When the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, left Argentina’s capital to participate in the Vatican conclave to elect Pope Benedict XVI’s successor, he did not know it would be the last time he would see his hometown.

The fact that Pope Francis never returned to his country after becoming the pontiff left some Argentines with a heavy heart.

Speaking on Monday, Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva said his parish were “orphans of a father who profoundly loved his country and had to learn to become the father of the whole world”.

He also added that Francis becoming Pope “cost us as Argentines a little bit… Bergoglio left us to become Francis”.

• LIVE UPDATES: Follow the latest after the Pope’s death
• IN PICTURES: Defining images of Pope Francis’s life
• PROFILE: Acting head of the Vatican Cardinal Kevin Farrell
• EXPLAINER: How the next pope is chosen

It came as a surprise to many – including Bergoglio himself – that he was elected to the highest office in the Catholic Church in the first place.

At 76 years old at the time – one year older than the typical age of bishops and cardinals when they submit their resignation to the pope – he was not seen as a real candidate to fill the vacancy, according to analysts.

“When he left Buenos Aires for the conclave, he seemed somewhat sad; he was getting ready to retire in a room at the Priests’ Home in the Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Flores,” Guillermo Marcó, a priest from the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, told Argentine newspaper Clarín.

However, Bergoglio would soon begin a papacy that lasted 12 years.

His death has been particularly keenly felt in his home country, where seven days of national mourning have been declared – as Argentina grieves a man many regarded as simple and humble, despite holding one of the most powerful offices in the world.

Those qualities were praised by Elenir Ramazol, a nun who spoke to BBC Mundo during a vigil at the Buenos Aires cathedral on Monday.

The fact he did not return to his homeland was “a sign of the total commitment he made to the whole Church, not just to his people, to his country”, Ms Ramazol said.

Gustavo Vera exchanged hundreds of letters with Francis, having become friends with him when he was still archbishop. He agreed that the pontiff always showed an enduring interest in what was happening in his home country.

“Sometimes he commented on soccer, sometimes on tango, sometimes on cultural events,” Mr Vera, the leader of La Alameda, an Argentine anti-trafficking and slavery organisation, said. Francis followed Argentine news “in detail”, he added.

During his papacy, Francis visited four of the five countries that border Argentina – but never his home country, despite continuing to take a keen interest in it.

He was loved by many there who now mourn him, but others remember him as a controversial figure.

The initial pride felt by most Argentines after the announcement that a fellow countryman would be the first Latin American pope gave way to disenchantment among some over the years.

A Pew Research Center survey suggested that the proportion of people who held a positive view of the pontiff fell from 91% in 2013 to 64% in 2024.

Of six Latin American countries surveyed, the largest drop in favourable attitudes was recorded in Argentina.

Conservatives in Argentina accused him of undermining historical traditions they held sacred, while reformers hoped for more profound changes.

Critics felt he failed to do enough to oppose the country’s brutal military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s and to criticise the complicity of some figures in the Church.

Every time he was asked about a possible trip, Pope Francis gave vague answers.

“I would like to go. It’s my people, but it hasn’t been planned yet. There are several things to sort out first,” he said the last time he was publicly asked about the subject, in September 2024.

Some fellow Argentines found this hesitation difficult to understand.

The pontiff’s absence has been felt more acutely in recent years, as Argentina has endured a profound economic crisis, with annual inflation reaching nearly 300% and a sharp increase in poverty.

Mr Vera suggests that Francis was planning to visit, but had not yet done so because he wanted to avoid his presence being used for political purposes.

“He always used to say he would go to Argentina when he felt that he was an instrument to bring about national unity, to help overcome the rift, to try to bring Argentines back together,” Mr Vera said.

The “rift” refers to the vast, decades-long gulf in Argentine politics and society between supporters and opponents of the populist political movement Peronism, founded by late President Juan Perón in the 1940s.

There is a widespread belief in the country that Pope Francis was a Peronist – something he denied in a book in 2023, while adding: “If we had a Peronist conception of politics, what would be wrong with that?”

The comment was seized upon by conservative detractors who accused him of being too closely aligned with social justice causes and left-wing politics.

Before taking office, Javier Milei, the current president who has demonised left-wing politics, even called Pope Francis “the representation of evil on Earth” – although he softened his tone after coming to power.

The two had a cordial meeting in the Vatican and President Milei officially invited the pontiff to Argentina. And following the Pope’s death, Milei said he was deeply pained by his loss, and praised the pontiff’s benevolence and wisdom.

Some Argentines accused him of being too close to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, a divisive left-leaning populist politician, who was president from 2007 to 2015.

But according to Mr Vera, the Pope met with people “from the whole political and social spectrum of Argentina”.

The late pontiff’s friend also pointed out that, while there was some criticism of Pope Francis in the media and major urban centres, he was loved in other parts of the country.

Although he maintained his connection with Argentina, Mr Vera said, Pope Francis no longer felt he belonged to just one country.

“Argentines believe he was Argentinian, but in reality, he was a citizen of the world,” he added.

It is a view shared by Alejandra Castro, a social worker who was among the mourners who gathered on Monday night at Buenos Aires cathedral.

Argentina was “always in his prayers”, Ms Castro said. “In one way or another, he was always present, and I think that shows that in his heart, Argentina was always present.”

But Mr Vera acknowledged that not everyone felt the same way, and suggested it was up to Argentines to look within themselves for answers: “Rather than blaming Francis, we Argentines should ask ourselves what we were doing that meant we did not deserve the Pope’s visit.”

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Pope Francis’s funeral will take place on Saturday at 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT) in front of St Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican says.

The date was decided after cardinals met in Vatican City on Tuesday morning to discuss the funeral’s timing.

Ahead of the funeral, Pope Francis’s body will lie in an open casket in St Peter’s Basilica from Wednesday morning, where mourners will be able to pay their respects to the late pontiff.

Tributes have poured in from around the world after Pope Francis died on Easter Monday aged 88.

Pope Francis’s body currently lies in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence, where he lived during his 12-year papacy.

His body will be transferred from Santa Marta to St Peter’s basilica in a procession starting at 09:00 local time on Wednesday, the Vatican said.

Ahead of the transfer, a moment of prayer will be led by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is acting as the – the person who runs the Vatican after the death or resignation of a pope.

Cardinal Farrell will then lead the procession to St Peter’s, starting from Saint Martha’s Square and ending in St Peter’s Square before entering the church through the central doors.

After entering the church, Cardinal Farrell will lead the Liturgy of the Word, before the church is opened to visitors to pay their respects.

Bucking tradition, there will be no private viewing for cardinals, at Pope Francis’s request. The Pope’s coffin will also not be raised on a pedestal.

The Holy See said the Pope’s funeral will take place in the square in front of St Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, starting at 10:00 local time.

The service will be led by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.

Patriarchs, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and priests from across the globe will take part.

By 08:30, archbishops and bishops will gather in the Constantine Wing, adjacent to the basilica, wearing liturgical clothes including simple white miter.

By the same time, priests will congregate in St Peter’s Square wearing red stole.

And by 09:00, patriarchs and cardinals will congregate in Saint Sebastian Chapel, in the basilica, wearing white damask miters.

The service will end with the final commendation and valediction, marking the beginning of nine days of mourning for the Pope, the Catholic news agency reported.

The pontiff’s body will then be taken inside the church before being transported to St Mary Major basilica in Rome for burial.

• LIVE UPDATES: Follow the latest after the Pope’s death
• IN PICTURES: Defining images of Pope Francis’s life
• PROFILE: Acting head of the Vatican Cardinal Kevin Farrell
• EXPLAINER: How the next pope is chosen

Pope Francis, who chose to scale back some of the funerary pomp and ceremony of his predecessors, requested that he be buried at St Mary Major rather than in the crypt of St Peter’s basilica – making him the first pope not to be buried in St Peter’s for more than a century.

He also requested to be buried in a single wooden casket, unlike his predecessors, who were buried in the traditional three nested coffins.

The funeral is expected to draw huge crowds from around the world.

Heads of state and royalty will travel to Italy for the event. Among those who have already announced their attendance are US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron.

The funeral’s announcement came not long after official images of the Pope’s body were released by the Vatican, showing him lying in a wooden coffin dressed in a red robe with the papal mitre on his head and a rosary in his hand.

Following the funeral, a conclave of cardinals will convene to elect a successor. The dean of the College of Cardinals has 15 to 20 days to summon the cardinals to Rome once the Pope is buried.

Pope Francis died of a stroke on Monday less than 24 hours after appearing in a wheelchair at St Peter’s Square to lead an Easter address in front of thousands of worshippers.

His death followed a period of ill health that saw him spend five weeks in hospital with double pneumonia.

Born in Argentina, he was elected the first ever Latin American pope in 2013.

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When the world learned of Pope Francis’ death on Monday morning, an Irish-American cardinal, little known in the wider world, was the one to break the news.

After announcing that the pope had “returned to the home of the Father”, Irish-American Cardinal Kevin Farrell took on one of his biggest roles yet: the “camerlengo”, or the person who runs the Vatican after the death or resignation of a pope.

Pope Francis nominated the cardinal for the role in 2019. The cardinal will remain in the position during the “Apostolica Sedes Vacans”, the period between the death or resignation of a pope until the election of the next pontiff.

He also will play an important role in the centuries-old ceremonies to mourn Pope Francis.

Born in 1947 in Dublin, Farrell attended the University of Salamanca in Spain and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, according to the Vatican.

He held roles in churches around the world, serving as a chaplain at the University of Monterrey in Mexico as well as at a parish in Bethesda, Maryland.

All told, the 77-year-old spent more than 30 years working for churches in the US.

Farrell was appointed Bishop of Dallas in 2007 until Pope Francis asked him in 2016 to serve as the leader of the Vatican’s new department responsible for the pastoral care of families, raising him to the rank of cardinal.

Years after naming him as camerlengo, in 2023, Francis chose Farrell as president of the Supreme Court of Vatican City State. He was also named president of the Commission for Confidential Matters.

• How the next Pope is chosen
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As camerlengo, Cardinal Farrell will be tasked with making arrangements for the conclave, the process through which the next pontiff is selected.

Technically, a camerlengo can become pope, as has happened twice in history: Gioacchino Pecci (Pope Leo XIII) in 1878 and Eugenio Pacelli (Pope Pius XII) in 1939.

The cardinal also will preside over the certification of Francis’s death, laying his body into the coffin. After that, the cardinal is expected to lead a procession moving the pope’s body from the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta to St Peter’s Basilica.

The ceremony could take place as soon as Wednesday morning, according to the Vatican.

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The US Commerce Department has announced plans to impose tariffs of up to 3,521% on imports of solar panels from four South East Asian countries.

It comes after an investigation that began a year ago when several major solar equipment producers asked the administration of then-President Joe Biden to protect their US operations.

The proposed levies – targeting companies in Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam – are in response to allegations of subsidies from China and the dumping of unfairly cheap products in the US market.

A separate US government agency, the International Trade Commission, is due to reach a final decision on the new tariffs in June.

The countervailing and anti-dumping duties, as these tariffs are known, vary between companies and the countries their products are made in.

Some solar equipment exporters in Cambodia face the highest duties of 3,521% because of what was seen as a lack of cooperation with the Commerce Department investigation.

Products made in Malaysia by Chinese manufacturer Jinko Solar faced some of the lowest duties of just over 41%.

Another China-based firm, Trina Solar, faces tariffs of 375% for the products it makes in Thailand.

Neither company immediately responded to requests for comment from BBC News.

In recent years, many Chinese firms have moved operations to South East Asia in a bid to avoid tariffs imposed since the start of US President Donald Trump’s first term.

The US Commerce Department’s findings were welcomed by the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee – a group of manufacturers that called on the US government to launch the investigation.

“This is a decisive victory for American manufacturing and confirms what we’ve long known: that Chinese-headquartered solar companies have been cheating the system,” said Tim Brightbill, lead counsel to the Alliance.

In 2023, America imported almost $12bn (£8.9bn) in solar equipment from the four countries, according to US Census Bureau figures.

While the planned tariffs are likely to help US solar panel manufacturers, they could also mean extra costs for businesses and consumers who have benefited from the availability of cheaper solar products.

The levies would be imposed on top of other tariffs already rolled out by the Trump administration.

The planned tariffs were announced just days after Chinese President Xi Jinping completed a tour of Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia.

The trip was aimed to boost ties with the region and encourage those nations to resist what he called “unilateral bullying” by the US.

Trump has so far imposed taxes of up to 145% on imports from China. Other countries are now facing a blanket US tariff of 10% until July.

His administration said last week that when the new tariffs are added on to existing ones, the levies on some Chinese goods could reach 245%.

China has hit back with a 125% tax on products from the US and vowed to “fight to the end”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signalled he is open to bilateral talks with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time since the early stages of the war.

Speaking to Russian state TV on Monday, Putin said Russia had “always looked positively on any peace initiatives. We hope that representatives of the Kyiv regime will feel the same way”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin’s comments indicated a willingness to engage in direct talks with Ukraine about not striking civilian targets.

Meanwhile, Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities have continued. A hit on an apartment block in Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday killed one woman and injured 15 others, including two children.

Footage showed the smouldering damage of the high-rise residential building and a burning vehicle on the street.

Ukrainian authorities also reported several attacks elsewhere across the country on Tuesday, including a massive drone attack on the eastern city of Kharkiv that injured at least seven people, and a strike on a medical facility in south-east Kherson.

In the port city of Odesa, three people were injured when a drone strike hit a five-storey unit block on Monday night. Other buildings were targeted, local authorities reported.

Putin’s remarks came after Zelensky suggested a 30-day ceasefire on civilian targets, following a brief Easter truce where both sides accused each other of breaches.

Some critics called the 30-hour truce a marketing stunt by Moscow. France’s foreign minister, Jean- Noël Barrot, said it had been designed to prevent Donald Trump from getting impatient and angry.

The US President said earlier this week that he was hopeful Russia and Ukraine would reach a deal this week, after he had threatened to “take a pass” on further peace negotiations if no progress is made.

Zelensky did not respond directly to Putin’s comments about possible talks, but said Ukraine was “ready for any conversation” that would ensure the safety of civilians.

There have been no direct talks between Russia and Ukraine since the initial weeks after the former launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“When the president said that it was possible to discuss the issue of not striking civilian targets, including bilaterally, the president had in mind negotiations and discussions with the Ukrainian side,” Peskov told the Interfax news agency, clarifying Putin’s remarks.

Zelensky, in his nightly video address, on Monday said Ukraine needed a “clear answer from Moscow” on whether it would agree to stop attacks on civilian infrastructure.

Referring to the short-lived and limited truce declared by Putin over Easter, the Ukrainian leader proposed a follow-up that would “cease any strikes using long-range drones and missiles on civilian infrastructure for a period of at least 30 days”.

“If Russia does not agree to such a step, it will be proof that it wants to continue doing only things that destroy people’s lives and continue the war,” he said.

Putin said the Kremlin would “analyse” the idea, telling journalists that “as for the proposal not to strike at civilian infrastructure facilities… this needs to be sorted out”.

In a rare admission, he acknowledged that the military had targeted a civilian building when Russian missiles killed 35 people and wounded more than 100 others in the centre of the north-eastern city of Sumy earlier this month.

“Everyone is well aware of the strike by our Armed Forces on a congress centre, I think, in Sumy Region. Is it a civilian facility or not? Civilian. But there was an award ceremony for those who committed crimes in Kursk Region”.

The centre of Sumy was busy at the time, with people out on the streets marking Palm Sunday. The region’s deputy leader was later fired after reports of the medal ceremony taking place in a local congress hall emerged.

Ukraine is due to participate in talks with US and European countries in London on Wednesday, following a meeting in Paris last week where leaders discussed pathways to end the war.

Zelensky said the “primary task” of the talks would be “to push for an unconditional ceasefire”.

Films made with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) will be able to win top awards at the Oscars, according to its organisers.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued new rules on Monday which said the use of AI and other digital tools would “neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination”.

Generative AI – which can create text, images, audio and video in response to simple text prompts – helped to produce some of the films awarded top industry accolades in March.

But the Academy said it would still consider human involvement when selecting its winners.

The Academy said its new language around eligibility for films made using generative AI tools was recommended by its Science and Technology Council.

Under further rule changes announced on Monday, Academy members must now watch all nominated films in each category in order to be able to take part in the final round of voting, which decides upon winners.

The use of AI in film became a hot topic after Adrian Brody took home the award for Best Actor for his role in The Brutalist at this year’s Oscars ceremony in March.

The movie used generative AI to improve the actor’s accent when he spoke Hungarian.

It then emerged similar voice-cloning technology was used to enhance singing voices in the Oscar-winning musical Emilia Perez.

The technology’s ability to quickly alter or match the tone and style of an artist, or perform edits such as subtly changing someone’s appearance, has helped it become more popular in the production of music and film.

• What is AI and how do programmes like ChatGPT work?

But AI use remains controversial, and artists and actors have voiced concerns over the material used to train such tools and its impact upon their livelihoods.

Actors and screenwriters previously highlighted fears about losing work to AI during the 2023 strikes in Hollywood.

“If you can take my face, my body and my voice and make me say or do something that I had no choice about, that’s not a good thing,” actress Susan Sarandon told the BBC from a picket line.

And screenwriters are concerned studios would seek to cut costs and save time by using tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT for tasks such as researching, treatment and script writing, instead of humans.

Safeguards around the use of AI were established as part of the agreements reached between unions and studios that marked the end of the strikes.

But while some actors have seemingly embraced the technology, others, such as Scarlett Johansson, have issued warnings about its potential to allow abuse of their image or likeness.

Animators told the BBC in 2024 generative AI tools were not yet good enough to be able to replicate the quality of their work – certainly not to an award-winning standard.

“It’s like having a bad writer help you,” said Jonathan Kendrick, co-founder and chairman of global streaming service Rokit Flix.

“Sure it will get an outline done, but if you need something with emotional weight, an AI isn’t going to get you an Oscar.”

China has executed a man for fatally stabbing a 10-year-old Japanese boy last September, the Japanese embassy in China has told the BBC.

Zhong Changchun was sentenced to death in January for attacking the boy, who had been walking to a Japanese school in south-eastern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The case had sent shockwaves through both countries and fuelled diplomatic tensions amid allegations of it being a xenophobic attack.

“The Government of Japan considers the murder of a completely innocent child to be an unforgivable crime, and we take this execution with the utmost solemnity,” the Japanese embassy said in its statement to the BBC.

“In light of this incident, the Japanese government will continue to take all possible safety measures and strongly urge the Chinese side to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals in China.”

It said that it had been informed of the execution by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The incident heightened fears among Japanese living in China and prompted Japanese companies including Toyota to ask their staff to take precautions. Others, like Panasonic, offered employees free flights home.

The verdict on Zhong’s case made no mention of Japan, Japanese officials previously said. Kenji Kanasugi, Japan’s ambassador to China said Zhong had requested to speak to the victim’s family, but did not say if he had been targeting Japanese nationals.

The incident has also shone a light on the unchecked nationalism on Chinese social media, which has fuelled anti-foreigner sentiment in recent years.

Online commentators noted that the schoolboy’s killing had happened on a politically sensitive date – 18 September, the anniversary of an incident that led to the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in China in the early 1930s.

Historical grievances have long overshadowed political tensions between China and Japan. China has long demanded an apology from Japan for its colonial and wartime aggression in the early and mid 20 Century. It has also accused Japan of glossing over its brutal military actions in China in its history textbooks.

The stabbing also came amid a spate of high-profile attacks on foreigners in China, including the stabbing of four American teachers in Jilin.

Last June, a man attacked a Japanese mother and her child at a bus stop in Suzhou but ended up killing a Chinese woman trying to protect them. The man has also been executed, Japanese officials said last week.

India and the US are making progress in negotiating a bilateral trade deal, the countries said after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice-President JD Vance in Delhi.

Vance is currently on a four-day visit to India with his wife and three children.

“We are committed to mutually beneficial cooperation, including in trade, technology, defence, energy and people-to-people exchanges,” Modi wrote on X after the meeting on Monday night. He also hosted a dinner for Vance and his family at his residence.

India is among a number of countries negotiating trade deals with the US during President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on higher tariffs, which ends on 9 July.

India was set to face 27% US tariffs before the pause was announced. Since then, Delhi and Washington have been working towards an early conclusion of trade negotiations.

Modi and Trump share a warm personal relationship – the Indian prime minister was among the first global leaders to visit Trump after his second term began. But the US president has repeatedly taken aim at India’s high tariffs, branding it a “tariff king” and a “big abuser” of trade ties.

Even in the statement issued on Monday after Vance’s meeting, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer highlighted the “serious lack of reciprocity in the trade relationship with India”.

India has already cut tariffs on a number of goods in the past few months and is reportedly considering more wide-ranging cuts to pacify Trump. But sectors like agriculture – Washington wants greater access to it but India fiercely protects it – are still sticking points.

• Trump wants India to buy US corn – but here’s why it probably won’t
• China warns nations against ‘appeasing’ US in trade deals

In addition to trade, the two leaders also discussed cooperation in defence, strategic technologies and energy, Modi’s office said.

The Indian prime minister also said that he was looking forward to welcoming Trump to India this year. Delhi is hosting the Quad summit later this year and the US president is expected to attend it.

The bilateral meeting was followed by delegation-level talks and the dinner hosted by Modi.

Vance arrived in India on Monday, accompanied by his wife Usha and their three children. Usha Vance’s parents migrated to the US from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, and some media reports have said that Vance and his wife are keen to introduce their children to their Indian heritage.

Photographs of the three children wearing Indian-style outfits – the two boys in kurta-pyjamas and three-year-old Mirabel wearing a lehenga – on their arrival in India were splashed across Indian newspapers and websites.

The rest of Vance’s visit is largely personal. After the meeting with Modi, the family left for Jaipur city, where they visited the historic Amer Fort on Tuesday. Vance is also expected to deliver a speech on US-India relations in Jaipur.

The family is also set to visit the iconic Taj Mahal in Agra city on Wednesday before flying to the US the next day.

A senior Palestinian official familiar with Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations has told the BBC that Qatari and Egyptian mediators have proposed a new formula to end the war in Gaza.

According to the official, it envisages a truce lasting between five and seven years, the release of all Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, a formal end to the war, and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

A senior Hamas delegation was due to arrive in Cairo for consultations.

The last ceasefire collapsed a month ago when Israel resumed bombing Gaza, with both sides blaming each other for the failure to keep it going.

Israel has not commented on the mediators’ plan.

Meanwhile, 22 Palestinians have been killed in a series of Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip since Monday evening, a medical official in the Hamas-run health ministry told the BBC.

The official said they were killed in Khan Younis, Jabalia, Beit Lahia, and Gaza City, and that 45 other people were injured.

Local residents and eyewitnesses described the air strikes as “extremely intense.”

According to witnesses, the attacks destroyed dozens of bulldozers and heavy machinery – equipment used by Hamas-run municipalities to reopen roads, clear rubble, and rescue victims trapped beneath the debris.

Tanks have also been seen moving in the southern part of Rafah city in the south of Gaza.

As Israel pushes on with its offensive, talks will take place in Cairo with Hamas represented at a senior level by the head of its political council, Mohammed Darwish, and its lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya.

The meeting comes days after the movement rejected Israel’s latest proposal, which included a demand for Hamas to disarm in return for a six-week truce.

On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not end the war before Hamas was destroyed and all the hostages returned. Hamas has demanded Israel commit to ending the war before the hostages are freed.

The Palestinian official familiar with the talks told the BBC that Hamas has signalled its readiness to hand over governance of Gaza to any Palestinian entity agreed upon “at the national and regional level”. The official said this could be the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) or a newly formed administrative body.

Netanyahu has ruled out any role for the PA in the future governance of Gaza, which has been ruled by Hamas since 2007.

While it is still too early to assess the likelihood of success, the source described the current mediation effort as serious and said Hamas had shown “unprecedented flexibility”.

Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and taking 251 back to Gaza as hostages. Israel launched a massive military offensive in response, which has killed 51,240 Palestinians – mainly civilians – according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry figures on Monday.

Elsewhere, the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo has instructed its staff – who had been co-ordinating medical evacuations from Gaza to Egyptian hospitals and facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid – to relocate with their families to the Egyptian city of Arish, near the Gaza border.

Harvard University has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration claiming that its freezing of federal grants worth billions of dollars is unlawful.

Its president, Alan M Garber, announced the action on Monday in a letter to the university community which said the $2bn funding freeze would hamper critical disease research.

Harvard, the world’s richest university, last week rejected a list of demands that the Trump administration said was designed to curb diversity initiatives and fight anti-semitism at the school.

In response to the lawsuit, the White House said the “gravy train of federal assistance” was coming to an end.

Funding cuts have also been implemented at other elite universities, and a new government anti-semitism task force has identified at least 60 universities for review.

President Donald Trump has accused universities of failing to protect Jewish students during last year’s campus protests against the war in Gaza and US support for Israel.

• Harvard has stood up to Trump. How long can it last?

In Monday’s letter, Mr Garber said: “The consequences of the government’s overreach will be severe and long-lasting.”

Studies on pediatric cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease would be affected, he wrote.

“In recent weeks, the federal government has launched a broad attack on the critical funding partnerships that make this invaluable research possible,” the school’s lawsuit said.

It said the withholding of federal funding violated Harvard’s constitutional rights and was being used as “leverage to gain control of academic decisionmaking at Harvard”.

The Trump administration has signalled that another $1bn of federal funding could be suspended. Harvard receives about $9bn in total annually, which is mostly spent on research.

Harvard’s tax exemption status and its ability to enroll international students could also be under threat.

Mr Garber, who is Jewish, acknowledged Harvard’s campus, located in Massachusetts, has had issues with anti-semitism but said he had established task forces aimed at the problem.

He said the university would release the report of two task forces that looked into anti-semitism and anti-Muslim bias.

Separately, the Trump administration has targeted other private Ivy League institutions including suspending $1bn at Cornell University and $510 million at Brown University. Federal dollars also play an outsized role there in funding new scientific breakthroughs.

Others such as Columbia University, the epicentre of pro-Palestinian campus protests last year, have agreed to some demands after $400 million of federal funds was threatened.

The demands to Harvard included agreeing to government-approved external audits of the university’s curriculum as well as hiring and admission data.

In response, Harvard released a blistering letter rejecting what it described as a “takeover” by the federal government.

Former US President Barack Obama, a Harvard alum, has said he supported the university, calling the cash freeze unlawful.

The White House responded Monday night in a statement.

“The gravy train of federal assistance to institutions like Harvard, which enrich their grossly overpaid bureaucrats with tax dollars from struggling American families is coming to an end.

“Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege.”

Polling by Gallup last summer suggested that confidence in higher education had been falling over time among Americans of all political backgrounds.

That was partly driven, the survey said, by a growing belief that universities push a political agenda. The decline was particularly steep among Republicans.

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.

Megan Dixon was 13 years old when she started feeling unwell.

By 16, her health had deteriorated to such an extent that she was taken to hospital after losing the ability to speak. Doctors believed she may have had a stroke.

She had only been due to remain there for four days for tests, but came out two years later completely paralysed. Unable to walk, talk or open her eyes, she was told she would never move again.

Megan was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), which meant there was a problem with how her brain received and sent information to the rest of the body.

Having stayed in a neurological care home in Peterborough, she is now preparing to move into her own home with the hope of becoming a nail technician.

Megan said at the age of 18, when she moved to Eagle Wood Neurological Care Centre, she was “still just a baby”.

She had never been on her own before and had to move away from her family near Bath to receive the care she needed.

“It was not easy. I think it was a lot harder for my mum and dad to have to leave me there on my own, but I couldn’t do anything for myself. I was paralysed from the neck down,” she told the BBC.

“I couldn’t see, I couldn’t talk. I hate the word, but I was very vulnerable at the time.

“I started feeling poorly when I was 13. It started off very slowly, very gradually and then in 2021, things just declined rapidly.

“I was taken into hospital because they were concerned I had had a stroke, or something, because I lost the ability to talk.

“I was taken for four days of tests and came out of hospital two years later.”

Her illness was eventually diagnosed as FND.

“It stops the functioning of signals from the brain to your body from working properly and causes all sorts of neurological symptoms,” she said.

“I couldn’t do anything for myself, I lost the ability to talk.

“I couldn’t see, so I wasn’t able to open my eyes. My brain couldn’t register the difference between eyes closed and eyes being open.”

She also lost the ability to swallow and was fed by a feeding tube in her mouth, which has been replaced by one straight into her stomach.

At her worst, she had 50 seizures a day, but that has now reduced to between 10 and 15.

After 18 months of extensive therapy, her life is completely different.

She said: “I can move everything now. Obviously I can talk, I can see. I can’t walk and I’m never going to be able to walk again, but that’s because I’ve got contractions in my knees.

“I need surgery in order to bend them because my legs are stuck straight. It’s very painful, but I’m waiting on surgery, and it means I’m never going to be able to walk again.

“Honestly, it was something I never thought I would be planning when my parents took me to the care home. They thought that was it – that it was going to be my home for the rest of my life.

“I was getting to the point that I nearly died in hospital, my body just shut down that much.

“The doctors did have to tell my parents to prepare for the worst – they didn’t think I would make it to 18 and here I am at 20.”

Her dream is to be a nail technician and she is saving up to complete an online course.

“I really can’t wait to finally move out and get a place with my boyfriend,” she said. “I’m very excited.”

FND Action said the brain network disorder encompassed neurological symptoms including limb weakness, paralysis, seizures, walking difficulties, spasms, twitching, sensory issues and more.

“For many, symptoms are severe and disabling, and life-changing for all,” it said.

It added that while the basic wiring of the nervous system was intact, people with the disorder had a problem with how the brain or nervous system was “functioning”, and the brain failed to send or receive signals correctly.

“Historically FND has often been viewed as resulting purely from psychological and emotional trauma, this has frequently led to stigma and dismissal from medical professionals,” it added.

“This view is now seen as outdated, and psychological trauma is now viewed as a risk factor for developing the condition rather than the root cause.”

Megan said she had been left isolated, frustrated and exhausted at times due to how “unpredictable” life with FND had been.

She now shares her experiences on TikTok.

“Every small victory, whether it’s moving a finger, speaking a word, or simply making it through another day is worth celebrating,” she said.

On his first day back in the White House, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring an emergency at the US southern border and directed his top officials to evaluate whether to invoke a rarely used 19th-century law in response to immigration concerns.

The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows the president to use active-duty military personnel to perform law-enforcement duties inside the US.

US media report that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem, who were tasked with the assessment, will announce their recommendations later this week.

Since returning to office, Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a central focus, and border crossings have reached a quarter-century low. But the statute could further expand the president’s powers.

Here’s what to know.

The 19th-century law would allow the use of active-duty military personnel to perform law-enforcement duties within the US.

This includes the National Guard – a branch of the US armed forces traditionally reserved for domestic emergencies and disasters.

US presidents can invoke the law if they determine that “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” against the government make it “impracticable to enforce” US law “by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings”.

Once invoked, troops could be tasked with a range of duties, from quelling civil unrest and enforcing court orders to arresting and detaining migrants.

Because the Insurrection Act was written in broad terms, with little specific guidance on how and when the powers can be used, it gives presidents wide latitude in deciding when to mobilise military personnel for domestic operations.

Throughout his election campaign, Trump vowed to crackdown on illegal immigration, calling the southern border situation a “national emergency” that could be better tamed by invoking the 19th-century statute.

On his first day in office in January, he asked for “recommendations regarding additional actions that may be necessary to obtain complete operational control of the southern border, including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807”.

The administration has already rolled out a series of sweeping measures targeting the border. These include a nationwide deportation sweep and the controversial move to transfer alleged Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador – a decision now facing legal challenges.

This comes as US Border Patrol has recorded just 8,300 migrant apprehensions, marking the lowest number of border crossings since 2000.

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The Insurrection Act has been invoked a handful of times in American history.

Abraham Lincoln used it when the southern states rebelled during the US Civil War, and former President Ulysses S Grant invoked it against a wave of racist violence by the Ku Klux Klan after the war.

In the 20th century, former President Dwight D Eisenhower invoked it so the US Army would escort black students into their high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, after the state’s governor refused to comply with a federal desegregation order.

More recently, it was used in 1992 when massive riots broke out in Los Angeles over the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of Rodney King, a black man. Then-President George Bush sent in active-duty members of the Marines and Army as well as National Guard troops.

The US government has traditionally worked to limit the use of military force on American soil, especially against its own citizens.

The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 was enacted to restrict the military from acting as domestic law enforcement. In times of unrest, states typically deploy the National Guard to help maintain order.

Since returning to office, Trump has expanded his authority by declaring national emergencies – a move that grants the presidency access to powers and resources that are normally restricted. He has used this authority to impose tariffs and, more controversially, to take action on immigration.

In March, following his emergency declaration at the border, Trump invoked the rarely used Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport migrants he alleged were gang members. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked that effort.

If Trump chooses to invoke the Insurrection Act, it remains unclear what legal challenges he might face.

As the threat posed by US President Donald Trump tops Canada’s federal election agenda, the issue of the country’s contribution to global warming has been largely overshadowed.

The two main contenders are pushing plans for new energy infrastructure as the country seeks to pivot away from its reliance on the US.

Mark Carney’s Liberals are promising to make Canada a global superpower in both conventional and green energy. The Conservatives under Pierre Poilievre want to invigorate the oil and gas sector and scrap the industrial carbon tax.

It’s a big shift from the 2021 election, when the environment topped the list of voter concerns.

In that vote, there was a consensus between the two major parties that Canada should rapidly transition to a green economy, with a net-zero emissions law passed in June of that year.

That sense of unity is now long gone.

Carney, who became leader of the Liberals and prime minister in early March, has a long track record as an international champion of climate change.

As well as being a governor of the Bank of England, he was a UN Special Envoy on climate action and finance and was co-chair of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, one of the big outcomes of COP26.

However, his first action as prime minister was to repeal the consumer carbon levy.

The tax – a signature climate policy of the governing Liberals – was introduced in 2019, and placed an added charge on consumers using coal, oil or gas products.

It was unpopular, and for the Conservatives it became an easy target of blame for the rising cost of living in recent years. Poilievre even sought to paint his rival as “Carbon Tax Carney”.

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Some observers believe that cancelling the tax was a smart political move, others feel it was a mistake.

“By making one of your first moves the removal of the carbon price, you’re accepting this narrative that climate change policy costs us too much money and isn’t good for us, when, in fact, that is not the case,” said Catherine Abreu, who is director of the International Climate Politics Hub and a member of Canada’s Net Zero Advisory Body.

“I think there’s a missed opportunity here to set a new narrative framework around this in the election.”

Carney’s election pitch on energy is to turn Canada into “a world leading superpower in both clean and conventional energy”.

He is emphasising his pragmatic approach, and his campaign talks about fast-tracking green energy projects and encouraging green transport and buildings, without giving too many details. He has also called for investment in technologies like carbon capture.

There are other important factors that have helped cool some of the Carney climate rhetoric.

Opinion polls indicate that, since late 2023, Canadian concerns over the climate fell as worries over rising prices, energy and housing costs came to the fore.

The war in Ukraine has also put new emphasis on the country’s bountiful natural resources in oil, gas and critical minerals.

“We have had a parade of geopolitical allies turning up on our doorstep saying, we want your rocks, we want Canada to be the geopolitically secure primary resource commodity provider, in place of Russia,” said Mark Winfield, a professor in the faculty of environmental and urban change at Toronto’s York University.

“And that’s created another sort of dynamic in all of this, which was not present in previous elections.”

Pierre Poilievre is the man seeking to replace Carney as PM.

He is running on cost of living issues, and advocating for tougher policies on law and order and what he considers “woke” cultural issues.

Poilievre, whose party has a strong voter base in energy-rich regions of the country, is pushing for a major expansion of the oil and gas industries and the removal of the carbon tax on industry.

While he has remained tight-lipped on whether he supports Canada’s net-zero goals, he has argued that it would be better for the world if India and other Asian countries were to replace “dirty coal” with cleaner Canadian oil and gas.

According to Prof Winfield, the Conservative proposals to boost oil and gas is likely to prove attractive to voters, even if the merits of expanding production don’t stand up to scrutiny.

He told the BBC it’s more “at the in-principal level as a response to Trump, as opposed to any real thinking through of what are the implications on climate, and whether this is actually economically viable”.

Regardless of climate or energy, the key question in the minds of voters in this election is which leader is best placed to deal with the combative US president.

That is especially important when it comes to the oil and gas industry.

Canada is America’s largest foreign supplier of oil, with around 90% of crude production heading south of the border, and the impact of energy tariffs could well be disastrous for jobs and the economy.

“Our relationship with the US has completely changed,” Carney said last week in the first of two election debates.

“The pipelines are a national security problem for us.”

That concern over US dependence has revived interest in pipelines that would move oil and gas from the western provinces, where they are mainly produced, to the east, where they could be exported to new overseas markets.

A previous attempt called the Energy East pipeline was shelved in 2017 due to a number of factors, including fierce opposition from some regions of the country and regulatory hurdles.

In this campaign, both the Liberals and Conservatives have promised to fast track “energy corridors”, though Carney has flip-flopped on his support for pipelines, knowing they are deeply unpopular with environmentalists.

He is trying to walk a fine line between defending Canada as a nation under threat from Trump, and taking action on a warming climate.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada reported that in 2024, there were C$8.5bn ($6.1bn; £4.6bn) in weather-related insured losses, triple the figure for 2023.

And while the two election frontrunners are advocating a major role for fossil fuels in Canada’s economy, this approach will clash head on with the country’s climate commitments.

Yves-François Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Québécois, a federal party based in Quebec, has accused the pair of being in a “denial situation about climate change”.

“I’m sorry to crash your party guys, but you are telling fairy tales” about clean oil and gas, he said in last week’s debates.

Canada has promised on the international stage to curb carbon emissions by 40-45% by 2030 based on the levels in 2005.

As of 2023, carbon output was only down 8.5%.

Whoever wins the election will have a real challenge to square that circle.

Canadians go to the polls on 28 April.

Steak, mashed potatoes and desserts for astronauts could soon be grown from individual cells in space if an experiment launched into orbit today is successful.

A European Space Agency (ESA) project is assessing the viability of growing so-called lab-grown food in the low gravity and higher radiation in orbit and on other worlds.

ESA is funding the research to explore new ways of reducing the cost of feeding an astronaut, which can cost up to £20,000 per day.

The team involved say the experiment is a first step to developing a small pilot food production plant on the International Space Station in two years’ time.

Lab-grown food will be essential if Nasa’s objective of making humanity a multi-planetary species were to be realised, claims Dr Aqeel Shamsul, CEO and founder of Bedford-based Frontier Space, which is developing the concept with researchers at Imperial College, London.

“Our dream is to have factories in orbit and on the Moon,” he told BBC News.

“We need to build manufacturing facilities off world if we are to provide the infrastructure to enable humans to live and work in space”.

Lab-grown food involves growing food ingredients, such as protein, fat and carbohydrates in test tubes and vats and then processing them to make them look and taste like normal food.

Lab-grown chicken is already on sale in the US and Singapore and lab grown steak is awaiting approval in the UK and Israel. On Earth, there are claimed environmental benefits for the technology over traditional agricultural food production methods, such as less land use and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. But in space the primary driver is to reduce costs.

The researchers are doing the experiment because it costs so much to send astronauts food on the ISS – up to £20,000 per astronaut per day, they estimate.

Nasa, other space agencies and private sector firms plan to have a long-term presence on the Moon, in orbiting space stations and maybe one day on Mars. That will mean sending up food for tens and eventually hundreds of astronauts living and working in space – something that would be prohibitively expensive if it were sent up by rockets, according to Dr Shamsul.

Growing food in space would make much more sense, he suggests.

“We could start off simply with protein-enhanced mashed potatoes on to more complex foods which we could put together in space,” he tells me.

“But in the longer term we could put the lab-grown ingredients into a 3D printer and print off whatever you want on the space station, such as a steak!”

This sounds like the replicator machines on Star Trek, which are able to produce food and drink from pure energy. But it is no longer the stuff of science fiction, says Dr Shamsul.

He showed me a set-up, called a bioreactor, at Imperial College’s Bezos Centre for Sustainable Proteins in west London. It comprised a brick-coloured concoction bubbling away in a test tube. The process is known as precision fermentation, which is like the fermentation used to make beer, but different: “precision” is a rebranding word for genetically engineered.

In this case a gene has been added to yeast to produce extra vitamins, but all sorts of ingredients can be produced in this way, according to Dr Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro, Director of the Bezos Centre.

“We can make all the elements to make food,” says Dr Ledesma-Amaro proudly.

“We can make proteins, fats, carbohydrates, fibres and they can be combined to make different dishes.”

A much smaller, simpler version of the biorector has been sent into space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of the ESA mission. There is plenty of evidence that foods can be successfully grown from cells on Earth, but can the process be repeated in the weightlessness and higher radiation of space?

Drs Ledesma-Amaro and Shamsul have sent small amounts of the yeast concoction to orbit the Earth in a small cube satellite on board Europe’s first commercial returnable spacecraft, Phoenix. If all goes to plan, it will orbit the Earth for around three hours before falling back to Earth off the coast of Portugal. The experiment will be retrieved by a recovery vessel and sent back to the lab in London to be examined.

The data they gather will inform the construction of a larger, better bioreactor which the scientists will send into space next year, according to Dr Ledesma-Amaro.

The problem, though, is that the brick-coloured goo, which is dried into a powder, looks distinctly unappetising – even less appetising than the freeze-dried fare that astronauts currently have to put up with.

That is where Imperial College’s master chef comes in. Jakub Radzikowski is the culinary education designer tasked with turning chemistry into cuisine.

He isn’t allowed to use lab grown ingredients to make dishes for people just yet, because regulatory approval is still pending. But he’s getting a head start. For now, instead of lab-grown ingredients, Jakub is using starches and proteins from naturally occurring fungi to develop his recipes. He tells me all sorts of dishes will be possible, once he gets the go-ahead to use lab-grown ingredients.

“We want to create food that is familiar to astronauts who are from different parts of the world so that it can provide comfort.

“We can create anything from French, Chinese, Indian. It will be possible to replicate any kind of cuisine in space.”

Today, Jakub is trying out a new recipe of spicy dumplings and dipping sauce. He tells me that I am allowed to try them out, but taster-in-chief is someone far more qualified: Helen Sharman, the UK’s first astronaut, who also has a PhD in chemistry.

We tasted the steaming dumplings together.

My view: “They are absolutely gorgeous!”

Dr Sharman’s expert view, not dissimilar: “You get a really strong blast from the flavour. It is really delicious and very moreish,” she beamed.

“I would love to have had something like this. When I was in space, I had really long-life stuff: tins, freeze dried packets, tubes of stuff. It was fine, but not tasty.”

Dr Sharman’s more important observation was about the science. Lab-grown food, she said, could potentially be better for astronauts, as well as reduce costs to the levels required to make long-term off-world habitation viable.

Research on the ISS has shown that the biochemistry of astronauts’ bodies changes during long duration space missions: their hormone balance and iron levels alter, and they lose calcium from their bones. Astronauts take supplements to compensate, but lab-grown food could in principle be tweaked with the extra ingredients already built in, says Dr Sharman.

“Astronauts tend to lose weight because they are not eating as much because they don’t have the variety and interest in their diet,” she told me.

“So, astronauts might be more open to having something that has been cooked from scratch and a feeling that you are really eating wholesome food.”

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China has executed a man for fatally stabbing a 10-year-old Japanese boy last September, the Japanese embassy in China has told the BBC.

Zhong Changchun was sentenced to death in January for attacking the boy, who had been walking to a Japanese school in south-eastern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The case had sent shockwaves through both countries and fuelled diplomatic tensions amid allegations of it being a xenophobic attack.

“The Government of Japan considers the murder of a completely innocent child to be an unforgivable crime, and we take this execution with the utmost solemnity,” the Japanese embassy said in its statement to the BBC.

“In light of this incident, the Japanese government will continue to take all possible safety measures and strongly urge the Chinese side to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals in China.”

It said that it had been informed of the execution by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The incident heightened fears among Japanese living in China and prompted Japanese companies including Toyota to ask their staff to take precautions. Others, like Panasonic, offered employees free flights home.

The verdict on Zhong’s case made no mention of Japan, Japanese officials previously said. Kenji Kanasugi, Japan’s ambassador to China said Zhong had requested to speak to the victim’s family, but did not say if he had been targeting Japanese nationals.

The incident has also shone a light on the unchecked nationalism on Chinese social media, which has fuelled anti-foreigner sentiment in recent years.

Online commentators noted that the schoolboy’s killing had happened on a politically sensitive date – 18 September, the anniversary of an incident that led to the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in China in the early 1930s.

Historical grievances have long overshadowed political tensions between China and Japan. China has long demanded an apology from Japan for its colonial and wartime aggression in the early and mid 20 Century. It has also accused Japan of glossing over its brutal military actions in China in its history textbooks.

The stabbing also came amid a spate of high-profile attacks on foreigners in China, including the stabbing of four American teachers in Jilin.

Last June, a man attacked a Japanese mother and her child at a bus stop in Suzhou but ended up killing a Chinese woman trying to protect them. The man has also been executed, Japanese officials said last week.

President Donald Trump has backed US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth after reports that military attack details were shared in a group chat that included Hegseth’s wife, brother, and personal lawyer.

The controversy comes a month after a journalist was added to a Signal group chat in which US cabinet officials, including Hegseth, discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.

In the second Signal chat, Hegseth shared information about air strikes against Yemen, the BBC’s US news partner CBS confirmed, citing sources familiar with the messages.

“Pete’s doing a great job,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “Everybody’s happy with him.”

White House officials have played down reports of military plans being shared in a second Signal group chat, but have not denied it.

Trump told reporters he has “great confidence” in his defence secretary.

“Are you bringing up Signal again? I thought they gave that up two weeks ago. It’s the same old stuff from the media,” he said. “Try finding something new,” he said.

Trump said the source of the story “sounds like disgruntled employees”, an idea also floated by Hegseth earlier on Monday when he claimed the news media was “full of hoaxsters” who “try to slash and burn people”.

Hegseth did not directly respond to reports of a second Signal chat, which were initially covered by the New York Times.

In a statement to the newspaper, the White House said no classified information was shared.

The messages in the second chat, sent on 15 March, included flight schedules for American F/A-18 Hornets carrying out strikes on Houthi targets.

Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer Rauchet, is a former Fox News producer and holds no official position within the Pentagon. Hegseth has previously been criticised for reportedly including his wife in meetings with foreign leaders.

His brother, Phil, and personal lawyer, Tim Parlatore, both hold positions at the Department of Defense. But it is not clear why any of the three would require advanced warnings of sensitive US strike plans.

Unlike the first Signal group, the second one – called “Defense | Team Huddle” – was created by Hegseth, according to the New York Times. But it too appeared to share details of military operations against Yemen.

The existence of the earlier Signal group was revealed by Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of the Atlantic magazine, who was accidentally included in it by Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser.

Although the White House has also denied that classified information was discussed in the first group, Hegseth’s critics – including former US defence officials – have said such discussions could jeopardise US military personnel.

Signal uses end-to-end encryption, meaning only a message’s sender and recipients can view its contents. Despite this high level of security, experts say there are still ways for the information to be viewed or shared with the wrong people, which is why classified communications normally take place in secure, government-controlled locations rather than on private devices.

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The second Signal chat surfaced as controversy swirls around the head of the Pentagon, who this year is controlling a budget of $892bn (£670bn).

