Hamas says it will release Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander as a part of efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

The 21-year-old soldier is the last living hostage with US nationality being held in the territory.

It comes after a senior Hamas official told the BBC that the Palestinian armed group was holding direct negotiations with a US administration official in Qatar. The official said talks had been ongoing for several days and were focused on securing a truce and facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid.

The Israeli prime minister’s office said it had been informed by the US of the Hamas intention to release Alexander.

A senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC that Hamas’s announcement was intended as a goodwill gesture before President Donald Trump arrives in the Middle East on Tuesday.

He said another meeting between Hamas and the mediators was scheduled for early Monday morning to finalise the process of Edan’s release, which would require a temporary halt to Israeli military activity and a suspension of aerial operations during the handover.

Born in Tel Aviv but raised in New Jersey, Alexander was serving in an elite infantry unit on the border with Gaza when he was captured by Hamas militants during the 7 October attack.

Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s 2023 attack, 59 remain in the enclave, up to 24 of whom are believed to be alive. Five of the hostages in Gaza are believed to be US citizens and Alexander was thought to be the only one still alive.

In its statement, Hamas said the release was part of efforts to achieve a ceasefire and allow food, medicine and other supplies into Gaza – which has been under a complete blockade by Israel for 70 days. The group said it wanted to reach a final agreement to end the war.

The Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement that it had been informed by the US of the Hamas intention to release Alexander “as a gesture towards the Americans” and that the move was expected to lead to negotiations on further hostages.

Israel’s policy was that negotiations would be conducted “under fire, based on the commitment to achieve all of the objectives of the war”, it added.

The Families and Missing Families Forum campaign group said Alexander’s release “must mark the beginning of a comprehensive agreement that will secure the freedom of all remaining hostages”.

They said President Trump had “given the families of all the hostages hope” and urged Netanyahu to now “bring everyone back”.

Hamas has in the past said it will only agree to a deal that includes the end of the war, something that has been repeatedly rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The talks between Hamas and the US are taking place amid multiple reports suggesting growing frustration in the Trump administration with Netanyahu’s position. The prime minister is also under pressure at home, with many accusing him of prolonging the war for political purposes.

President Donald Trump arrives in the Middle East on Tuesday, and Israel has vowed to expand its military offensive against Hamas if no deal is reached by the end of his visit.

Israeli officials have said the plans for their expanded offensive include seizing all of the territory indefinitely, forcibly displacing Palestinians to the south, and taking over aid distribution with private companies despite protests from the UN and its humanitarian partners.

Israel has already blocked the entry of all food, medication and other humanitarian supplies into Gaza for 70 days and renewed its aerial bombardment and other military operations there in mid-March, which have since killed 2,720 Palestinians according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Since the beginning of the year, according to the UN, about 10,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children have been identified. Food prices have rocketed by as much as 1,400%.

The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which saw about 1,200 people killed and more than 250 taken hostage. Some 59 are still held captive, up to 24 of whom are believed to be alive.

Israel’s military campaign has killed 52,829 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he is ready to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin “personally” in Istanbul on Thursday for talks over ending the war.

His post came shortly after Donald Trump demanded Ukraine agree to Putin’s offer of direct talks between the two countries in Turkey.

“There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally,” Zelensky wrote.

He had earlier said his country was open to talks with Russia but only after a ceasefire was in place.

Western powers called for a 30-day pause in fighting to begin on Monday after European leaders spearheading the so-called “coalition of the willing” met in Kyiv on Saturday.

Putin’s offer of direct talks followed that intervention.

On Sunday Trump then posted on social media that Ukraine should agree to this “immediately” and it would provide clarity on whether there was a way to end the war.

“At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible, and if it is not, European leaders, and the US, will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly” he said, adding: “Have the meeting, now!”

In his post on X, Zelensky said he hoped Russia would agree to the ceasefire before the talks.

“We await a full and lasting ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy,” he said.

In a late-night address on Saturday, Putin invited Ukraine to take part in “serious negotiations” over the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Putin said he could “not rule out” the possibility that the talks could result in Russia and Ukraine agreeing “a new truce” – but did not address the calls for a 30-day ceasefire directly.

The Russian leader said: “This would be the first step towards a long-term, lasting peace, rather than a prologue to more armed hostilities after the Ukrainian armed forces get new armaments and personnel, after feverish trench-digging and the establishment of new command posts.”

Moscow has previously said that before Russia could consider a ceasefire, the West must first halt its military aid to Ukraine.

On Saturday, the Ukrainian president played host in Kyiv to UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Friedrich Merz and Poland’s Donald Tusk, who later called Trump to discuss their plan.

Sir Keir later told the BBC the US president was “absolutely clear” that their suggestion of an immediate ceasefire was a “demand that must be met”.

Appearing at a news conference with Zelensky, they warned that “new and massive” sanctions would be imposed on Russia’s energy and banking sectors should Putin not agree to the unconditional 30-day ceasefire “in the air, at sea and on land”.

Russia and Ukraine last held direct negotiations in March 2022 in Istanbul, shortly after Moscow launched its invasion.

More than three years later, both sides have agreed, in principle, to resume negotiations. But talks and a deal are very different things. