 years.

To put that in context, the tax cuts Congress recently included in its non-binding budget blueprint would cost approximately $5tn over the next 10 years, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

THE TAKEAWAY: Trump wanted more tariff revenue, and if he sticks with his baseline tariffs, plus the additional levies on certain imports and larger ones on China, he’s going to get it – at least until Americans switch to more domestic production, when the tariff money gusher could turn to a trickle.

• Is the US making $2bn a day from tariffs?

WHAT TRUMP SAID:

Analysts and experts have offered a grab bag of other explanations about why Trump made such an aggressive move on trade last week. Was he trying to drive down interest rates, or devalue the US dollar or bring the world to the table for a new, global agreement on trade? The president himself hasn’t spoken much about those kinds of elaborate schemes.

One thing he has talked about relentlessly, however, is his desire to lower costs for American consumers – and he has promised that his trade policy will help address this. While energy prices dipped in the week since Trump announced his tariff plan, that may have been a result of fears that the trade wars could trigger a global recession.

The consensus among economists is that new tariffs will drive up consumer prices, as tariffs are tacked on to the price of imports and, eventually, when there is less competition for US-made products. Last year, the Tax Foundation estimated that a 10% universal tariff would increase costs for American households by an average of $1,253 in its first year. Economists also warn that lower-income Americans will be hardest hit.

THE TAKEAWAY: An increase in prices is an arrow moving in the wrong direction – and it represents an enormous potential liability for both Trump’s political standing and his party’s future electoral prospects.

Follow the twists and turns of Trump’s second term with North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher’s weekly US Politics Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

There were some heroic efforts from Donald Trump and those around him on Wednesday night to suggest the past seven days were something other than absolute chaos.

By this reading, Trump’s 4D game of chess has left China in check. Certainly the Chinese economy faces a massive hit from punitive tariffs in its biggest market. But even accounting for the President’s roll back, the US has still erected a massive protectionist tariff wall, not seen since the 1930s.

The world is left with a universal 10% tariff, irrespective of whether that country (for example the UK or Australia) actually sells less to the US than the US sells to it.

There is now no difference between the EU, which clearly does have a massive trade deficit in goods and was preparing to retaliate, and the UK.

There is also an anxious wait to find out what comes next. One of the questions is whether President Trump pushes ahead with tariffs on medicines, the UK’s second biggest goods export.

Plus there is potential logistical chaos on the cards from a little-noticed multi-million dollar port tax for every cargo vessel docking in the US that was “made in China”. That is more than half of the global merchant fleet – and it is due next week.

Even with Trump’s stated 90 day pause on implementing higher tariffs, there remains too much uncertainty for companies to go through the rigmarole of rerouting global trade.

The central issue now, however, is that the world’s two great economic superpowers are facing off against each other like rutting stags.

Tariffs at these sky-high rates are massively hitting business between two nations which together account for around 3% of the entire world’s trade. The main motorway of the global economy is effectively shut.

The visible tangible consequences of all this will become very real very quickly: Chinese factories will close, workers will stroll from plant to plant looking for work.

Beijing will need to organise a stimulus package to account for the loss of whole percentage points of GDP, the kind of thing that happens when a natural disaster flattens a major city. Painful, but manageable at a cost, though not forever.

Meanwhile the US will see consumer prices surge. President Trump might try to order these US companies not to raise prices, but the effect will come through soon enough.

In theory this will be in sharp contrast to what is happening in other countries in the world. Across the border in Canada, or in Europe, not only will there not be such China-sourced price rises, there could be price cuts.

Trade wars on this scale do not stay confined to the flow of goods. They tend to become currency wars.

What we saw this week was the trade turmoil spread to credit markets, especially the US bond market, having already hit share prices.

Indeed there was an invaluable reveal for the game theory of this conflict. The Trump administration revealed a key pressure point with its concern about the “yippy” – as Trump called it – bond market.

As trading in US government debt continued overnight in Asia, the effective interest rate on these bonds rose to 5%.

This sort of borrowing should not move in such an erratic fashion.

The last time this happened was in the “Dash for Cash”, the key moment of financial fragility at the very beginning of the pandemic. The world was focussed on life or death in March 2020, but this potential further crisis was alleviated only by emergency action.

Effectively, the President’s row back was a form of emergency policy change.

Was the Chinese government behind this rash of US government bond sales in Asia? Probably not. However, what happened on Wednesday highlighted a vulnerability for Trump.

China is the second biggest holder of US government debt in the world and if it chose to, dumping all that debt would be catastrophic for America. But doing so would be a form of mutually assured economic destruction – the losses for China would be huge.

More importantly, what the bond markets were telling Trump is that they are deeply sceptical about his tariff policy.

The US does have the Federal Reserve, which does have some power to tranquillise bond markets. But right now it does not look like its chairman Jerome Powell will ride to the rescue.

The bond market scepticism echoes the sentiment of the ascendant Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. He is now pushing for Trump to reach trade deals with their allies because the US needs them to take on China.

Given the US was previously calling these same close allies cheaters, looters and pillagers, there is no way this was the strategy all along.

This does matter. The US needs the EU, UK, the rest of the G7 on side in terms of China. China probably needs those countries just to stay neutral, and carry on soaking up its exports.

The rest of the world has seen Trump’s team struggle to explain tariffing penguin islands or poor African economies and the President himself recirculating the suggestion he was crashing stock markets on purpose. And they’ve witnessed the fact that the tariff rates were changed after they came into effect and also the absurd nature of the equation used to calculate them.

It’s in this context that Trump’s handling of the situation has handed leverage back to the rest of the world, because neither friend nor foe will know quite what they are negotiating with this America.

There is a calm, welcomed by all, but it could be rather brief.

India is the world’s fifth-largest and fastest-growing major economy.

Yet, a recent legacy of protectionism and inward-focused trade policies have held back its global competitiveness.

Its tariffs are high and the share of global exports remains under 2%. India’s vast domestic market has fuelled its growth – outpacing many others, economists argue, largely because the rest of the world is slowing. But in a turbulent, increasingly protectionist era, India’s instinct for self-reliance may oddly serve as a short-term shield.

As countries scramble to recalibrate in response to shifting US trade policies – like Donald Trump’s latest 90-day tariff pause after weeks of sabre-rattling – India’s relative detachment may have helped it weather shocks that have jolted more trade-dependent economies.

“India’s lower exposure to global goods trade could work in our favour. If export-driven economies slow down under tariff pressure, and we continue growing at 6%, we’ll start looking stronger by comparison – especially with our large domestic market to fall back on,” says Rajeswari Sengupta, an associate professor of economics at Mumbai-based Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research.

“Being trade-shy has turned into an advantage – but we can’t afford complacency. To seize new opportunities, India must stay nimble and open up more to trade gradually and strategically,” she adds.

It may not be easy, given India’s long and complicated relationship with trade barriers and tariffs.

In his book India’s Trade Policy: The 1990s and Beyond, Columbia University economist and noted trade expert Arvind Panagariya traces the complex and often inconsistent evolution of India’s approach to trade.

During the inter-war years, industries like textiles and iron and steel lobbied for – and received – high levels of protection. The chronic shortages of World War Two led to even stricter import controls, enforced through an elaborate licensing system.

While Asian peers such as Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore shifted to export-led strategies in the 1960s – and began posting impressive growth rates of 8–10% annually – India chose to double down on import substitution. As a result, imports as a share of GDP shrank from 10% in 1957–58 to just 4% by 1969–70.

By the mid-1960s, India had banned imports of consumer goods altogether. This not only removed the pressure on domestic producers to improve quality but also denied them access to world-class inputs and technology.

As a result, Indian products lost their competitiveness in global markets and exports stagnated. The resulting foreign exchange shortages led to even tighter import controls, creating a vicious cycle that stifled growth. Between 1951 and 1981, per capita income grew at a sluggish pace of just 1.5% a year.

The turning point came in 1991. Faced with a balance-of-payments crisis, India dismantled many import controls and let the rupee depreciate – a move that gave a much-needed boost to exporters and domestic producers competing with imports. Import licensing on consumer goods ended only in 2001, after the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruled against it.

The impact was striking: between 2002–03 and 2011–12, India’s exports of goods and services surged six-fold, soaring from $75bn to over $400bn.

With trade liberalisation and other reforms, India’s per capita income grew more in the first 17 years of the 21st Century than it did throughout the entire 20th Century, notes Prof Panagariya.

But the pushback to trade didn’t end.

Trade liberalisation in India was reversed twice – in 1996–97 and again since 2018 – with extensive use of anti-dumping measures to block imports from the most competitive sources, according to Prof Panagariya.

“Many post-colonial states like India harbour a deep-rooted suspicion that international commerce and trade are simply new forms of colonisation. Unfortunately, this mindset still lingers among some policymakers – and that’s a shame,” says Vivek Dehejia, a professor of economics at Carleton University in Canada.

Many economists argue that a decade of protectionist policies has undercut Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India initiative, which focused on capital and technology-intensive sectors while sidelining labour-intensive industries like textiles. As a result, the programme has struggled to deliver meaningful gains in manufacturing and exports.

“If foreigners cannot sell their goods to us, they will not have the revenues to pay for the goods they buy from us. If we cut back on their goods, they will have to cut back on ours,” Prof Panagariya wrote.

Such protectionism has also led to allegations of cronyism.

“Tariffs have created protectionism in several Indian industries, disincentivising investments in efficiency by cosy incumbents and allowing them to steadily garner market power by building up concentrated positions,” according to Viral Acharya, a professor of economics at New York University Stern School of Business.

With the US turning inward and China under pressure, countries belonging to the European Union are scrambling for reliable trade partners – and India could be one of them. To seize this moment, economists believe India must lower its tariffs, boost export competitiveness and signal its openness to global trade.

Sectors like garments, textiles and toys present a golden opportunity, especially for the medium and small-scale sectors. But after a decade of stagnation, the big question is: can they scale up – and will the government back them?

If Trump follows through on his tariff plans after the current pause, India could see a $7.76bn – or 6.4% – drop in exports to the US this year, according to an estimate by Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), a Delhi-based think tank. (In 2024, India exported $89bn worth of goods to the American market.)

“The Trump tariffs are expected to deliver a mild blow to India’s merchandise exports to the US,” says Ajay Srivastava of GTRI.

He emphasises the need for India to broaden its trade base after securing a balanced deal with the US. This includes fast-tracking agreements with the EU, UK and Canada, while deepening ties with China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and Asean.

At home, real impact hinges on reforms: simpler tariffs, a smoother goods and services tax (GST), better trade processes and fair implementation of quality controls. Without these, India risks missing the global moment.

Arsenal fans in Uganda partied well into the early hours this week, outside video halls and bars across the country, after their team’s stunning victory over Real Madrid.

The north London-based team won 3-0, at home, in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final stage.

Such was the passion, the joy and the adulation shown to midfielder Declan Rice and his free kicks, you would be forgiven for thinking Arsenal was homegrown.

Whenever the club play, the East African nation knows about it. Alongside Manchester United, they are one of the English Premier League (EPL) teams with the biggest support in the country.

Church services, packed with fans decked in the Gunners’ red and white colours, have been held before big matches – with prayers offered up for a side that sometimes looks as though it needs divine assistance.

The passion for Arsenal and other English clubs has spawned an entire industry in Uganda, with shops and vendors selling jerseys and bigger companies targeting their advertising around the results, while for sports betting companies it is massive business.

“I have covered football across Africa for many years and I can tell you without a doubt that the soccer enthusiasm in Uganda is on another level,” veteran sports journalist Isaac Mumema told the BBC.

For Swale Suleiman, a Manchester United fan and mechanic I met at a garage in the capital, Kampala, the excitement lies in the fact that EPL matches are competitive, entertaining and sometimes unpredictable and even a “small team can cause an upset”.

Ugandan fan clubs have been set up for all the top English sides. WhatsApp groups keep the debates going beyond halls and bars.

But Arsenal fans seem to take it to another level – some have even been arrested for holding victory parades without police notice after winning big matches.

However, this type of fandom also has a much uglier side, with the love for the game sometimes turning to deadly violence as tempers flare between rival supporters.

“Our people naturally get attached to something wholeheartedly and Ugandans really love football,” Uganda Football Coaches Association (UFCA) chairman Stone Kyambadde told the BBC.

“This soccer fanaticism has even grown stronger with the young generation because they watch the English Premier League from anywhere,” he said.

They can keep abreast of scores on their phones, but it is mainly a communal event and even the most remote village will have a makeshift video hall where fans will pack in to watch matches.

But it was for a funeral that villagers near Lake Victoria gathered last December, to bury a 30-year-old carpenter who was shot dead while celebrating Arsenal’s victory over Manchester United.

Speaker after speaker lamented the loss of John Senyange, who had been a Gunner all his life.

He had been watching the match in a video hall in the town of Lukaya – and when spontaneous cheering erupted from Arsenal fans after the final whistle, it upset their rivals, including a security guard, who reportedly pulled the trigger.

Earlier in the season, about 300km (186 miles) away in the south-western area of Kabale, Manchester United fan Benjamin Ndyamuhaki was stabbed to death by an Arsenal supporter after the two argued over the results of the epic clash between Arsenal and Liverpool.

In 2023, there were four Premiership-related deaths in different parts of the country – two Arsenal fans were killed by Man Utd supporters, a fan died in mysterious circumstances after Man Utd were trounced 7-0 by Liverpool and another man died from stab wounds after trying to intervene in a fight after Arsenal lost to Man Utd.

Football violence in Uganda dates back to the 1980s when local games were characterised by stone-throwing and fistfights between rival fans.

“There has always been cases of violence whenever Express FC and SC Villa – the two main local teams in Uganda – have a major derby,” sports scientist Lumbuye Linika told me at a football pitch in Kampala.

But things have become much worse – a situation experts blame on fanaticism fuelled by gambling, with many men trying to earn their living by placing bets.

In a tragic case several years ago, police said a man killed himself with poison after losing money in a bet.

With the rise of online gambling, it just takes a second to place a bet via an app on your phone which brings the hope of winning big coupled with bragging rights.

Gaming companies have also taken advantage of the Ugandan obsession with the EPL, setting up viewing centres where fans can watch games and place their bets.

This is where the trouble often brews – with rival fans teasing each other when their bets fail.

“With limited job opportunities, many football fans are turning to betting as a way to earn quick money,” said Amos Kalwegira, who stopped to chat to me one Monday morning on a street in Kampala when I spotted him in a Man Utd shirt.

“This has become an intense emotional investment which often quickly turns into aggression when soccer results aren’t favourable.”

For Mr Linika this is all proving corrosive: “Football should make us happy and Western soccer is supposed to be a form of entertainment but here in Uganda we have turned it to be a way of earning a livelihood, spoiling the fun.”

But Collins Bongomin, a senior officer in one of Uganda’s betting companies, said the industry should not be blamed for football violence.

“People just lack sufficient knowledge on managing expectations and anger,” he told the BBC, noting industry efforts to encourage responsible gambling.

With more than 2,000 betting shops across the country, it is also proving lucrative for the government, which collected about $50m (£40m) in tax revenue from gambling last year, according to local media.

Some note that the lethal rivalry mainly involves Uganda’s Arsenal and Man Utd fans, suggesting this has something to do with age and background.

Mr Linika, a Liverpool supporter, said his team tended to attract an older crowd and those that were slightly better off – with Arsenal’s and Man Utd’s fanbase drawn from poorer areas.

“Currently we are on top of the Premier League table and you rarely hear about a Liverpool fan involved in violence,” he said.

Pamela Icumar, popularly known as Mama Liverpool because of her ardent devotion to the Reds, agreed that her fellow fans knew how to manage their emotions “even when we’re losing”.

But Arsenal fan Agnes Katende laughed this off when I met up with them both in Kampala – the two women are part of a dedicated female following of the EPL. Ms Icumar is even part of a female only fan club.

For Solomon Kutesa, secretary of the official Arsenal Supporters Club in Uganda, the country’s drinking culture is to blame for the football violence.

“Some of the fans watch the games while intoxicated and it becomes hard to manage them when their teams lose,” he told the BBC.

Some suggest getting fans back into local stadiums and out of bars could curb the hysteria – and help revitalise the Ugandan Premier League.

“The current generation only knows about the European soccer. If we invest more on the local league we could manage to disrupt a lot of attention given to foreign games,” said Mr Kyambadde, while acknowledging it suffered from a bad reputation and lack of star power.

Former footballer Tom Lwanga, who played for Uganda’s national team when the Cranes reached the finals of the 1978 Africa Cup of Nations, agreed.

“We became famous because we used to play when stadiums were full. We need to return to that era and manage the frenzy with European football,” he told me in the empty stands of Kampala’s Phillip Omondi Stadium as we watched a local match.

Others blame the lack of live television broadcasts for the decline of the Ugandan league.

Asuman Basalirwa, chair of the Ugandan Parliamentary Sports Club, who was also at the Omondi stadium, is among those trying to boost the local game.

“I’m among the few MPs who watch local football and we want to see more leaders, even the president, coming to the stadiums to support local teams,” he said.

But for Mr Kutesa, whose love of Arsenal dates back to the days of players like Nwankwo Kanu and Thierry Henry, the next few weeks are all-important.

“Our emotions right now are high. We are where we belong and this is definitely our season,” he said back in February.

While it appears their title bid is over, they are in a strong position to qualify for the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in 16 years, as long as they avoid a disaster in Wednesday’s second leg against Real Madrid.

• Online gambling: Are Ugandans hooked?
• A football fan explores the dark side of sports betting in Africa
• Real Madrid ‘need something crazy’ to win Arsenal tie
• Why Uganda’s iconic crested crane faces extinction

When Chloe Qisha was training to be a therapist, she wondered whether her dreams of being a pop star would ever come true.

Now, with one of the biggest artists in the US covering her songs and a spot on the BBC Radio 1 playlist, it’s definitely happening for the singer even if, in her words, she’s “a little bit late”.

But, speaking to BBC Newsbeat, Chloe says “late” actually feels like the perfect time.

The London-based singer, who was born in Malaysia, has been breaking through with her track 21st Century Cool Girl, which she describes as “an ode to my teenage self”, about the insecurities and drama of teen romance.

Chloe laughs when she says that success has come after her brain had time to “fully develop”.

“I think if it happened any earlier in my life I would have messed it up for myself,” she says.

“I’m looking back at my younger self, who was a bit of a trainwreck of a human being, and just being like, ‘You’ve got this, it’s gonna work out, it’s going to be great’.

“It took a lot of finessing over the years but now this is my whole life and I’m just so excited.

“It feels like what Chloe Qisha was always meant to do.”

Chloe released her first self-titled EP back in November and has been busy releasing new music since.

She confesses her route into music – doing a psychology degree first – was “a little bit backwards”.

Chloe started writing songs at uni, after posting covers on YouTube inspired her to get deeper into the process.

“I realised I needed to learn how to write songs if I wanted to do this,” she says.

However, she thinks having the extra time and experience helped to reassure her that music was “100% the right path” for her.

But Chloe says her degree in psychology has influenced a lot of her songs, which explore themes of wellbeing.

“It’s like learning to accept yourself, learning to accept the insecurities and everything like that,” she says.

“I’m here as my older self, feeling more set and confident in my mental health,” she says.

Chloe might have left the textbooks behind as her career takes off, but the learning hasn’t stopped, she says, admitting she’s still finding out things about being a pop star.

She performed at BBC Introducing’s Ones To Watch showcase in January and says being on stage means focusing on more than just the music and the songwriting.

It’s also the live performances, filming music videos and adapting to professional choreography as someone better known for “really terrible dad dancing”.

All that work is worthwhile though, she says, when crowds of fans sing along to her songs.

“It’s moments like that you just can’t replace.

“It’s just so special.”

Critics, as well as fans, are starting to notice with the likes of Rolling Stone and NME dubbing Chloe as an artist to watch.

She has more than 700k monthly listeners on Spotify and when she recently released tickets for her first headline show in London it sold out in four minutes.

And she’s made a name on the other side of the world too, being spotted by US singer and chat show host Kelly Clarkson.

The American Idol winner’s TV programme features a “Kellyoke” segment where she covers other artists.

Usually those songs are by high-profile singers such as Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Coldplay.

But in February she picked Chloe’s song I Lied, I’m Sorry, just a couple of months after the track was featured as BBC Introducing’s Track of the Week.

Chloe says her song being performed on the show is something she still hasn’t processed.

“Kelly Clarkson. This almost, fantasy, beautiful, human being,” says Chloe.

“It just feels surreal, I still think it’s a prank.

“It’s such an honour, I feel so blessed,” she says.

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

The corner shop Ramji Dharod has manned for over six decades is now on the brink of closure.

The store sits in a bylane in the central Indian city of Mumbai’s busy shopping precinct, and has served the community for 75 years.

Dharod began coming to the shop with his father when he was just 10. These days, he mostly sits idle, waiting for an occasional customer to walk in.

Behind him, cardboard boxes of unsold biscuit packets and snacks show a “stock clearance sale” sign posted on them.

“I wouldn’t get a minute to breathe a few years ago, but now I rarely get anyone coming,” says the septuagenarian wryly. “They are all shopping online. I’ve decided to retire and down the shutters.”

As 10-minute online deliveries by “quick commerce” apps like Zomato, BlinkIt and Zepto pervade urban India, hundreds of thousands of neighbourhood stores across cities have closed down.

A lobby group of consumer product distributors estimated that number to be 200,000 last October, while the municipal body of the southern city of Chennai estimated 20% of small grocers and 30% of larger departmental stores had shut down in the city in the past 5 years.

Sunil Kenia who runs a provision store right beside Dharod’s shop says he’s still in business only because his family owns the shop. Those on rent are no longer able to stay afloat, he says.

“It started going downhill after the Covid lockdowns. Business is at 50% of what we did before the pandemic,” Kenia told the BBC.

Most of his revenue now comes from wholesale customers – hawkers or those selling street-side snacks. The retail customer has all but “vanished”, he says, because of the convenience of mobile deliveries.

Mumbai-based graphic designer Monisha Sathe is among the millions of urban Indians who’ve stopped their weekly run to the market because of the ease of quick commerce.

“Lugging groceries back home was a big pain,” says Sathe. And occasionally, when she took out her car, navigating narrow market lanes and finding a parking slot would be a challenge.

Sathe says she misses the human interaction she had with the grocers and vegetable vendors and even the variety of fresh produce on sale – but for her, the balance still tilts in favour of online deliveries because of how much easier it has made her life.

A recent survey by consultancy PwC shows some 42% of urban consumers in India’s big cities think like Sathe, especially preferring quick delivery for their urgent needs. And these shifts in buying behaviour have led to three out of 10 retailers reporting a negative impact on their business, with a 52% drop in essential goods sales.

But to what extent is quick commerce really hollowing out the Indian high street?

There’s no doubt general trade – which includes grocery stores, corner shops and even big retail outlets – has come under threat, says Ankur Bisen, a partner at Technopak retail advisory. But at least for now “quick commerce is still a three-four city story”, he says. Nearly all of their sales come from these cities.

Lightning fast deliveries bucked the global trend and became successful in India largely due to a large concentration of people staying in urban clusters.

They are serviced through low-rent “dark stores” – or small shops dedicated to delivery and not open to the public – in densely populated areas, enabling economies of scale.

But the precarious nature of demand and fragmented demographics of smaller towns could make it expensive for quick commerce players to expand and make money beyond the metros, says Mr Bisen.

There’s little doubt though that these online deliveries will disrupt trade in the longer run.

Bain and Company expects quick commerce to grow at over 40% annually through to 2030, driven by expansion across “geographies”.

And this has made traditional retail nervous.

Trade organisations – like the Confederation of All India Traders, or the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation which calls itself the voice of India’s 13m retailers – have made urgent and repeated pleas to the government against this breakneck expansion.

They allege that these companies are using billions of dollars in venture capital funds to engage in anti-competitive practices like “predatory pricing” or “deep discounting” which has further distorted the playing field for mom-and-pop shops.

The BBC spoke to several small retailers who shared these concerns. Mr Bisen too agreed there’s evidence of such practices in the clusters that quick commerce companies operate.

Swiggy, Zepto and Blinkit, who primarily control this market, did not agree to comment on the BBC’s queries on these allegations.

But a source within one of the quick commerce companies told the BBC the discounting was done by traders on the platform and not by them.

The source also said that contrary to the binary narrative of the “big guy versus small guy”, online deliveries were solving real-world challenges for people for whom going to the market was a “traumatic” experience.

“Think of women or senior citizens – they don’t want to be harassed or navigate potholes and traffic,” the source said. “Also consider the small brands that sell on our platform – they never get shelf space in physical shops where only the big names are displayed. We’ve democratised the market.”

Analysts say, the sheer diversity of India in terms of its stages of development, levels of income and infrastructure will mean that in the end all retail models – small corner shops, organised big retailers and quick commerce platforms – will cohabit in the country.

This is not a “winner takes all market”, says Mr Bisen, giving the example of e-commerce which came into India in 2010 and was meant to sound the death knell of local retailers.

Even after all these years, only 4% of all shopping is done online in India.

But the ripples caused by quick commerce should be a warning for physical retailers, say analysts, to improve their marketing and integrate technology to use both online and offline channels to give their consumers a better shopping experience.

Competing with click-of-a-button delivery means it can no longer be business as usual for the millions of corner shops who’ve existed for decades, with little or no innovation.

When scrolling through social media, you may have recently seen friends and family appearing in miniature.

It’s part of a new trend where people use generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT and Copilot to re-package themselves – literally – as pocket-sized dolls and action figures.

It has taken off online, with brands and influencers dabbling in creating their mini-me.

But some are urging people to steer clear of the seemingly innocent trend, saying fear of missing out shouldn’t override concerns about AI’s energy and data use.

It may sound complicated, but the process is simple.

People upload a picture of themselves to a tool like ChatGPT, along with written prompts that explain how they want the final picture to look.

These instructions are really important.

They tell the AI tool everything it is meant to generate, from the items a person wants to appear with to the kind of packaging they should be in – which includes mimicking the box and font of popular toys like Barbie.

Many online will then personalise it further with their name, job and clothing choices.

Though it does not always work, and many have also shared some of the amusing mistakes the tools made, where the action dolls look nothing like them.

Like other generative AI tools, image generators are also prone to making things up, and may make assumptions about how someone should look.

And it’s not just regular people using it – the trend has been seized upon by a wealth of brands online including beauty company Mario Badescu and even Royal Mail.

Trends come and go – but by their very nature can make people feel compelled to take part to avoid missing out.

“Generative AI makes it easier and quicker for people to create and jump on trends,” says Jasmine Enberg, principal social media analyst at eMarketer.

She said the technology had made it quicker and easier to make online content, which may have the unexpected effect of quickening the pace at which other social media users get annoyed by it.

But she believe AI-driven trends will become a more regular appearance on our feeds “as the tech becomes a more regular part of our digital lives”.

But while its light-hearted nature may have drawn people to it, the trend has drawn criticism from some concerned about its environmental impact.

Professor Gina Neff of Queen Mary University London told the BBC ChatGPT is “burning through energy”, and the data centres used to power it consume more electricity in a year than 117 countries.

“We have a joke in my house that every time we create one of these AI memes, it kills a tree,” said Lance Ulanoff, US editor of TechRadar, in an article about the trend.

“That’s hyperbole, of course, but it’s safe to say that AI content generation is not without costs, and perhaps we should be thinking about it and using it differently.”

• What is AI and how does it impact the environment?

People have also highlighted concerns copyrighted data may have been used to create the technology which generates images without paying for it.

“ChatGPT Barbie represents a triple threat to our privacy, our culture and our planet,” said Ms Neff.

“While the personalisation might feel nice, these systems are putting brands and characters into a blender with no responsibility for the slop that emerges.”

And Jo Bromilow, director of social and influencer at PR and creative agency MSL UK, asks: “is a cute, funny result really worth it?”

“If we’re going to really use AI properly, we have to set guardrails around how we use it conscientiously,” she said.

I started by finding a suggested prompt online – a list of instructions to enter into the AI tool in order for it to generate the image.

You have to upload your own selfie with your prompt and you also have to be very specific about what you want, including a list of which accessories you’d like included and what colour you want the box to be.

When it came to providing my job title, my first attempt was declined because I included BBC News and was told this violated content policy – I think because currently the BBC does not allow ChatGPT to use its output.

Once you do get an image you’re likely to want to tweak it further; my first attempt was too cartoon-like.

The following, more realistic version made me look considerably older than I am, then too child-like, and I gave up in the end trying to get it to use my actual eye-colour, which kept defaulting back to blue (mine are a blend of hazel and green).

It took a couple of minutes to generate each version and overall the process was slower than I would have liked, potentially because of its popularity.

It did start to feel like a lot of work for a passing trend, and it isn’t perfect – my doll is expanding out far beneath the supposed packaging.

But more importantly, somewhere in a data centre some hot computer servers were toiling away to make Action Figure Zoe.

They almost certainly could have been put to work on worthier causes.

While on holiday in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last week, there was only one mission on my mind – getting my hands on the viral “Dubai chocolate” bar.

If you’re on TikTok, you will have seen the bar, which combines the flavours of chocolate, pistachio and tahini with filo pastry, and is inspired by the Arab dessert Knafeh.

The original, called Can’t Get Knafeh of It, by FIX Chocolatier, has been sold exclusively in the UAE since 2022. It become so popular on social media that it’s only on sale for two hours a day and often sells out within minutes.

But now imitations, known by the nickname “Dubai chocolate”, have hit UK supermarkets including Waitrose, Lidl and Morrisons, with some supermarkets limiting the number of bars customers are allowed to buy.

Yezen Alani, who co-owns FIX with his wife Sarah Hamouda, told the BBC the global attention Dubai chocolate was getting was “flattering and humbling”.

The FIX chocolate bar was first imagined by Hamouda in 2021, who craved the flavours while she was pregnant.

Alani and Hamouda started developing the bar a year later, running the business alongside their corporate jobs.

“Sarah and I were brought up in the UK and we moved to Dubai 10 years ago, so we’ve got Western and Arab roots.

“We wanted to create flavours that were inspired by that,” Alani says.

Part of the appeal of the chocolate is its exclusivity – you can only order it using a food delivery app, rather than walking into a shop or grabbing it at the supermarket.

It costs around £15 per bar and can only be bought during specific hours of the day to ensure the company can fulfil all their orders.

I also saw similar bars sold in many shops in the region, dubbed “Dubai chocolate” and adorned with pictures of pistachios and filo pastry.

Alani says the “copycat” bars are “very frustrating because people are trying knockoffs, which damages our brand”.

One of the reasons for the bar’s surge in popularity has been social media – with a viral video by TikTok user Maria Vehera from 2023 being cited as one of the main reasons for its rise to prominence.

It shows Vehera trying the Knafeh bar for the first time – along with several others made by the same chocolatier – and has been liked nearly seven million times.

The way the bar looks is made for social media – from the attractive orange and green spots on top of the smooth milk chocolate to the crunch sound it makes when you break off a piece.

Chocolate combined with pistachio isn’t new but the real standout element is the crunchy nature of the filling, with the filo pastry adding a texture and thickness to the bar.

Since the Can’t Get Knafeh of It bar is only available in one country, other brands have started to sell their versions in the UK, including Swiss chocolate manufacturer Lindt whose Dubai chocolate is being sold for £10 in supermarkets.

Since stocking the bar, Waitrose says they’ve had to introduce a two-bar limit for customers in order to regulate stock levels.

Another version has also been sold by Home Bargains, while supermarket Lidl has its own version for £4.99 and is also limiting purchase numbers.

One influencer documented how the bar been kept behind tills for this reason.

Having tried the Lindt bar and a couple of other versions being sold in corner shops, there is quite a contrast.

The FIX chocolate is billed as a “dessert bar” and needs to be kept in the fridge, with a short expiry date like many dairy items.

This isn’t the case for the others, which have been designed to have a longer shelf life.

You can also see the difference in taste and texture – the original bar is almost double the width of the Lindt bar, which is more aligned to the size and shape of a standard chocolate bar.

When Alani and Hamouda first started out, they employed one person to fulfil around six to seven orders a day.

But since growing in popularity, primarily thanks to TikTok, their business now employs 20 people, who fulfil 500 orders a day.

One big talking point has been the price of the product, which is £15 per bar.

“It’s all handmade, every single design is done by hand,” Alani says.

“We use premium ingredients and the process is not like making a Cadbury’s bar – you’ve got the baking, moulding the chocolate to the design and with the filling itself, even the pistachios are hand-picked and processed”.

Speaking to Arabian Business last year, Hamouda said: “My mother used to make Knafeh, and that’s something I wanted to capture my own way.

“Knafeh was the first flavour we perfected. The crunch, the pistachio, it had to be just right,” she added.

Despite the product’s success, Alani says “it’s been a tough journey” as the pair have been working together full time while also raising their two children.

“There’s been times where we’ve wanted to give up, but we said to ourselves ‘we’ll keep going as long as we can pay the rent’ and now we have no regrets as its worked out”.

The Minecraft Movie’s director says he has been “laughing my brains out” at the trend for audience members shouting out, jumping up and down, and in some cases throwing popcorn in the air during screenings.

“It’s way too funny,” Jared Hess told the New York Times about fans’ exuberant reactions to the film, some of which have been widely shared.

The UK Cinema Association this week noted the “exceptional” crowd response to the movie and its characters, but some cinemas have warned that “anti-social behaviour” like loud screaming, clapping and shouting “will not be tolerated”.

“It’s been a total blast,” Hess said. “I’m just laughing my brains out every time someone sends me a new video.”

Based on one of the world’s best-selling video games, the film tells the story of four misfits pulled through a mysterious portal into the Overworld – the place where all players start in Minecraft.

Despite underwhelming critics’ reviews, the film, which boasts a star-studded cast including Jason Momoa, Jack Black and Jennifer Coolidge, exceeded expectations by making $300m (£233m) globally at the box office on its opening weekend.

In the film, Momoa’s character Garrett Garrison has to battle a baby zombie riding a chicken on the way to finding the orb that can take him back to the real world.

Hess and Black thought it would be funny if Black’s character Steve announced everything that happens to him intensely, hence the “!” meme taking off.

“Jack says it with such passion,” said Hess. “Everything that comes out of his mouth in the film is spoken with such authority and seriousness, like this is the most important thing anybody has ever heard in their life.

“I think people just love the craziness of it.”

With many young fans joining in, the UK Cinema Association’s chief executive Phil Clapp told the BBC this week that most of the behaviour had so far been good-natured.

He said it was “seemingly driven by the desire of young people to share their experiences on social media”.

But he did ask “those taking part to be mindful of the enjoyment of other cinema-goers”.

A cinema in Staffordshire banned under-18s from attending evening showings without an adult after rowdy behaviour at other screenings went viral on social media, while another picturehouse in Oxfordshire warned customers to behave.

Hess has been buoyed by the overall reaction, however, describing it as “a true party”.

“Just the fact that people are making memories at the movies – that’s what it’s all about,” he said. “That’s why we do it.

“I never could have anticipated this level of passion and fun and craziness that’s happening.”

Asked whether he approved of throwing popcorn, he replied: “No-one’s going to get hurt from popcorn.

“Look, when I go to the movies with my kids, it’s like a popcorn massacre that happens and they’re not throwing anything, but it ends up on the ground regardless.”

Some videos of fan reactions have even shown police being called to cinemas.

“It’s weird when you’re having too much fun and the cops get called,” Hess told Entertainment Weekly.

“It’s funny because I think it’s just literally cheering and throwing popcorn, which is so funny to me that cops are getting called for popcorn.

“Yeah, it’s hilarious. I’ve seen so many funny videos. It’s great, especially when people are climbing on their friends’ shoulders and standing up and cheering for those moments. It’s like this crazy anticipation.

“But, man, I’m just glad people are making memories with their friends and families.”

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has told the BBC that Gaza has become “hell on earth”, as Israel’s military assault there continues.

Mirjana Spoljaric’s comments come on the same day the UN human rights office warned that Israel’s tactics were threatening the viability of Palestinians continuing to live in Gaza at all.

The ICRC is the guardian of the Geneva Conventions – internationally agreed rules of conduct in war – and normally only speaks confidentially to warring parties when it thinks violations are taking place.

But Ms Spoljaric has now said publicly that what is happening in Gaza is an “extreme hollowing out” of international law.

Israeli bombardment has killed 1,542 people since it renewed the war on 18 March, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has also issued evacuation orders that have forced nearly 400,000 people to move. Israel has also imposed a complete blockade on the entry of food, medical supplies and all other goods since 2 March.

Israel insists it always follows international law in Gaza, and has also argued that the particular nature of this conflict, with Hamas fighters hidden among the civilian population, mean collateral damage can sometimes happen.

Israeli ministers insist there is enough food in Gaza and say the bombardment and seizure of territory aims to pressure Hamas into releasing the hostages it is still holding, whom it kidnapped during the 7 October 2023 attack.

Under the fourth Geneva Convention, occupying powers, as Israel is in Gaza, must ensure civilians have food and medicine, and protect hospitals and health workers. The convention also prohibits the forcible transfer of entire populations from occupied territories.

“No state, no party to a conflict… can be exempt from the obligation not to commit war crimes, not to commit genocide, not to commit ethnic cleansing,” Ms Spoljaric said.

“These rules apply. They are universal.”

Civilians were bearing the brunt of a relentless pursuit of military objectives, she added, being displaced multiple times, and their homes reduced to rubble.

Of 36 recent airstrikes verified by the UN human rights office, all those killed were women and children.

Israel has strenuously denied accusations it is committing genocide or genocidal acts in Gaza.

Israel’s military said it was looking into an attack that killed members of one family in the city of Khan Younis and said it had struck 40 “terror targets” across the territory over the past day.

The ICRC’s comments are the latest in a chorus of concern coming from the UN and other agencies.

On Friday the UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the “cumulative impact” of the IDF’s conduct meant “the office is seriously concerned that Israel appears to be inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence as a group in Gaza”.

Israel was continuing to bomb tents in the al-Mawasi area it had told people to go to for their own safety, she added.

On Tuesday the UN secretary general warned that Israel’s blockade of Gaza was violating the Geneva Conventions and the territory was becoming a “killing field”. On Monday the heads of six UN aid agencies appealed to the world to act to save the people of Gaza, and to uphold basic international law.

The Geneva Conventions are founded on the following principles:

• Medical staff and hospitals in warzones must be protected and allowed to work freely
• Those wounded in battle and no longer fighting are entitled to medical treatment
• Prisoners of war must be treated humanely
• Warring parties are obliged to protect civilians (this includes a prohibition on the targeting of civilian infrastructure such as power and water supplies).

Twenty years ago, in what it called its war on terror, the US suggested that the Geneva Conventions might be outdated in modern warfare, but the ICRC insists they apply in all circumstances.

“It’s not transactional,” said Ms Spoljaric. “You have to comply with these rules no matter what the other side does.”

She appealed for a renewal of the ceasefire, pointing out that during previous pauses in fighting, the ICRC had successfully been able to take Israeli hostages out of Gaza and reunite them with their families.

But she also warned of a growing “dehumanisation” during war, in which the international community was turning away even though it was clear war crimes were being committed.

The Geneva Conventions protecting civilians were created after World War Two, she pointed out, to make sure such dehumanisation never happened again. Diluting or abandoning them sends a dangerous signal that “everything is allowed”.

The ICRC believes that sticking with the rules of war can help, eventually, to build a more sustainable peace. Once the fighting stops, the thinking goes, both soldiers and civilians will remember whether those on the other side obeyed international law, or whether they committed atrocities.

But Gaza, Ms Spoljaric believes “will haunt us. It will haunt us for a long time because you cannot undo the suffering… that will last for generations”.

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 others were taken hostage.

More than 50,912 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Euphoria and Grey’s Anatomy star Eric Dane has revealed he has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the most common form of motor neurone disease (MND).

Speaking to People, the 52-year-old US actor said he was “grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter”.

“I feel fortunate that I am able to continue working and am looking forward to returning to set of Euphoria next week,” he added, while asking for privacy for himself and his family.

Dane stars as the Jacobs family patriarch Cal Jacobs on hit HBO teen drama show Euphoria, which is due to begin production on season three on Monday.

Before that, he was perhaps best known as Dr Mark Sloan on Grey’s Anatomy from 2006.

He also played Jason Dean in fantasy drama series Charmed, and Captain Tom Chandler in action drama show The Last Ship, while appearing in films such as Marley & Me, Valentine’s Day and Burlesque.

He is married to fellow actress and model Rebecca Gayheart, and the couple have two children.

According to the NHS, MND “encompasses several different conditions whose common feature is the premature degeneration of motor nerves (known as neurons or sometimes neurones)”.

It says nearly 90% of patients with MND have the mixed ALS form of the disease.

• ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a rare degenerative disease that causes progressive paralysis of the muscles
• Patients first experience twitching or weakness in a limb, often followed by slurred speech
• The disease affects the nerve cells in the brain and spine that control muscle movement, causing patients to slowly lose their ability to speak, eat, walk and breathe independently
• There is no cure for ALS, and, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, people usually live for three to five years after diagnosis although some can live for decades

A former Russian government minister, once a governor in illegally annexed Crimea, has been sentenced to 40 months in prison for breaching UK sanctions.

Dmitrii Ovsiannikov was found guilty of deliberately avoiding sanctions by receiving more than £75,000 from his wife, Ekaterina Ovsiannikova, into a newly-opened account, and a new Mercedes Benz SUV from his brother, Alexei Owsjanikow.

Ovsiannikov, who has a British passport, was found guilty on Wednesday of six out of seven counts of circumventing sanctions.

The case is the first prosecution in the UK regarding a breach of sanctions under the Russia Sanctions Regulations, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Two years after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, President Vladimir Putin appointed Ovsiannikov as acting governor of the “strategically significant” city of Sevastopol in Crimea, the jury heard.

In 2017, elections were held there for the position of governor and Ovsiannikov won. He resigned from the position in July 2019.

As a result of his senior job in illegally annexed Crimea, the EU and UK imposed financial sanctions on him.

In August 2022, Ovsiannikov travelled to Turkey from Russia and applied for a British passport.

Despite the fact that UK sanctions still applied, the jury heard that he was granted a passport in January 2023, which he was entitled to because his father was born in the UK.

Ovsiannikov challenged the EU sanctions and they were lifted just five days after he arrived in the UK.

After arriving in Britain on 1 February 2023, Ovsiannikov moved into his brother’s house in Clapham, where his wife and two younger children were already living and attending private school.

On 6 February, the former governor applied for a Halifax bank account and over the next two-and-a-half weeks his wife transferred £76,000 into his account – allowing him to put down a deposit on a Mercedes Benz GLC 300 SUV.

However, the bank later realised he was on the UK sanctions list and froze the account. His brother Alexei Owsjanikow bought the Mercedes instead, paying more than £54,000, the prosecution said.

The prosecution argued that when Ovsiannikov’s wife sent him the £76,000 and his brother bought the car they were also in breach of sanctions.

While in May 2024, Owsjanikow paid more than £40,000 in school fees for his brother’s two youngest children – which the prosecution argued was also in breach of sanctions.

Ovsiannikov’s wife, who was in the public gallery on Friday for the sentencing, was cleared of four counts of circumventing sanctions by assisting with payments totalling £76,000 to her husband in February 2023.

His brother, Owsjanikow, was cleared of breaching sanctions by buying the Mercedes-Benz, arranging car insurance for Ovsiannikov, and by making a Barclays bank account available to him.

However, the jury at Southwark Crown Court found Owsjanikow guilty on two counts of circumventing sanctions by paying school fees of £41,027 for his brother’s children. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended for 15 months.

The prosecution argued Ovsiannikov must have known he was subject to UK sanctions, because on 7 February 2023 he was applying for them to be lifted and had included his unique ID number and group ID number from his sanctions listing on the form.

He was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to 40 months’ imprisonment for each count, to be served concurrently.

The total amount of time he will serve was reduced by the 217 days he spent on curfew, and he will spend up to half of his sentence in custody before he is released on licence.

Ovsiannikov, the former governor of Sevastopol, also served as the Russian Federation’s deputy minister for industry and trade before he was dismissed and expelled from the ruling United Russia party in 2020.

Under the asset freeze, Ovsiannikov was not allowed to spend money even on basic necessities. Others were not permitted to assist him to do so.

The jury failed to reach a verdict on the outstanding charge, that Ovsiannikov deliberately avoided sanctions by opening the new bank account.

Julian Capon, head of the CPS’s economic organised crime unit, said prosecutors will begin legal action to recover “illegally obtained cash and assets”.

He said Ovsiannikov “knew he had been on the UK sanctions list since 2017 but chose to ignore this”.

National Crime Agency chief Graeme Biggar said the Ovsiannikov investigation was one of 180 which have aimed to “reduce a criminal threat posed by Putin-linked elites and their enablers since the invasion of Ukraine”.

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who’s Turkey’s biggest rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has appeared in court for the first time since he was arrested last month and placed in a high-security jail.

Imamoglu is being held on corruption and terrorism charges, but appeared in a special court at Silivri jail in a separate case on Friday accused of trying to intimidate Istanbul’s chief prosecutor.

Turkey’s opposition has condemned Imamoglu’s arrest as a “coup attempt against our next president” and his detention has prompted the biggest anti-Erdogan protests in more than a decade.

“I am here because I won elections three times in Istanbul,” Imamoglu told the court.

“I am here under arrest because I won against the notion of ‘Whoever wins Istanbul, wins Turkey’,” he added.

Imamoglu was referring to President Erdogan, who launched his political career as mayor of Turkey’s biggest city and has often used the phrase since.

Crowds gathered outside the complex in support of Istanbul’s mayor, whose detention has been widely viewed as politically motivated. The Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly has called on Turkish authorities to drop the charges and release him immediately.

However, Turkey’s government has rejected claims of political interference, insisting the judiciary is independent.

The 53-year-old mayor faced two hearings on Friday that carry the risk of both a jail term and a ban from politics.

The first case, alleging threats made against Istanbul chief prosecutor Akin Gurlek following the arrest of a district mayor, was adjourned until June.

Gurlek, a former deputy justice minister under Erdogan, has been accused by the opposition of acting as a “mobile guillotine” for the president in targeting his opponents in Istanbul.

Neither case on Friday was related to his 19 March arrest on suspicion of running a criminal organisation and extortion, but prosecutors are seeking a jail term of up to seven years and four months for the Gurlek case.

• Hundreds of thousands of protesters take to Istanbul streets

Imamoglu was also critical of Turkish state broadcaster TRT, which he said was funded by citizens’ taxes and “should broadcast this hearing instead of reporting with lies and slander to discredit me”.

His wife Dilek attended the hearing along with one of their children and several MPs.

She has played a prominent part in the protests that have swept Turkey since Imamoglu’s arrest, and further rallies are planned for the coming days and weeks.

• Journalist arrests fuel fears for democracy after protests
• ‘Then the phone rang’: BBC’s Mark Lowen deported from Turkey

The protests have been accompanied about 2,000 arrests.

In the past two days, the courts in Istanbul have either released or freed on bail 185 people who took part in demonstrations against the mayor’s detention at Sarachane square in Istanbul.

Two journalists working for pro-opposition newspapers were also released on bail on Friday for investigating the sale of a TV station.

One of the newspapers, Cumhuriyet, said their arrests were part of a plan to intimidate the media and critics of the government.

The opposition has accused prosecutors of targeting elected officials in a bid to nullify any opposing voices ahead of national elections.

Presidential elections are not due in Turkey until 2028 and without a change to the constitution Erdogan would not be entitled to stand for another term.

However, he could also run if parliament called early elections.

The US Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that the Trump administration must try to release a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to a mega-jail in El Salvador.

In a 9-0 ruling, the justices declined to block a lower court’s order to “facilitate” bringing back Kilmar Abrego Garcia, but they also said Judge Paula Xinis may have exceeded her authority.

On Friday Judge Xinis directed the Trump administration to provide her with daily updates on what steps they are taking to bring Mr Garcia back to the US.

The government has conceded Mr Garcia was deported due to an “administrative error”, though it also alleges he is a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyer denies.

Mr Garcia, a Salvadoran, is one of dozens of alleged gang member migrants placed by the US on military planes last month and flown to El Salvador’s notorious Cecot (Terrorism Confinement Centre) under an arrangement between the two countries.

Following the Supreme Court’s order, lawyers for the Trump administration went in front of Judge Xinis of the Maryland district court on Friday to explain how they will release Mr Garcia.

The judge had asked the government to explain by that morning how they planned to bring Mr Garcia back, but justice department attorneys filed a motion asking for the deadline to be extended until Tuesday evening.

In a two-page filing, government lawyers called her deadlines “impracticable”.

During an at-times tense hearing that lasted about half an hour, Judge Xinis repeatedly pressed the justice department for specifics on Mr Garcia’s whereabouts.

“I’m not asking for state secrets,” she said. “I’m asking a very simple question: where is he?”

Judge Xinis ultimately ruled that the government must provide her with daily updates on Mr Garcia’s location and status, what efforts it had previously taken to get him back to the US and what efforts it will undertake.

In court documents, Mr Garcia’s lawyers accused the government of trying to “delay, obfuscate and flout court orders, while a man’s life and safety is at risk”.

• Can the US return man deported to El Salvador?

In its emergency appeal to the Supreme Court last week, the Trump administration argued that Judge Xinis lacked the authority to issue the order to return Mr Garcia by Monday night, and that US officials could not compel El Salvador to return him.

US Solicitor General Dean John Sauer wrote in his emergency court filing: “The Constitution charges the president, not federal district courts, with the conduct of foreign diplomacy and protecting the nation against foreign terrorists, including by effectuating their removal.”

The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, issued its decision in an unsigned order on Thursday.

The justices did not give the administration a deadline for when Mr Garcia should be freed.

They said Judge Xinis may have exceeded her authority when she required the Trump administration to “effectuate” Mr Garcia’s return.

“The district court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the executive branch in the conduct of foreign affairs,” the Supreme Court order said.

On Friday, President Donald Trump told reporters that if the Supreme Court said “bring somebody back I would do that”.

“I respect the Supreme Court,” he said.

A justice department spokesperson told the BBC that the Supreme Court correctly recognised “it is the exclusive prerogative of the president to conduct foreign affairs”.

“By directly noting the deference owed to the executive branch, this ruling once again illustrates that activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to seize control of the president’s authority to conduct foreign policy.”

Mr Garcia, 29, entered the US illegally as a teenager from El Salvador. In 2019, he was arrested with three other men in Maryland and detained by federal immigration authorities.

But an immigration judge granted him protection from deportation on the grounds that he might be at risk of persecution from local gangs in his home country.

Democratic Senator Chis Van Hollen, who represents Mr Garcia, said the case marks a “troubling moment” for the US when it comes to the rule of law.

“It took them only 72 hours to illegally abduct Abrego Garcia and take him out of the country to El Salvador,” Van Hollen told BBC News. “They can get them back in 72 hours or less, and they need to do that. And they need to do it now.”

Mr Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, is a US citizen and has been calling for his release since his deportation.

“I will continue fighting until my husband is home,” she told the New York Times on Thursday.

Ukraine’s European allies have pledged €21bn ($24bn; £18bn) in a new tranche of military support for Kyiv in what they described as “a critical year” for the war.

More than half of this – €11bn in aid over four years – is coming from Germany. British Defence Minister John Healey said the pledges would send a strong signal to Moscow.

The announcement came as members of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group met at Nato’s headquarters in Brussels to pledge air defences, missiles and other gear as Europe sought to fill the gap left by the changed priorities of the US under Donald Trump.

Europe’s defence ministers said they saw no sign of an end to the war, despite Trump’s promise of a ceasefire.

Support announced on Friday also includes a £450m ($590m) package from the UK and Norway to fund radar systems, anti-tank mines, vehicle repairs and hundreds of thousands of drones for Ukraine. The money is part of a British pledge of £4.5bn made earlier this year.

Air defence was a priority in Brussels. Healey said Russian forces had dropped 10,000 glide bombs on Ukraine in the first three months of this year, as well as launching 100 one-way attack drones a day.

“In our calculations, 70% to 80% of battlefield casualties are now caused and inflicted by drones,” the UK defence secretary said.

The German aid package meanwhile has a significant focus on artillery.

Boris Pistorius said Germany would send 100,000 rounds of artillery ammunition, 25 infantry fighting vehicles, 15 battle tanks, 100 ground surveillance radars and 120 Man-Portable Air Defense Systems.

Berlin will also send four IRIS-T air defence systems with 300 missiles to Kyiv.

“Ukraine needs a strong military and only then can the negotiation process lead to a just and lasting peace,” the German defence minister told reporters in Brussels.

Defence ministers from 50 nations gathered in Brussels for the 27th gathering of the UDCG.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth joined the meeting remotely, telling allies that America appreciated their work.

Pistorius said Hegseth’s decision was a matter of “schedules” rather than “priorities”, and that the “most important fact was that he took part”.

Other leaders also joined remotely, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Kyiv’s defence minister Rustem Umerov, who was in Brussels, thanked Europe for “taking over the lead on security assistance” for his country.

He also said Hegseth’s attendance “means that the US is continuing its security assistance and is beside us”.

Healey, Pistorius and Umerov all accused Russia of dragging its feet over a ceasefire.

Healey said it had been more than a month since Russia rejected a US-backed peace settlement. Pistorius said Russia was still not interested in peace.

Talks in Europe took place as US special envoy Steve Witkoff travelled to Russia, once more, to press the Kremlin to accept a truce.

Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Friday as Donald Trump urged the Russian president to “get moving” on a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin and Witkoff would discuss the Ukraine war, but one should not expect any “breakthroughs”.

On the ground in Ukraine, Russia’s defence ministry said on Thursday that its forces had captured the village of Zhuravka, in Ukraine’s northern border region of Sumy.

Ukrainian officials are yet to confirm this.

Earlier this week, President Zelensky said as many as 67,000 Russian soldiers were positioned north of the border of the Sumy region, in preparation for an attack on the city of Sumy.

The price for a cup of coffee in the US is going up as tariffs put the squeeze on local café and bakery owners.

Some US businesses say the queues for a morning latte are already getting shorter as customers tighten their belts and imported beans become more expensive.

Americans spend $100bn (£76bn) a year on coffee, though that might be about to change.

Jorge Prudencio, who runs Bread Bite Bakery in Washington DC, says his Colombia-based coffee distributer just increased prices after the sweeping tariffs went into effect last week.

The vast majority of coffee in the US is imported.

In fact, the US is the world’s second-leading importer of coffee, with the majority coming from Brazil and Colombia, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

Since 5 April, coffee imports have been affected by the 10% US tariffs against most countries.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Prudencio said his coffee suppliers have told him his next order will carry yet another price hike.

He added that his bakery will “definitely” be increasing prices for customers just to break even.

Asked if he is worried, Mr Prudencio said: “Of course.”

The manager of Au Lait café just down the street, Kamal Mortada, said he’s been seeing the effect of steadily increasing prices for a while now. Inflation spiked to a 40-year high under former US President Joe Biden.

Before the tariffs kicked in, ground coffee reached the highest ever recorded price in March 2025, and was over a dollar more expensive than the previous year, and $3 above March 2020 prices.

“We have less customers for coffee,” Mr Mortada said.

• Live updates: Global markets in flux as Trump says US ‘doing really well’
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• Analysis: Americans could pay more for these everyday basics

“Most customers just get plain coffee,” instead of adding syrups and milks, he said.

The prices on the menu have gone up by 25% and people are now buying smaller coffees.

Mr Mortada has also changed his own habits as a consumer. Instead of his regular trip to Starbucks, he brews coffee at home.

He said he has seen the price of a cup of coffee go up by at least half a dollar, and is worried prices will rise again.

On the opposite coast in San Francisco, another local coffee shop owner is grappling with what the tariffs will mean for her business.

Jenny Ngo, who runs Telescope Coffee, said she was waiting to hear how much her roaster will hike prices.

The coffee she sells is sourced from Ethiopia and Guatemala, both facing the standard 10% tariff. She also imports her iced coffee cups from China – and said she noticed the prices on those jumped overnight.

“We unfortunately project to raise prices again in order to sustain our business,” she said.

Mr Prudencio remains confident that people will still come to his shop and buy coffee. He said it is something people need.

But recent inflation has also affected the price of eggs, crucial to his bakery side of the business.

He said they paid $42 per case when the bakery opened five months ago, but two weeks later it was more than $100 per case.

“Everybody is going through the same thing. We all pay the price.”

The price of eggs is a key symbol of the health of the US economy, often an arguing point for politicians.

President Donald Trump has argued he will get the cost of eggs down, blaming rising prices on the Biden administration, which culled millions of egg-laying chickens amid a bird flu outbreak.

But in March, egg prices reached a record high at $6.22 per dozen, according to the Consumer Price Index.

Joel Finkelstein runs Qualia Coffee Roasters, a small business in Washington DC where he mostly sells coffee beans online and at farmers’ markets.

The tariffs will represent just the latest in a series of price hikes, he told us.

He said he noticed the price of beans go up significantly after Trump took office and cut funding to USAID, which supported some coffee growers in South America. Now, he’s expecting it to go up again.

“We are going to see a decrease in sales,” Mr Finklestein said.

In response to why Beijing is not backing down to Donald Trump on tariffs, the answer is that it doesn’t have to.

China’s leaders would say that they are not inclined to cave in to a bully – something its government has repeatedly labelled the Trump administration as – but it also has a capacity to do this way beyond any other country on Earth.

Before the tariff war kicked in, China did have a massive volume of sales to the US but, to put it into context, this only amounted to 2% of its GDP.

That said, the Communist Party would clearly prefer not to be locked in a trade war with the US at a time when it has been struggling to fix its own considerable economic headaches, after years of a real estate crisis, overblown regional debt and persistent youth unemployment.

However, despite this, the government has told its people that it is in a strong position to resist the attacks from the US.

It also knows its own tariffs are clearly going to hurt US exporters as well.

Trump has been bragging to his supporters that it would be easy to force China into submission by simply hitting the country with tariffs, but this has proven to be misleading in the extreme.

Beijing is not going to surrender.

China’s leader Xi Jinping told the visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday that his country and the European Union should “jointly resist the unilateral bullying practices” of the Trump administration.

Sanchez, in turn, said that China’s trade tensions with the US should not impede its cooperation with Europe.

Their meeting took place in the Chinese capital in the hours before Beijing again increased its tariffs on goods from the US – though it has said it will not respond to further US tariff increases.

Next week Xi will visit Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia. These are all countries which have been hit hard by Trump’s tariffs.

His ministers have been meeting counterparts from South Africa, Saudi Arabia and India, talking up greater trade co-operation.

In addition, China and the EU are reportedly in talks about potentially removing European tariffs on Chinese cars, to be replaced by a minimum price instead, to rein in a new round of dumping.

In short, wherever you look, you can see that China has options.

And analysts have said that these mutual tariff increases by the two superpowers are now becoming almost meaningless, as they’ve already passed the point of cutting out much of the trade between them.

So, the tit-for-tat tariff increases in both directions have become more like symbolism.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning has, over the past two days, posted images of Chairman Mao on social media, including a clip during the Korean War when he told the US that “no matter how long this war lasts we will never yield”.

Above this, she posted her own comments, saying: “We are Chinese. We are not afraid of provocations. We won’t back down.”

When the Chinese government wheels out Chairman Mao, you know they’re getting serious.

A US judge has ruled the Trump administration can deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate detained last month over his role in pro-Palestinian protests.

Mr Khalil, a permanent legal US resident, has not been charged with a crime. In a letter written from the facility, he has said his “arrest was a direct consequence” of speaking out for Palestinian rights.

The government has cited a Cold War-era immigration law, declaring that his presence in the US was adverse to American foreign policy interests.

The immigration court’s ruling does not mean Mr Khalil would be immediately removed from the country. The judge gave his lawyers until 23 April to appeal against the order.

The activist has been held at a Louisiana detention centre since 8 March, when immigration officers told him he was being deported for taking part in protests against the war in Gaza.

• Who is Mahmoud Khalil, Palestinian student activist facing US deportation?

The 30-year-old was a prominent voice at Columbia University’s protests against the war in Gaza last year.

The Trump administration has cited a 1952 law that empowers the government to order someone deported if their presence in the country could pose unfavourable consequences for American foreign policy.

The judge said the Trump administration was allowed to move forward with its effort to deport Mr Khalil because the argument that he poses “adverse foreign policy consequences” for the US is “facially reasonable”.

Mr Khalil, who was otherwise silent, addressed the court after the ruling.

“I would like to quote what you said last time that there’s nothing that’s more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness,” Mr Khalil said in court.

“Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process,” he said. “This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, 1,000 miles away from my family.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) described the decision as “pre-written”.

The rights group said the ruling came less than 48 hours after the US government “handed over the ‘evidence’ they have on Mr. Khalil – which included nothing more than a letter from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that made clear Mr Khalil had not committed a crime and was being targeted solely based on his speech”.

The government, particularly Rubio, has said its efforts to deport Mr Khalil were also to “protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States” even if his activities were “otherwise lawful”.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem praised the judge’s ruling on Friday.

“It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America,” she wrote on social media. “When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans, and harass Jews, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country. Good riddance.”

Mr Khalil’s legal team has repeatedly said evidence of antisemitism has not been presented.

His lawyer, Marc Van Der Hout, condemned the decision and said his team was going to fight for Mr Khalil’s “right to speak out against what’s happening in the US”.

The legal team also said they expected further hearings in the case.

“Today was historic in its unfairness,” Johnny Sinodis, another member of Mr Khalil’s legal team, said during a news conference.

Mr Khalil has also filed a federal court lawsuit in New Jersey challenging his arrest as unconstitutional. His lawyers have said the outcome of that case could block his deportation if they win.

The Trump administration has separately alleged that the student committed immigration fraud by failing to disclose certain information on his green card application.

This includes working for the British embassy in Beirut and the United Nations agency for Palestinian migrants and refugees. But the government has not submitted any new evidence related to this.

In a statement, White House Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers said the Trump administration is “committed to the enforcement of our immigration laws and will take swift action to remove aliens who pose serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States”.

US envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Friday as Donald Trump urged the Russian president to “get moving” on a ceasefire in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said the meeting lasted for more than four hours and focused on “aspects of a Ukrainian settlement”. The talks, Witkoff’s third with Putin this year, were described by special envoy Kirill Dmitriev as “productive”.

Trump has expressed frustration with Putin over the state of talks. On Friday, he wrote on social media: “Russia has to get moving. Too many people ere [sic] DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war.”

Earlier in the day, European nations agreed €21bn ($24bn; £18bn) in military aid for Kyiv.

At the event, Europe’s defence ministers said they saw no sign of an end to the war.

Ahead of the Putin-Witkoff talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was “no need to expect breakthroughs” as the “process of normalising relations is ongoing”.

Asked whether discussions could include setting up a date for Putin and Trump to meet, Peskov said: “Let’s see. It depends on what Witkoff has come with.”

Beforehand, Witkoff had a meeting with Dmitriev at the Grand Hotel Europe in St Petersburg, where a conference was held on stainless steel and the Russian market.

Dmitriev, the 49-year-old head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, visited Washington last week and was the most senior Russian official to go to the US since the country’s full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Meanwhile Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Kremlin of prolonging the war during a visit on Friday to the site of a 4 April Russian missile attack on his home town of Kryvyi Rih. The attack killed 19 people, including nine children.

He also alleged that hundreds of Chinese nationals were fighting with the Russian army. It comes after Ukraine said it had captured two Chinese nationals.

“We have information that at least several hundred Chinese nationals are fighting as part of Russia’s occupation forces,” Zelensky said.

“This means Russia is clearly trying to prolong the war even by using Chinese lives.”

Zelensky laid flowers in front of photos of Herman Tripolets, nine, and seven-year-olds Arina Samodina and Radyslav Yatsko.

He later reiterated a call for air defence systems “to protect lives and our cities”.

“We discussed this with President Trump – Ukraine is not just asking, we’re ready to purchase these additional systems,” he wrote on social media.

“Only powerful weapons can truly be relied upon to protect life when you have a neighbour like Russia.”

Trump has previously claimed he could end the Ukraine-Russia conflict “in 24 hours”. On Friday, he declared that it would not have happened at all if he’d been in the White House in 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

“A war that should ld [sic] have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were President!!!,” he wrote.

In February US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia for their first face-to-face talks since the invasion. Officials have also been meeting to discuss restoring full diplomatic relations.

Trump has also had a fractious relationship with Zelensky since his second term as US president began, culminating in an angry confrontation in the Oval Office in February.

The US attempted to broker a limited ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea, only for it to stall when the Kremlin asked for sanctions imposed after it launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour to be lifted.

Trump has since said he is “very angry” and “pissed off” with Putin over the lack of progress in agreeing a truce between Kyiv and Moscow.

Earlier this week, Washington and Moscow went ahead with a prisoner swap.

Ksenia Karelina, a Russian-American, was sentenced to 12 years in jail in Russia for donating $51 to a Ukrainian charity when the war began in February 2022.

The Los Angeles resident was freed on Thursday morning and exchanged for Arthur Petrov, a dual German-Russian citizen arrested in Cyprus in 2023.

He was accused of illegally exporting microelectronics to Russia for manufacturers working with the military.

When scrolling through social media, you may have recently seen friends and family appearing in miniature.

It’s part of a new trend where people use generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT and Copilot to re-package themselves – literally – as pocket-sized dolls and action figures.

It has taken off online, with brands and influencers dabbling in creating their mini-me.

But some are urging people to steer clear of the seemingly innocent trend, saying fear of missing out shouldn’t override concerns about AI’s energy and data use.

It may sound complicated, but the process is simple.

People upload a picture of themselves to a tool like ChatGPT, along with written prompts that explain how they want the final picture to look.

These instructions are really important.

They tell the AI tool everything it is meant to generate, from the items a person wants to appear with to the kind of packaging they should be in – which includes mimicking the box and font of popular toys like Barbie.

Many online will then personalise it further with their name, job and clothing choices.

Though it does not always work, and many have also shared some of the amusing mistakes the tools made, where the action dolls look nothing like them.

Like other generative AI tools, image generators are also prone to making things up, and may make assumptions about how someone should look.

And it’s not just regular people using it – the trend has been seized upon by a wealth of brands online including beauty company Mario Badescu and even Royal Mail.

Trends come and go – but by their very nature can make people feel compelled to take part to avoid missing out.

“Generative AI makes it easier and quicker for people to create and jump on trends,” says Jasmine Enberg, principal social media analyst at eMarketer.

She said the technology had made it quicker and easier to make online content, which may have the unexpected effect of quickening the pace at which other social media users get annoyed by it.

But she believe AI-driven trends will become a more regular appearance on our feeds “as the tech becomes a more regular part of our digital lives”.

But while its light-hearted nature may have drawn people to it, the trend has drawn criticism from some concerned about its environmental impact.

Professor Gina Neff of Queen Mary University London told the BBC ChatGPT is “burning through energy”, and the data centres used to power it consume more electricity in a year than 117 countries.

“We have a joke in my house that every time we create one of these AI memes, it kills a tree,” said Lance Ulanoff, US editor of TechRadar, in an article about the trend.

“That’s hyperbole, of course, but it’s safe to say that AI content generation is not without costs, and perhaps we should be thinking about it and using it differently.”

• What is AI and how does it impact the environment?

People have also highlighted concerns copyrighted data may have been used to create the technology which generates images without paying for it.

“ChatGPT Barbie represents a triple threat to our privacy, our culture and our planet,” said Ms Neff.

“While the personalisation might feel nice, these systems are putting brands and characters into a blender with no responsibility for the slop that emerges.”

And Jo Bromilow, director of social and influencer at PR and creative agency MSL UK, asks: “is a cute, funny result really worth it?”

“If we’re going to really use AI properly, we have to set guardrails around how we use it conscientiously,” she said.

I started by finding a suggested prompt online – a list of instructions to enter into the AI tool in order for it to generate the image.

You have to upload your own selfie with your prompt and you also have to be very specific about what you want, including a list of which accessories you’d like included and what colour you want the box to be.

When it came to providing my job title, my first attempt was declined because I included BBC News and was told this violated content policy – I think because currently the BBC does not allow ChatGPT to use its output.

Once you do get an image you’re likely to want to tweak it further; my first attempt was too cartoon-like.

The following, more realistic version made me look considerably older than I am, then too child-like, and I gave up in the end trying to get it to use my actual eye-colour, which kept defaulting back to blue (mine are a blend of hazel and green).

It took a couple of minutes to generate each version and overall the process was slower than I would have liked, potentially because of its popularity.

It did start to feel like a lot of work for a passing trend, and it isn’t perfect – my doll is expanding out far beneath the supposed packaging.

But more importantly, somewhere in a data centre some hot computer servers were toiling away to make Action Figure Zoe.

They almost certainly could have been put to work on worthier causes.

The head of the US military base in Greenland has been fired after she reportedly sent an email distancing herself from Vice-President JD Vance’s criticism of Denmark.

The US military’s Space Operations Command said Col Susannah Meyers had been removed from her role at Pituffik Space Base due to a “loss of confidence in her ability to lead”.

Last month, Vance said Denmark had “not done a good job” for Greenlanders and had not spent enough on security while visiting the Danish territory.

The alleged email, released by a military news site, told staff Vance’s comments were “not reflective” of the base. A Pentagon spokesman cited the article, saying “undermining” US leadership was not tolerated.

Following Vance’s trip, on 31 March, Col Meyers is reported to have written: “I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the US administration discussed by Vice-President Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik Space Base.”

Military.com – which published the email – said the contents had been confirmed as accurate to them by the US Space Force.

Appearing to confirm this was the reason for her firing, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell linked to the Military.com article in a post on X, writing: “Actions [that] undermine the chain of command or to subvert President [Donald] Trump’s agenda will not be tolerated at the Department of Defense.”

The Space Force’s statement announcing Col Meyers’ removal on Thursday said that Col Shawn Lee was replacing her.

It added: “Commanders are expected to adhere to the highest standards of conduct, especially as it relates to remaining nonpartisan in the performance of their duties.”

Col Meyers had assumed command of the Arctic station in July last year. Col Lee was previously a squadron commander at the Clear Space Force Station in Alaska.

During his whirlwind trip, Vance had also reiterated Trump’s desire to annex Greenland for security reasons.

Since the US delegation’s visit, both Greenland and Denmark have shown a united front, opposing a US annexation of the autonomous Danish territory.

Earlier this month, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s official visit saw her stand side-by-side with her Greenlandic counterpart Jens-Frederik Nielsen and his predecessor, Mute Egede.

Speaking to reporters, Frederiksen directly addressed Trump, telling him: “You can’t annex other countries.”

She added that Denmark was fortifying its military presence in the Arctic, and offered closer collaboration with the US in defending the region.

The US has long maintained a security interest in Greenland as a strategically important territory. It has had a military presence on the island since occupying it following the occupation of Denmark by Nazi Germany during World War Two.

“If Russia were to send missiles towards the US, the shortest route for nuclear weapons would be via the North Pole and Greenland,” Marc Jacobsen, an associate professor at the Royal Danish Defence College, previously told the BBC.

“That’s why the Pituffik Space Base is immensely important in defending the US.”

Greenland, the world’s largest island, has been under Danish control for around 300 years.

Polls show that the vast majority of Greenlanders want to gain independence from Denmark – but do not wish to become part of the US.

Greenland has had the right to call an independence referendum since 2009, though in recent years some political parties have begun pushing harder for one to take place.

Workers have been told to hurry home, classes have been suspended and outdoor events have been cancelled as northern China braces for extreme winds this weekend.

Millions have been urged to stay indoors, with some state media outlets warning that people weighing less than 50kg (110lbs – about eight stone) may be “easily blown away”.

Winds reaching 150kph (93mph) are expected to sweep Beijing, Tianjin and other parts of Hebei region from Friday to Sunday, as a cold vortex moves southeast from Mongolia.

For the first time in a decade, Beijing has issued an orange alert for gales – the second-highest in a four-tier weather warning system.

Strong winds sweeping from Mongolia are not uncommon, especially at this time of the year. But the impending winds are expected to be stronger than anything the area has seen in years.

Temperatures in Beijing are expected to drop by 13C within 24 hours, when the strongest winds hit on Saturday, authorities said.

“This strong wind is extreme, lasts for a long time, affects a wide area, and is highly disastrous,” the Beijing Meteorological Service said.

China measures wind speed with a scale that goes from level 1 to 17. A level 11 wind, according to the China Meteorological Administration, can cause “serious damage”, while a level 12 wind brings “extreme destruction”.

The winds this weekend are expected to range from level 11 to 13.

Several sporting events slated for the weekend have been suspended, including the world’s first humanoid robot half marathon, which will now be held on 19 April.

Parks and tourist attractions have been closed as authorities have told residents to avoid outdoor activities, while construction works and train services have been suspended.

Thousands of trees across the city have been reinforced or pruned to prevent them from falling.

Officials have warned people to avoid entering mountains and forests, where gusts are expected to be especially strong.

As residents hunker down, social media users are finding humour in their shelved weekend plans.

“This wind is so sensible, it starts on Friday evening and ends on Sunday, without disrupting work on Monday at all,” said a Weibo user.