Hegseth last week fired three top officials for an “unauthorised disclosure” – an accusation the officials said was “baseless”.

In a testy exchange outside the White House ahead of an annual Easter event, Hegseth appeared to attribute the latest story to the officials he fired.

“What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out,” he said.

Hegseth criticised the media and denounced the reports. He also said he has spoken to the president and that they were “on the same page all the way”.

In an op-ed for Politico magazine published on Sunday, John Ullyot, the top Pentagon spokesperson who resigned last week, wrote that the department was in “total chaos”.

He added: “The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president – who deserves better from his senior leadership.”

Ullyot said it was not true that the three fired officials were leaking information and wrote: “Unfortunately, Hegseth’s team has developed a habit of spreading flat-out, easily debunked falsehoods anonymously about their colleagues on their way out the door.”

However, in a statement on X, Sean Parnell, current chief spokesman for the Pentagon, said the “Trump-hating media” was “destroying anyone committed to President Trump’s agenda”.

He echoed the White House by saying that “there was no classified information in any Signal chat”.

Washington says its strikes in Yemen are punishment for Houthi attacks on cargo vessels transiting through the Red Sea, a critical waterway for international trade.

Since November 2023, the Houthis have targeted dozens of merchant vessels with missiles, drones and small boat attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, saying they are acting in support of the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza . They have sunk two vessels, seized a third, and killed four crew members.

US air strikes on an oil terminal in north-western Yemen this week killed at least 74 people and wounded 171 others, according to the Houthi-run health ministry.

Gary Lineker has said he believes the BBC wanted him to leave Match of the Day as he was negotiating a new contract last year.

The presenter and the BBC jointly announced in November that he would be stepping down from the flagship football programme, although he will still host World Cup and FA Cup coverage.

Asked by the BBC’s Amol Rajan why he would choose to leave given his successful tenure, Lineker said: “Well, perhaps they want me to leave. There was the sense of that.”

The BBC didn’t comment on that suggestion, but at the time Lineker’s exit was announced, the corporation’s director of sport described him as a “world-class presenter”.

However, the BBC noted in the same statement that Match of the Day “continually evolves for changing viewing habits”.

A new trio of presenters – Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan – was announced in January.

Reflecting on his departure from Match of the Day, Lineker told Rajan: “It’s time. I’ve done it for a long time, it’s been brilliant.”

However, asked why he’d want to leave when the ratings were still high and it was a job Lineker still enjoyed, the former footballer said he “had the sense” the BBC had wanted him to step down.

“I always wanted one more contract, and I was umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether to do three years [more],” Lineker explained.

But, he continued, the matter of how long to sign for was complicated by the cycle of broadcasting rights for matches.

“In the end, I think there was a feeling that, because it was a new rights period, it was a chance to change the programme,” he said.

“I think it was their preference that I didn’t do Match of the Day for one more year, so they could bring in new people. So it’s slightly unusual that I would do the FA Cup and the World Cup, but to be honest, it’s a scenario that suits me perfectly.”

Lineker added that he was pleased his football podcasts had been picked up by BBC Sounds as part of a deal with the corporation.

Lineker was also asked about comments he posted on social media in March 2023, criticising the then-government’s immigration policy.

The remarks led to his suspension from the BBC, prompting other sports presenters to down tools in solidarity, something Lineker said he felt “moved” by.

Reflecting on his tweets, Lineker said he did not regret taking the position he did, but that he would not do it again because of the “damage” it did to the BBC.

“I don’t regret saying them publicly, because I was right – what I said, it was accurate – so not at all in that sense.

“Would I, in hindsight, do it again? No I wouldn’t, because of all the nonsense that came with it… It was a ridiculous overreaction that was just a reply to someone that was being very rude. And I wasn’t particularly rude back.”

He continued: “But I wouldn’t do it again because of all the kerfuffle that followed, and I love the BBC, and I didn’t like the damage that it did to the BBC… But do I regret it and do I think it was the wrong thing to do? No.”

The row erupted when Lineker called a government asylum policy “immeasurably cruel”, and said a video promoting it used language that was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”.

The home secretary at the time, Suella Braverman, who appeared in the video, called his criticism “offensive” and “lazy”, while Downing Street said it was “not acceptable”.

Lineker’s post reignited the debate about the BBC’s impartiality guidance on social media and how it applied to presenters.

While staff working in news and current affairs are expected to remain impartial on social platforms, there had been questions over how much the rules extended to BBC personalities in other areas such as entertainment and sport.

Lineker argued that the previous set of rules “were for people in news and current affairs”.

“They have subsequently changed,” he acknowledged. “But that left people like me, who has always given his honest opinions about things, then they suddenly changed them and you have to go, ‘Oh, I’ve got to be impartial now’. It doesn’t make any sense.”

He added: “I’ve always been strong on humanitarian issues and always will be, and that’s me.”

Lineker said that, following his tweets, “the goalposts were massively moved because it was never an issue until, suddenly, this point”.

The BBC updated its social media guidance in 2023 following a review that was commissioned in the wake of the fallout over Lineker’s tweets.

The corporation said presenters of flagship programmes, such as Match of the Day, “carry a particular responsibility to respect the BBC’s impartiality, because of their profile on the BBC”.

Asked if he understood that his comments gave ammunition to the BBC’s critics, Lineker said: “Yes of course, I understand that, but does it make it wrong what I did? I don’t think so. Would I do it if I knew what would’ve happened and transpired? Of course I wouldn’t.”

Lineker hit the headlines again recently when he, along with 500 other high-profile figures, signed an open later urging the BBC to reinstate a documentary about Gaza to iPlayer.

The documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone, was pulled from the streaming service in February after it emerged its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official.

Lineker told Rajan he would “100%” support the documentary being made available again, arguing: “I think you let people make their own minds up. We’re adults. We’re allowed to see things like that. It’s incredibly moving.”

He added that, although the 13-year-old was narrating the programme, the script had “not been written by [the child], it’s been written by the people who produced the show”.

“I think [the BBC] just capitulated to lobbying that they get a lot,” he said.

After concerns were raised, the BBC took down the programme while it carried out further due diligence. The matter is currently still being investigated by the corporation.

The BBC said it had identified serious flaws in the making of the documentary. The BBC board said the mistakes were “significant and damaging”.

In the wide-ranging interview, which will be broadcast on Tuesday, Lineker also discussed his footballing career, his son’s leukemia battle as a baby, and his views on gambling sponsorship in sports.

Lineker said the football industry should rethink its responsibility when it comes to taking money from gambling firms.

“I know people [for whom] it becomes an addiction, it can completely destroy their lives,” he said.

“There’s talk about taking [logos] off the shirts, but you see it on the boards around the ground everywhere.

“I think football needs a long, hard look at itself about that, I really do.”

On top of his presenting roles, Lineker is also the co-founder of Goalhanger Podcasts, which make the successful The Rest is History series and its spin-offs about Politics, Football, Entertainment and Money.

The 64-year-old indicated to Rajan his next career move “won’t be more telly”, adding: “I think I’ll step back from that now.

“I think I’ll probably focus more on the podcast world, because it’s such a fun business and it’s just been so incredible.”

is on BBC iPlayer now

India and the US are making progress in negotiating a bilateral trade deal, the countries said after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice-President JD Vance in Delhi.

Vance is currently on a four-day visit to India with his wife and three children.

“We are committed to mutually beneficial cooperation, including in trade, technology, defence, energy and people-to-people exchanges,” Modi wrote on X after the meeting on Monday night. He also hosted a dinner for Vance and his family at his residence.

India is among a number of countries negotiating trade deals with the US during President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on higher tariffs, which ends on 9 July.

India was set to face 27% US tariffs before the pause was announced. Since then, Delhi and Washington have been working towards an early conclusion of trade negotiations.

Modi and Trump share a warm personal relationship – the Indian prime minister was among the first global leaders to visit Trump after his second term began. But the US president has repeatedly taken aim at India’s high tariffs, branding it a “tariff king” and a “big abuser” of trade ties.

Even in the statement issued on Monday after Vance’s meeting, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer highlighted the “serious lack of reciprocity in the trade relationship with India”.

India has already cut tariffs on a number of goods in the past few months and is reportedly considering more wide-ranging cuts to pacify Trump. But sectors like agriculture – Washington wants greater access to it but India fiercely protects it – are still sticking points.

• Trump wants India to buy US corn – but here’s why it probably won’t
• China warns nations against ‘appeasing’ US in trade deals

In addition to trade, the two leaders also discussed cooperation in defence, strategic technologies and energy, Modi’s office said.

The Indian prime minister also said that he was looking forward to welcoming Trump to India this year. Delhi is hosting the Quad summit later this year and the US president is expected to attend it.

The bilateral meeting was followed by delegation-level talks and the dinner hosted by Modi.

Vance arrived in India on Monday, accompanied by his wife Usha and their three children. Usha Vance’s parents migrated to the US from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, and some media reports have said that Vance and his wife are keen to introduce their children to their Indian heritage.

Photographs of the three children wearing Indian-style outfits – the two boys in kurta-pyjamas and three-year-old Mirabel wearing a lehenga – on their arrival in India were splashed across Indian newspapers and websites.

The rest of Vance’s visit is largely personal. After the meeting with Modi, the family left for Jaipur city, where they visited the historic Amer Fort on Tuesday. Vance is also expected to deliver a speech on US-India relations in Jaipur.

The family is also set to visit the iconic Taj Mahal in Agra city on Wednesday before flying to the US the next day.

Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr is set to announce a ban on certain artificial food dyes in the US, according to a statement from the health agency.

Kennedy plans to announce the phasing out of petroleum-based synthetic dyes as a “major step forward in the Administration’s efforts to Make America Healthy Again” the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Monday.

No exact dates for the changes were provided, but HHS said Kennedy would announce more details at a news conference on Tuesday.

The dyes – which are found in dozens of foods, including breakfast cereals, candy, snacks and beverages – have been linked to neurological problems in some children.

On the campaign trail alongside Donald Trump, Kennedy last year pledged to take on artificial food dyes as well as ultra-processed foods as a whole once confirmed to lead to top US health agency.

The move comes after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this year banned one dye, Red Dye 3, from US food and pharmaceuticals starting in 2027, citing its link to cancer in animal studies. California banned the dye in 2023.

Most artificially coloured foods are made with synthetic petroleum-based chemicals, according to nutrition nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

Some of the petroleum-based food dyes include Blue 1, used in candy and baked goods; Red 40, used in soda, candy, pastries and pet food; and Yellow 6, also used in baked goods and drinks. Synthetic food dyes are found in dozens of popular foods including M&M’s, Gatorade, Kool-Aid and Skittles.

The only purpose of the artificial food dyes is to “make food companies money”, said Dr Peter Lurie, a former FDA official and the president of CSPI.

“Food dyes help make ultra-processed foods more attractive, especially to children, often by masking the absence of a colorful ingredient, like fruit,” he said. “We don’t need synthetic dyes in the food supply, and no one will be harmed by their absence.”

Companies have found ways to eliminate many of the dyes in other countries, including Britain and New Zealand, said former New York University nutrition professor Marion Nestle.

For example, in Canada, Kellogg uses natural food dyes like carrot and watermelon juice to colour Froot Loops cereal, despite using artificial dyes in the US.

How harmful the synthetic dyes are is debatable, said Ms Nestle.

“They clearly cause behavioural problems for some – but by no means all – children, and are associated with cancer and other diseases in animal studies,” she said.

“Enough questions have been raised about their safety to justify getting rid of them, especially because it’s no big deal to do so,” she added. “Plenty of non-petroleum alternative dyes exist and are in use.”

In 2008, British health ministers agreed to phase out six artificial food colourings by 2009, while the European Union bans some colourings and requires warning labels on others.

In recent months, Kennedy’s food-dye ban has found momentum in several state legislatures. West Virginia banned synthetic dyes and preservatives in food last month, while similar bills have been introduced in other states.

A secluded island where Stormzy wrote an album is on sale – and expected to go for more than £25m ($33m).

Osea Island in the Blackwater Estuary near Maldon in Essex is owned by music producer Nigel Frieda.

The 380-acre (1.5-sq-km) private estate – where the grime artist worked on his most recent album, This Is What I Mean – has also been rented by the singer Rihanna and used as a film location.

One of the estate agents listing the island, which is cut off at high tide, said there had already been considerable interest.

“We already have several bids on it and some of them are in excess of the guide price,” said Simon Pelling, of Fine and Country.

“We see it going to operators who will use it in a similar way to how it is used now – as a venue, an event space or high-end letting facility,” he added.

Essex singer Olly Murs got married there in 2023.

The 1989 television adaptation and the 2012 film of The Woman in Black were both filmed there.

Mr Pelling added: “Its proximity to London is a major selling point and it’s beautiful.”

The US Commerce Department has announced plans to impose tariffs of up to 3,521% on imports of solar panels from four South East Asian countries.

It comes after an investigation that began a year ago when several major solar equipment producers asked the administration of then-President Joe Biden to protect their US operations.

The proposed levies – targeting companies in Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam – are in response to allegations of subsidies from China and the dumping of unfairly cheap products in the US market.

A separate US government agency, the International Trade Commission, is due to reach a final decision on the new tariffs in June.

The countervailing and anti-dumping duties, as these tariffs are known, vary between companies and the countries their products are made in.

Some solar equipment exporters in Cambodia face the highest duties of 3,521% because of what was seen as a lack of cooperation with the Commerce Department investigation.

Products made in Malaysia by Chinese manufacturer Jinko Solar faced some of the lowest duties of just over 41%.

Another China-based firm, Trina Solar, faces tariffs of 375% for the products it makes in Thailand.

Neither company immediately responded to requests for comment from BBC News.

In recent years, many Chinese firms have moved operations to South East Asia in a bid to avoid tariffs imposed since the start of US President Donald Trump’s first term.

The US Commerce Department’s findings were welcomed by the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee – a group of manufacturers that called on the US government to launch the investigation.

“This is a decisive victory for American manufacturing and confirms what we’ve long known: that Chinese-headquartered solar companies have been cheating the system,” said Tim Brightbill, lead counsel to the Alliance.

In 2023, America imported almost $12bn (£8.9bn) in solar equipment from the four countries, according to US Census Bureau figures.

While the planned tariffs are likely to help US solar panel manufacturers, they could also mean extra costs for businesses and consumers who have benefited from the availability of cheaper solar products.

The levies would be imposed on top of other tariffs already rolled out by the Trump administration.

The planned tariffs were announced just days after Chinese President Xi Jinping completed a tour of Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia.

The trip was aimed to boost ties with the region and encourage those nations to resist what he called “unilateral bullying” by the US.

Trump has so far imposed taxes of up to 145% on imports from China. Other countries are now facing a blanket US tariff of 10% until July.

His administration said last week that when the new tariffs are added on to existing ones, the levies on some Chinese goods could reach 245%.

China has hit back with a 125% tax on products from the US and vowed to “fight to the end”.

At midday on Monday, church bells across Italy began to toll. Pope Francis was dead.

Not even 24 hours had passed since he had made a surprise appearance on the balcony overlooking St Peter’s Square, blessing the 35,000 people gathered to celebrate Easter at the Vatican.

The Pope was breathing on his own, without oxygen tubes, despite being told by his doctors to spend two months convalescing after 38 days in hospital with double pneumonia.

Over the past two weeks Francis had done what he had always done, received visitors and met people from every walk of life.

When he appeared on Easter Sunday, the crowd below erupted in cheers as he appeared; then it fell silent.

“Dear brothers and sisters, I wish you a happy Easter,” he said, his voice heavy with effort.

They were to be his final words in public.

Follow latest updates here

“I think people could feel something – as if they could tell it was the last time they’d see him,” said Mauro, a Rome resident who was in St Peter’s Square for Easter Mass and had now returned to pay his respects.

“Usually everyone shouts ‘Long live the Pope!’… this time it was much quieter than usual, there was maybe more respect for his suffering.”

“He blessed us but his voice was a husk,” a man called Alberto told the BBC. “I think he was giving us his last goodbye.”

Doctors who treated Francis at Rome’s Gemelli hospital had prescribed a regimen of complete rest – but it was never likely that a typically active Pope who spent much of his papacy meeting people would keep to that.

Francis had already made it clear he wanted to be back in the Vatican in time for Easter, as soon as the specialists treating him explained that his health issues would not be resolved quickly.

For Christians, Easter is even more important than Christmas as it symbolises a core tenet of their faith – the resurrection of Christ, three days after his nailing to the cross.

Before he was discharged on 23 March, Francis waved to crowds from the hospital too, and then headed back to his quarters in the Casa Santa Marta guest house he had made his home.

His medical team said all he needed was oxygen, and convalescing there was better than hospital with all its infections.

Easter was just three weeks away and, as it approached, the Pope’s schedule became increasingly busy.

He met King Charles and Queen Camilla at the Casa San Marta and then appeared on the Vatican balcony for Palm Sunday four days later on 13 April, mingling with a crowd of 20,000 people in St Peter’s Square, against doctors’ advice.

But for the Pope, Easter was most important time of all.

• How the next Pope is chosen
• A vocal critic of the powerful whose influence was felt far beyond faith

Last Thursday, as he had done many times previously and as he used to do in his native Argentina before becoming Pope, he made a visit to the Regina Coeli jail in Rome where he spent half an hour meeting prisoners and he was greeted by applause from staff and guards as he arrived in a wheelchair.

In previous years he had washed inmates’ feet, mirroring what Jesus is said to have done with his disciples the night before his death.

“This year I’m unable to do that, but I can and want to still be near you,” he said in a feeble voice to the dozens of prisoners who had come to see him, and who cheered him on as he toured the jail.

“We are so lucky. Those on the outside don’t get to see him and we do,” one man told Italian media.

As he was leaving the prison, Francis was asked by a journalist how he would experience Easter this year.

“Whichever way I can,” he replied.

And, on Sunday, he kept his promise.

He held a short meeting with US Vice-President JD Vance before appearing before the crowds in St Peter’s Square as the crowd below erupted in cheers.

He made his final blessing – the Urbi et Orbi address in Latin, meaning “to the city and to the world”. Then, Archbishop Diego Ravelli read out a speech written by the Pope as Francis sat silently beside him.

Then, to everyone’s surprise, he descended down to St Peter’s Square, where he was driven around in an open-top popemobile – the distinctive little white Mercedes-Benz used by popes to meet crowds.

A camera followed him around as he raised his arm to bless the faithful lining the sunny square, and a few babies were brought up closer to him. It was the last time the world saw him alive.

Watching Francis’s blessing on Sunday, Alberto from Rome felt he would not last much longer, although the Pope’s death still came as a shock.

“I didn’t feel happy seeing him, I could tell he was in pain,” he said. “But it was an honour to see him one last time.”

Francis died early on Monday in his beloved Casa Santa Marta – a residenceof 100-odd simple rooms, run by nuns and open to pilgrims and visitors.

A little over two hours later, the cardinal chamberlain, or camerlengo, stood in the Casa Santa Marta and made the news public.

The Vatican said on Monday evening he had died of a stroke and irreversible heart failure.

The Pope’s rooms were a far cry from the opulence of the Vatican quarters typically destined to pontiffs, which Francis had turned down at the start of his papacy saying he felt the need to “live among people”.

“If I lived by myself, maybe even a bit in isolation, it would be of no use to me,” he said back then.

In the coming days, cardinals from across the world will be staying at Casa Santa Marta as they gather in Rome for the conclave that will choose Francis’ successor.

Outside, in the bright sunshine in St Peter’s Square, people mingled with priests and friars under the imposing basilica.

A group of nuns clad in grey and white glared at a man who, headphones in, was dancing around the square. “No respect,” they tutted.

The same large screens that broadcast the Pope’s blessing for Easter now displayed a photo of Francis smiling and a notice that a special rosary was being held for him 12 hours after his death.

It would allow Catholics near and far to pray for their Pope – and thank him for celebrating one last Easter with them.

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India and the US are making progress in negotiating a bilateral trade deal, the countries said after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice-President JD Vance in Delhi.

Vance is currently on a four-day visit to India with his wife and three children.

“We are committed to mutually beneficial cooperation, including in trade, technology, defence, energy and people-to-people exchanges,” Modi wrote on X after the meeting on Monday night. He also hosted a dinner for Vance and his family at his residence.

India is among a number of countries negotiating trade deals with the US during President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on higher tariffs, which ends on 9 July.

India was set to face 27% US tariffs before the pause was announced. Since then, Delhi and Washington have been working towards an early conclusion of trade negotiations.

Modi and Trump share a warm personal relationship – the Indian prime minister was among the first global leaders to visit Trump after his second term began. But the US president has repeatedly taken aim at India’s high tariffs, branding it a “tariff king” and a “big abuser” of trade ties.

Even in the statement issued on Monday after Vance’s meeting, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer highlighted the “serious lack of reciprocity in the trade relationship with India”.

India has already cut tariffs on a number of goods in the past few months and is reportedly considering more wide-ranging cuts to pacify Trump. But sectors like agriculture – Washington wants greater access to it but India fiercely protects it – are still sticking points.

• Trump wants India to buy US corn – but here’s why it probably won’t
• China warns nations against ‘appeasing’ US in trade deals

In addition to trade, the two leaders also discussed cooperation in defence, strategic technologies and energy, Modi’s office said.

The Indian prime minister also said that he was looking forward to welcoming Trump to India this year. Delhi is hosting the Quad summit later this year and the US president is expected to attend it.

The bilateral meeting was followed by delegation-level talks and the dinner hosted by Modi.

Vance arrived in India on Monday, accompanied by his wife Usha and their three children. Usha Vance’s parents migrated to the US from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, and some media reports have said that Vance and his wife are keen to introduce their children to their Indian heritage.

Photographs of the three children wearing Indian-style outfits – the two boys in kurta-pyjamas and three-year-old Mirabel wearing a lehenga – on their arrival in India were splashed across Indian newspapers and websites.

The rest of Vance’s visit is largely personal. After the meeting with Modi, the family left for Jaipur city, where they visited the historic Amer Fort on Tuesday. Vance is also expected to deliver a speech on US-India relations in Jaipur.

The family is also set to visit the iconic Taj Mahal in Agra city on Wednesday before flying to the US the next day.

When the world learned of Pope Francis’ death on Monday morning, an Irish-American cardinal, little known in the wider world, was the one to break the news.

After announcing that the pope had “returned to the home of the Father”, Irish-American Cardinal Kevin Farrell took on one of his biggest roles yet: the “camerlengo”, or the person who runs the Vatican after the death or resignation of a pope.

Pope Francis nominated the cardinal for the role in 2019. The cardinal will remain in the position during the “Apostolica Sedes Vacans”, the period between the death or resignation of a pope until the election of the next pontiff.

He also will play an important role in the centuries-old ceremonies to mourn Pope Francis.

Born in 1947 in Dublin, Farrell attended the University of Salamanca in Spain and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, according to the Vatican.

He held roles in churches around the world, serving as a chaplain at the University of Monterrey in Mexico as well as at a parish in Bethesda, Maryland.

All told, the 77-year-old spent more than 30 years working for churches in the US.

Farrell was appointed Bishop of Dallas in 2007 until Pope Francis asked him in 2016 to serve as the leader of the Vatican’s new department responsible for the pastoral care of families, raising him to the rank of cardinal.

Years after naming him as camerlengo, in 2023, Francis chose Farrell as president of the Supreme Court of Vatican City State. He was also named president of the Commission for Confidential Matters.

• How the next Pope is chosen
• Send us your questions

As camerlengo, Cardinal Farrell will be tasked with making arrangements for the conclave, the process through which the next pontiff is selected.

Technically, a camerlengo can become pope, as has happened twice in history: Gioacchino Pecci (Pope Leo XIII) in 1878 and Eugenio Pacelli (Pope Pius XII) in 1939.

The cardinal also will preside over the certification of Francis’s death, laying his body into the coffin. After that, the cardinal is expected to lead a procession moving the pope’s body from the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta to St Peter’s Basilica.