Hashtags about the strong winds, and the warning that those weighing less than 50kg could be swept away, have been trending on Chinese social media. One Weibo user quipped: “I eat so much all the time, just for this day.”

Beijing has also issued an alert for forest fires and prohibited people from starting fires outdoors.

The winds are expected to start weakening on Sunday night.

While on holiday in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last week, there was only one mission on my mind – getting my hands on the viral “Dubai chocolate” bar.

If you’re on TikTok, you will have seen the bar, which combines the flavours of chocolate, pistachio and tahini with filo pastry, and is inspired by the Arab dessert Knafeh.

The original, called Can’t Get Knafeh of It, by FIX Chocolatier, has been sold exclusively in the UAE since 2022. It become so popular on social media that it’s only on sale for two hours a day and often sells out within minutes.

But now imitations, known by the nickname “Dubai chocolate”, have hit UK supermarkets including Waitrose, Lidl and Morrisons, with some supermarkets limiting the number of bars customers are allowed to buy.

Yezen Alani, who co-owns FIX with his wife Sarah Hamouda, told the BBC the global attention Dubai chocolate was getting was “flattering and humbling”.

The FIX chocolate bar was first imagined by Hamouda in 2021, who craved the flavours while she was pregnant.

Alani and Hamouda started developing the bar a year later, running the business alongside their corporate jobs.

“Sarah and I were brought up in the UK and we moved to Dubai 10 years ago, so we’ve got Western and Arab roots.

“We wanted to create flavours that were inspired by that,” Alani says.

Part of the appeal of the chocolate is its exclusivity – you can only order it using a food delivery app, rather than walking into a shop or grabbing it at the supermarket.

It costs around £15 per bar and can only be bought during specific hours of the day to ensure the company can fulfil all their orders.

I also saw similar bars sold in many shops in the region, dubbed “Dubai chocolate” and adorned with pictures of pistachios and filo pastry.

Alani says the “copycat” bars are “very frustrating because people are trying knockoffs, which damages our brand”.

One of the reasons for the bar’s surge in popularity has been social media – with a viral video by TikTok user Maria Vehera from 2023 being cited as one of the main reasons for its rise to prominence.

It shows Vehera trying the Knafeh bar for the first time – along with several others made by the same chocolatier – and has been liked nearly seven million times.

The way the bar looks is made for social media – from the attractive orange and green spots on top of the smooth milk chocolate to the crunch sound it makes when you break off a piece.

Chocolate combined with pistachio isn’t new but the real standout element is the crunchy nature of the filling, with the filo pastry adding a texture and thickness to the bar.

Since the Can’t Get Knafeh of It bar is only available in one country, other brands have started to sell their versions in the UK, including Swiss chocolate manufacturer Lindt whose Dubai chocolate is being sold for £10 in supermarkets.

Since stocking the bar, Waitrose says they’ve had to introduce a two-bar limit for customers in order to regulate stock levels.

Another version has also been sold by Home Bargains, while supermarket Lidl has its own version for £4.99 and is also limiting purchase numbers.

One influencer documented how the bar been kept behind tills for this reason.

Having tried the Lindt bar and a couple of other versions being sold in corner shops, there is quite a contrast.

The FIX chocolate is billed as a “dessert bar” and needs to be kept in the fridge, with a short expiry date like many dairy items.

This isn’t the case for the others, which have been designed to have a longer shelf life.

You can also see the difference in taste and texture – the original bar is almost double the width of the Lindt bar, which is more aligned to the size and shape of a standard chocolate bar.

When Alani and Hamouda first started out, they employed one person to fulfil around six to seven orders a day.

But since growing in popularity, primarily thanks to TikTok, their business now employs 20 people, who fulfil 500 orders a day.

One big talking point has been the price of the product, which is £15 per bar.

“It’s all handmade, every single design is done by hand,” Alani says.

“We use premium ingredients and the process is not like making a Cadbury’s bar – you’ve got the baking, moulding the chocolate to the design and with the filling itself, even the pistachios are hand-picked and processed”.

Speaking to Arabian Business last year, Hamouda said: “My mother used to make Knafeh, and that’s something I wanted to capture my own way.

“Knafeh was the first flavour we perfected. The crunch, the pistachio, it had to be just right,” she added.

Despite the product’s success, Alani says “it’s been a tough journey” as the pair have been working together full time while also raising their two children.

“There’s been times where we’ve wanted to give up, but we said to ourselves ‘we’ll keep going as long as we can pay the rent’ and now we have no regrets as its worked out”.

An Indian forest worker, who was suspended after he was seen offering water to a cheetah and her cubs in a viral video, has been restored in his job at the sanctuary.

Satyanarayan Gurjar, a driver at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh state, violated instructions which said only authorised personnel could go near the big cats.

Cheetahs became extinct in India in 1952 but they were reintroduced in Kuno in 2022 as part of an ambitious plan to repopulate the species.

“I was suspended but have now been reinstated,” Mr Gurjar told BBC Hindi. “I am thankful to the authorities,” he said, adding that the region’s top forest official was incensed at his act.

Forest officials confirmed his reinstatement after protests by members of his community. Since this was his first offence, forest officials said they let him go with a warning, telling him that if he encountered an animal in distress in future, he should contact the authorities and not intervene himself.

The viral footage surfaced on Sunday with a video showing him pouring water into a metal pan, urged by off-camera voices. Moments later, a cheetah called Jwala and her four cubs drink from it.

Mr Gurjar said he was not at fault and blamed those who made the videos viral.

Referring to the cheetah and her cubs in the video, he said, “I called her by her name, saying ‘Jwala come, Jwala come’. They come only when you call them by their names.”

While initial reports called the video “heart-warming” and praised Mr Gurjar for his “kindness” and “bravery”, many on social media raised safety concerns and urged authorities to create water sources within the park to prevent such encounters.

Mr Gurjar says he isn’t afraid of wild animals as his ancestors have lived in forests for generations.

“I can sense the feelings of 99% of animals just by looking at them. I could immediately sense that the cheetah and her cubs were thirsty and I offered them water,” he said.

Officials say staff sometimes offer water to big cats near park boundaries to lure them back into the forest.

Chief Conservator of Forests Uttam Kumar Sharma said earlier that only trained personnel wre allowed near cheetahs to guide them back and avoid conflict. The man’s actions violated protocol, which clearly instructs staff to keep their distance, he added.

Mr Gurjar also has some advice about what to do if you encounter a big cat. “If you ever face a cheetah, speak to it with love – don’t hit it or throw stones,” he said.

Between 2022 and 2023, 20 cheetahs were relocated from South Africa and Namibia to Kuno – the first intercontinental move of its kind.

Since then, eight have died from causes like kidney failure and mating injuries, raising concerns about the park’s suitability.

Park authorities deny the allegations, saying 26 cheetahs remain -17 in the wild and nine in enclosures.

India is expected to receive 20 more from South Africa this year.

Parliament will be recalled for a rare Saturday sitting to pass an emergency law aimed at saving British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant from imminent closure.

Sir Keir Starmer said the legislation would allow ministers to “take control” of the Lincolnshire site and stop its Chinese owner from closing its blast furnaces.

The move opens the door to a full nationalisation of the company at a later stage, with the prime minister saying “all options” remained on the table.

Talks have been taking place this week to keep production going at the firm, after owners Jingye said its blast furnaces were “no longer financially sustainable”.

MPs and peers are currently on their Easter break and were not due to return until 22 April, but both will now go back to Westminster for the hastily convened sitting.

Parliament sat on both Saturday and Sunday on the outbreak of World War Two in 1939. And there have been only five occasions since then when it sat on a Saturday, showing the importance the government is placing on the law.

Speaking at Downing Street on Friday, Sir Keir said the government wanted to pass the legislation in a single day, adding the future of the company “hangs in the balance”.

He said steelmaking was “essential for our future” and that he would always “act in the national interest to protect British jobs and British workers”.

“Jobs, investment, growth, our economic and national security are all on the line,” the prime minister said.

The BBC understands from a senior government source the emergency legislation being voted on in Parliament on Saturday would not give ministers the power to nationalise British Steel – another bill would be needed to do that.

Chinese company Jingye, which bought British Steel in 2020, says it has invested more than £1.2bn in the company to maintain operations, but has been suffering financial losses of around £700,000 a day.

The business department said the new law would give the government powers to order raw materials to keep the site’s two running blast furnaces going, with supplies otherwise due to run out in the coming weeks.

It added it would also allow ministers to direct the company’s board and workforce, and ensure anyone at the plant “who takes steps to keep it running, against the orders of the Chinese ownership” can be reinstated if they are sacked.

The company announced plans last month to shed jobs at the Scunthorpe site, which employs 2,700 people, blaming “highly challenging” market conditions, tariffs and costs associated with lower-carbon production techniques.

The government has offered £500m of support to partly fund a switch from blast furnaces to more energy efficient electric arc furnaces. But the offer has been rejected by the company.

Earlier this week, the government offered to buy the coking coal to keep the blast furnaces running until a longer-term solution to saving the plant could be found, but was unable to get the company to agree to this in tense negotiations.

The business secretary is thought to have lost confidence in the company’s Chinese owners, with a government source saying they are “no longer trustworthy partners”.

The move to take control of the company has been welcomed by unions representing employees at the site, with Unite saying it would grant workers a “reprieve” while a longer-term solution is worked out.

“Ministers could not have allowed a foundation industry to go under,” added general secretary Sharon Graham.

The GMB union said the government’s move looked like the “first step” towards nationalisation, which it supported as the “only way to save the UK steel industry”.

Steelworkers’ union Community said the government could not allow the UK to become the only country in the G7 group of advanced economies “without primary steelmaking capacity”.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused the government of having “bungled” the negotiations with British Steel.

“They must have seen this coming for a while,” she added.

“Instead of addressing it earlier in the week when Parliament was sitting, their incompetence has led to a last-minute recall of Parliament.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the government’s plan was just a “short-term sticking plaster”.

He added that his party would try to amend the emergency legislation to nationalise British Steel immediately, calling public ownership “the only option we have to save this vital strategic asset”.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said “nothing should be off the table in this matter of national security” and added that the recall of Parliament should be seen as “an opportunity to come forward with a serious plan for the sustainable future of domestic steel production”.

The Green Party of England and Wales said it backed nationalisation as the “only sure way to secure this strategically important sector”.

Parliament was last recalled from a scheduled break in August 2021 to discuss the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The Falkland Islands invasion in 1982 and the proposed Brexit deal in 2019 are two other occasions that have merited recalls.

The most recent sitting Saturday was 10 September 2022, when the House of Lords reconvened to pay tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The House of Commons has been recalled 34 times since 1948.