The ceremony could take place as soon as Wednesday morning, according to the Vatican.

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A swimmer is missing following an extremely rare shark attack off the coast of northern Israel on Monday.

It happened in the sea at Hadera, about 40km (25 miles) north of Tel Aviv.

The incident was witnessed by people on Olga Beach, who can be heard yelling in shock in footage posted on social media.

Sharks are known to gather there where warm water is discharged by a local power plant, and especially at this time of year, but they are usually harmless.

There have been no recorded fatal shark attacks in waters off Israel since the country was founded in 1948.

Police have closed the beach and a search is under way for the missing man.

In video shared online, a man can be seen at a distance of what appears to be a few hundred feet out to sea. He is seen flailing around as people on the beach shout that he is being attacked.

“I was in the water, I saw blood and there were screams,” a witness, Eliya Motai, told Ynet news site.

“I was a few meters from shore,” he said. “It’s terrifying. We were here yesterday and saw the sharks circling us.”

Dusky and sanbar sharks are known to cluster in the area, which is dominated by the Orot Rabin power station, the largest in Israel.

They are attracted by the water warmed up by the plant and by fish which are carried down there from a nearby stream.

Monday’s incident is only the fourth documented shark attack in Israel’s history, according to YNet.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signalled he is open to bilateral talks with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time since the early stages of the war.

Speaking to Russian state TV on Monday, Putin said Russia had “always looked positively on any peace initiatives. We hope that representatives of the Kyiv regime will feel the same way”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin’s comments indicated a willingness to engage in direct talks with Ukraine about not striking civilian targets.

Meanwhile, Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities have continued. A hit on an apartment block in Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday killed one woman and injured 15 others, including two children.

Footage showed the smouldering damage of the high-rise residential building and a burning vehicle on the street.

Ukrainian authorities also reported several attacks elsewhere across the country on Tuesday, including a massive drone attack on the eastern city of Kharkiv that injured at least seven people, and a strike on a medical facility in south-east Kherson.

In the port city of Odesa, three people were injured when a drone strike hit a five-storey unit block on Monday night. Other buildings were targeted, local authorities reported.

Putin’s remarks came after Zelensky suggested a 30-day ceasefire on civilian targets, following a brief Easter truce where both sides accused each other of breaches.

Some critics called the 30-hour truce a marketing stunt by Moscow. France’s foreign minister, Jean- Noël Barrot, said it had been designed to prevent Donald Trump from getting impatient and angry.

The US President said earlier this week that he was hopeful Russia and Ukraine would reach a deal this week, after he had threatened to “take a pass” on further peace negotiations if no progress is made.

Zelensky did not respond directly to Putin’s comments about possible talks, but said Ukraine was “ready for any conversation” that would ensure the safety of civilians.

There have been no direct talks between Russia and Ukraine since the initial weeks after the former launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“When the president said that it was possible to discuss the issue of not striking civilian targets, including bilaterally, the president had in mind negotiations and discussions with the Ukrainian side,” Peskov told the Interfax news agency, clarifying Putin’s remarks.

Zelensky, in his nightly video address, on Monday said Ukraine needed a “clear answer from Moscow” on whether it would agree to stop attacks on civilian infrastructure.

Referring to the short-lived and limited truce declared by Putin over Easter, the Ukrainian leader proposed a follow-up that would “cease any strikes using long-range drones and missiles on civilian infrastructure for a period of at least 30 days”.

“If Russia does not agree to such a step, it will be proof that it wants to continue doing only things that destroy people’s lives and continue the war,” he said.

Putin said the Kremlin would “analyse” the idea, telling journalists that “as for the proposal not to strike at civilian infrastructure facilities… this needs to be sorted out”.

In a rare admission, he acknowledged that the military had targeted a civilian building when Russian missiles killed 35 people and wounded more than 100 others in the centre of the north-eastern city of Sumy earlier this month.

“Everyone is well aware of the strike by our Armed Forces on a congress centre, I think, in Sumy Region. Is it a civilian facility or not? Civilian. But there was an award ceremony for those who committed crimes in Kursk Region”.

The centre of Sumy was busy at the time, with people out on the streets marking Palm Sunday. The region’s deputy leader was later fired after reports of the medal ceremony taking place in a local congress hall emerged.

Ukraine is due to participate in talks with US and European countries in London on Wednesday, following a meeting in Paris last week where leaders discussed pathways to end the war.

Zelensky said the “primary task” of the talks would be “to push for an unconditional ceasefire”.

US stocks and the dollar plunged again as President Donald Trump intensified his attacks on the US central bank boss calling him “a major loser” for not lowering interest rates.

In a social media post, Trump called on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates “pre-emptively” to help boost the economy, saying Powell had been consistently too slow to respond to economic developments.

“There can be a SLOWING of the economy unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates, NOW,” he wrote.

Trump’s criticism of Powell’s handling of the US economy comes as his own plans for tariffs have driven a stock market sell-off and raised fears of economic recession.

The president’s intensifying clash with Powell, whom he named to lead the Fed during his first term, has added to the market turmoil.

• Live coverage of this story

The S&P 500, which tracks 500 of the biggest US companies, fell roughly 2.4% on Monday. It has lost roughly 12% of its value since the start of the year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.4% and has dropped about 10% so far this year, while the Nasdaq fell more than 2.5% and is down roughly 18% since January.

However, on Tuesday, trading on most major stock indexes in the Asia-Pacific region was subdued. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed around 0.1% lower, and the ASX 200 in Sydney closed around 0.3% lower. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed about 0.3% higher.

In European early trading, the UK’s FTSE 100 stock exchange was marginally lower by about 0.05%, while Germany’s Dax was down around 0.5% and France’s CAC was down 0.6%.

Though the US dollar and US government bonds are typically considered safe assets in times of market turmoil, they have not escaped the recent turbulence.

The dollar index – which measures the strength of the dollar against a set of currencies including the euro – on Monday fell to its lowest level since 2022.

Interest rates on US government debt also continued to rise on Tuesday, as investors demanded higher returns for holding Treasuries.

Meanwhile, the price of gold hit a new all-time record high, breaking the $3,500 (£2,613) per ounce mark as investors seek out so-called “safe haven” assets.

The precious metal is viewed as a safer place to put money during times of economic uncertainty.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said as well as tariffs, gold’s appeal had also increased due there being “no long-term resolution in sight for conflicts around the world, particularly in Ukraine and Gaza”.

“There are also concerns about the risk that geo-political tensions escalate as opportunities in the Arctic are eyed by the US and Russia,” she added.

Trump’s criticism of Powell dates back to his first term in office, when he also reportedly discussed firing him. Since winning the election, he has urged Powell to lower borrowing costs.

The latest criticism follows Powell’s warnings that Trump’s import taxes were likely to drive up prices and slow the economy.

Trump last week called publicly for Powell to be fired, writing on social media on Thursday: “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough.”

Such a move would be controversial – and legally questionable – given a tradition of independence at the bank.

Powell last year told reporters he did not believe the president had the legal authority to remove him.

But one of Trump’s top economic advisers confirmed that officials were studying the option on Friday, when the stock market in the US was closed for trading.

Trump’s latest comments come as top economic policymakers are gathering in Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

Christopher Meissner, a professor of economics at University of California, Davis, and who formerly worked with the IMF, told the BBC’s Today programme that before the 1970s there was “significant” political pressure on the Federal Reserve from time to time.

“However, the past 30 or 40 years what we’ve learned is that central bank independence is the key to financial stability and low inflation. And I think this is a major reversal and we have to watch out for it,” he added.

“The independence of central banks is seen as critical to ensure long-term price stability, ringfencing policymakers from short-term political pressures,” added Ms Streeter, of Hargreaves Lansdown.

The IMF will publish its latest growth forecasts for individual countries later, and last week it said these projections would include “notable markdowns”.

Mr Meissner said: “They used to say ‘When the US sneezed, the rest of the world caught a cold’. It’ll be really curious to see if that continues.

“However, I think people are expecting a pretty significant downturn in the US in the coming months… and that can’t be good for the rest of the world.”

Ms Streeter said that Trump’s policies had damaged the reputation of the US, which is “no longer being seen as a calmer port in a storm”.

“Yields on 10–year US Treasuries have held onto their recent rise above 4.4%. It’s another sign of unease about the direction of the US economy, amid worries that policies playing out could keep inflation higher and slow growth, and flags the anxiety rattling through the markets right now,” she added.

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.

Harvard University has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration claiming that its freezing of federal grants worth billions of dollars is unlawful.

Its president, Alan M Garber, announced the action on Monday in a letter to the university community which said the $2bn funding freeze would hamper critical disease research.

Harvard, the world’s richest university, last week rejected a list of demands that the Trump administration said was designed to curb diversity initiatives and fight anti-semitism at the school.

In response to the lawsuit, the White House said the “gravy train of federal assistance” was coming to an end.

Funding cuts have also been implemented at other elite universities, and a new government anti-semitism task force has identified at least 60 universities for review.

President Donald Trump has accused universities of failing to protect Jewish students during last year’s campus protests against the war in Gaza and US support for Israel.

• Harvard has stood up to Trump. How long can it last?

In Monday’s letter, Mr Garber said: “The consequences of the government’s overreach will be severe and long-lasting.”

Studies on pediatric cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease would be affected, he wrote.

“In recent weeks, the federal government has launched a broad attack on the critical funding partnerships that make this invaluable research possible,” the school’s lawsuit said.

It said the withholding of federal funding violated Harvard’s constitutional rights and was being used as “leverage to gain control of academic decisionmaking at Harvard”.

The Trump administration has signalled that another $1bn of federal funding could be suspended. Harvard receives about $9bn in total annually, which is mostly spent on research.

Harvard’s tax exemption status and its ability to enroll international students could also be under threat.

Mr Garber, who is Jewish, acknowledged Harvard’s campus, located in Massachusetts, has had issues with anti-semitism but said he had established task forces aimed at the problem.

He said the university would release the report of two task forces that looked into anti-semitism and anti-Muslim bias.

Separately, the Trump administration has targeted other private Ivy League institutions including suspending $1bn at Cornell University and $510 million at Brown University. Federal dollars also play an outsized role there in funding new scientific breakthroughs.

Others such as Columbia University, the epicentre of pro-Palestinian campus protests last year, have agreed to some demands after $400 million of federal funds was threatened.

The demands to Harvard included agreeing to government-approved external audits of the university’s curriculum as well as hiring and admission data.

In response, Harvard released a blistering letter rejecting what it described as a “takeover” by the federal government.

Former US President Barack Obama, a Harvard alum, has said he supported the university, calling the cash freeze unlawful.

The White House responded Monday night in a statement.

“The gravy train of federal assistance to institutions like Harvard, which enrich their grossly overpaid bureaucrats with tax dollars from struggling American families is coming to an end.

“Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege.”

Polling by Gallup last summer suggested that confidence in higher education had been falling over time among Americans of all political backgrounds.

That was partly driven, the survey said, by a growing belief that universities push a political agenda. The decline was particularly steep among Republicans.

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.

China has executed a man for fatally stabbing a 10-year-old Japanese boy last September, the Japanese embassy in China has told the BBC.

Zhong Changchun was sentenced to death in January for attacking the boy, who had been walking to a Japanese school in south-eastern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The case had sent shockwaves through both countries and fuelled diplomatic tensions amid allegations of it being a xenophobic attack.

“The Government of Japan considers the murder of a completely innocent child to be an unforgivable crime, and we take this execution with the utmost solemnity,” the Japanese embassy said in its statement to the BBC.

“In light of this incident, the Japanese government will continue to take all possible safety measures and strongly urge the Chinese side to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals in China.”

It said that it had been informed of the execution by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The incident heightened fears among Japanese living in China and prompted Japanese companies including Toyota to ask their staff to take precautions. Others, like Panasonic, offered employees free flights home.

The verdict on Zhong’s case made no mention of Japan, Japanese officials previously said. Kenji Kanasugi, Japan’s ambassador to China said Zhong had requested to speak to the victim’s family, but did not say if he had been targeting Japanese nationals.

The incident has also shone a light on the unchecked nationalism on Chinese social media, which has fuelled anti-foreigner sentiment in recent years.

Online commentators noted that the schoolboy’s killing had happened on a politically sensitive date – 18 September, the anniversary of an incident that led to the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in China in the early 1930s.

Historical grievances have long overshadowed political tensions between China and Japan. China has long demanded an apology from Japan for its colonial and wartime aggression in the early and mid 20 Century. It has also accused Japan of glossing over its brutal military actions in China in its history textbooks.

The stabbing also came amid a spate of high-profile attacks on foreigners in China, including the stabbing of four American teachers in Jilin.

Last June, a man attacked a Japanese mother and her child at a bus stop in Suzhou but ended up killing a Chinese woman trying to protect them. The man has also been executed, Japanese officials said last week.

Gary Lineker has said he believes the BBC wanted him to leave Match of the Day as he was negotiating a new contract last year.

The presenter and the BBC jointly announced in November that he would be stepping down from the flagship football programme, although he will still host World Cup and FA Cup coverage.

Asked by the BBC’s Amol Rajan why he would choose to leave given his successful tenure, Lineker said: “Well, perhaps they want me to leave. There was the sense of that.”

The BBC didn’t comment on that suggestion, but at the time Lineker’s exit was announced, the corporation’s director of sport described him as a “world-class presenter”.

However, the BBC noted in the same statement that Match of the Day “continually evolves for changing viewing habits”.

A new trio of presenters – Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan – was announced in January.

Reflecting on his departure from Match of the Day, Lineker told Rajan: “It’s time. I’ve done it for a long time, it’s been brilliant.”

However, asked why he’d want to leave when the ratings were still high and it was a job Lineker still enjoyed, the former footballer said he “had the sense” the BBC had wanted him to step down.

“I always wanted one more contract, and I was umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether to do three years [more],” Lineker explained.

But, he continued, the matter of how long to sign for was complicated by the cycle of broadcasting rights for matches.

“In the end, I think there was a feeling that, because it was a new rights period, it was a chance to change the programme,” he said.

“I think it was their preference that I didn’t do Match of the Day for one more year, so they could bring in new people. So it’s slightly unusual that I would do the FA Cup and the World Cup, but to be honest, it’s a scenario that suits me perfectly.”

Lineker added that he was pleased his football podcasts had been picked up by BBC Sounds as part of a deal with the corporation.

Lineker was also asked about comments he posted on social media in March 2023, criticising the then-government’s immigration policy.

The remarks led to his suspension from the BBC, prompting other sports presenters to down tools in solidarity, something Lineker said he felt “moved” by.

Reflecting on his tweets, Lineker said he did not regret taking the position he did, but that he would not do it again because of the “damage” it did to the BBC.

“I don’t regret saying them publicly, because I was right – what I said, it was accurate – so not at all in that sense.

“Would I, in hindsight, do it again? No I wouldn’t, because of all the nonsense that came with it… It was a ridiculous overreaction that was just a reply to someone that was being very rude. And I wasn’t particularly rude back.”

He continued: “But I wouldn’t do it again because of all the kerfuffle that followed, and I love the BBC, and I didn’t like the damage that it did to the BBC… But do I regret it and do I think it was the wrong thing to do? No.”

The row erupted when Lineker called a government asylum policy “immeasurably cruel”, and said a video promoting it used language that was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”.

The home secretary at the time, Suella Braverman, who appeared in the video, called his criticism “offensive” and “lazy”, while Downing Street said it was “not acceptable”.

Lineker’s post reignited the debate about the BBC’s impartiality guidance on social media and how it applied to presenters.

While staff working in news and current affairs are expected to remain impartial on social platforms, there had been questions over how much the rules extended to BBC personalities in other areas such as entertainment and sport.

Lineker argued that the previous set of rules “were for people in news and current affairs”.

“They have subsequently changed,” he acknowledged. “But that left people like me, who has always given his honest opinions about things, then they suddenly changed them and you have to go, ‘Oh, I’ve got to be impartial now’. It doesn’t make any sense.”

He added: “I’ve always been strong on humanitarian issues and always will be, and that’s me.”

Lineker said that, following his tweets, “the goalposts were massively moved because it was never an issue until, suddenly, this point”.

The BBC updated its social media guidance in 2023 following a review that was commissioned in the wake of the fallout over Lineker’s tweets.

The corporation said presenters of flagship programmes, such as Match of the Day, “carry a particular responsibility to respect the BBC’s impartiality, because of their profile on the BBC”.

Asked if he understood that his comments gave ammunition to the BBC’s critics, Lineker said: “Yes of course, I understand that, but does it make it wrong what I did? I don’t think so. Would I do it if I knew what would’ve happened and transpired? Of course I wouldn’t.”

Lineker hit the headlines again recently when he, along with 500 other high-profile figures, signed an open later urging the BBC to reinstate a documentary about Gaza to iPlayer.

The documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone, was pulled from the streaming service in February after it emerged its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official.

Lineker told Rajan he would “100%” support the documentary being made available again, arguing: “I think you let people make their own minds up. We’re adults. We’re allowed to see things like that. It’s incredibly moving.”

He added that, although the 13-year-old was narrating the programme, the script had “not been written by [the child], it’s been written by the people who produced the show”.

“I think [the BBC] just capitulated to lobbying that they get a lot,” he said.

After concerns were raised, the BBC took down the programme while it carried out further due diligence. The matter is currently still being investigated by the corporation.

The BBC said it had identified serious flaws in the making of the documentary. The BBC board said the mistakes were “significant and damaging”.

In the wide-ranging interview, which will be broadcast on Tuesday, Lineker also discussed his footballing career, his son’s leukemia battle as a baby, and his views on gambling sponsorship in sports.

Lineker said the football industry should rethink its responsibility when it comes to taking money from gambling firms.

“I know people [for whom] it becomes an addiction, it can completely destroy their lives,” he said.

“There’s talk about taking [logos] off the shirts, but you see it on the boards around the ground everywhere.

“I think football needs a long, hard look at itself about that, I really do.”

On top of his presenting roles, Lineker is also the co-founder of Goalhanger Podcasts, which make the successful The Rest is History series and its spin-offs about Politics, Football, Entertainment and Money.

The 64-year-old indicated to Rajan his next career move “won’t be more telly”, adding: “I think I’ll step back from that now.

“I think I’ll probably focus more on the podcast world, because it’s such a fun business and it’s just been so incredible.”

is on BBC iPlayer now

Gary Lineker has said he believes the BBC wanted him to leave Match of the Day as he was negotiating a new contract last year.

The presenter and the BBC jointly announced in November that he would be stepping down from the flagship football programme, although he will still host World Cup and FA Cup coverage.

Asked by the BBC’s Amol Rajan why he would choose to leave given his successful tenure, Lineker said: “Well, perhaps they want me to leave. There was the sense of that.”

The BBC didn’t comment on that suggestion, but at the time Lineker’s exit was announced, the corporation’s director of sport described him as a “world-class presenter”.

However, the BBC noted in the same statement that Match of the Day “continually evolves for changing viewing habits”.

A new trio of presenters – Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan – was announced in January.

Reflecting on his departure from Match of the Day, Lineker told Rajan: “It’s time. I’ve done it for a long time, it’s been brilliant.”

However, asked why he’d want to leave when the ratings were still high and it was a job Lineker still enjoyed, the former footballer said he “had the sense” the BBC had wanted him to step down.

“I always wanted one more contract, and I was umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether to do three years [more],” Lineker explained.

But, he continued, the matter of how long to sign for was complicated by the cycle of broadcasting rights for matches.

“In the end, I think there was a feeling that, because it was a new rights period, it was a chance to change the programme,” he said.

“I think it was their preference that I didn’t do Match of the Day for one more year, so they could bring in new people. So it’s slightly unusual that I would do the FA Cup and the World Cup, but to be honest, it’s a scenario that suits me perfectly.”

Lineker added that he was pleased his football podcasts had been picked up by BBC Sounds as part of a deal with the corporation.

Lineker was also asked about comments he posted on social media in March 2023, criticising the then-government’s immigration policy.

The remarks led to his suspension from the BBC, prompting other sports presenters to down tools in solidarity, something Lineker said he felt “moved” by.

Reflecting on his tweets, Lineker said he did not regret taking the position he did, but that he would not do it again because of the “damage” it did to the BBC.

“I don’t regret saying them publicly, because I was right – what I said, it was accurate – so not at all in that sense.

“Would I, in hindsight, do it again? No I wouldn’t, because of all the nonsense that came with it… It was a ridiculous overreaction that was just a reply to someone that was being very rude. And I wasn’t particularly rude back.”

He continued: “But I wouldn’t do it again because of all the kerfuffle that followed, and I love the BBC, and I didn’t like the damage that it did to the BBC… But do I regret it and do I think it was the wrong thing to do? No.”

The row erupted when Lineker called a government asylum policy “immeasurably cruel”, and said a video promoting it used language that was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”.

The home secretary at the time, Suella Braverman, who appeared in the video, called his criticism “offensive” and “lazy”, while Downing Street said it was “not acceptable”.

Lineker’s post reignited the debate about the BBC’s impartiality guidance on social media and how it applied to presenters.

While staff working in news and current affairs are expected to remain impartial on social platforms, there had been questions over how much the rules extended to BBC personalities in other areas such as entertainment and sport.

Lineker argued that the previous set of rules “were for people in news and current affairs”.

“They have subsequently changed,” he acknowledged. “But that left people like me, who has always given his honest opinions about things, then they suddenly changed them and you have to go, ‘Oh, I’ve got to be impartial now’. It doesn’t make any sense.”

He added: “I’ve always been strong on humanitarian issues and always will be, and that’s me.”

Lineker said that, following his tweets, “the goalposts were massively moved because it was never an issue until, suddenly, this point”.

The BBC updated its social media guidance in 2023 following a review that was commissioned in the wake of the fallout over Lineker’s tweets.

The corporation said presenters of flagship programmes, such as Match of the Day, “carry a particular responsibility to respect the BBC’s impartiality, because of their profile on the BBC”.

Asked if he understood that his comments gave ammunition to the BBC’s critics, Lineker said: “Yes of course, I understand that, but does it make it wrong what I did? I don’t think so. Would I do it if I knew what would’ve happened and transpired? Of course I wouldn’t.”

Lineker hit the headlines again recently when he, along with 500 other high-profile figures, signed an open later urging the BBC to reinstate a documentary about Gaza to iPlayer.

The documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone, was pulled from the streaming service in February after it emerged its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official.

Lineker told Rajan he would “100%” support the documentary being made available again, arguing: “I think you let people make their own minds up. We’re adults. We’re allowed to see things like that. It’s incredibly moving.”

He added that, although the 13-year-old was narrating the programme, the script had “not been written by [the child], it’s been written by the people who produced the show”.

“I think [the BBC] just capitulated to lobbying that they get a lot,” he said.

After concerns were raised, the BBC took down the programme while it carried out further due diligence. The matter is currently still being investigated by the corporation.

The BBC said it had identified serious flaws in the making of the documentary. The BBC board said the mistakes were “significant and damaging”.

In the wide-ranging interview, which will be broadcast on Tuesday, Lineker also discussed his footballing career, his son’s leukemia battle as a baby, and his views on gambling sponsorship in sports.

Lineker said the football industry should rethink its responsibility when it comes to taking money from gambling firms.

“I know people [for whom] it becomes an addiction, it can completely destroy their lives,” he said.

“There’s talk about taking [logos] off the shirts, but you see it on the boards around the ground everywhere.

“I think football needs a long, hard look at itself about that, I really do.”

On top of his presenting roles, Lineker is also the co-founder of Goalhanger Podcasts, which make the successful The Rest is History series and its spin-offs about Politics, Football, Entertainment and Money.

The 64-year-old indicated to Rajan his next career move “won’t be more telly”, adding: “I think I’ll step back from that now.

“I think I’ll probably focus more on the podcast world, because it’s such a fun business and it’s just been so incredible.”

is on BBC iPlayer now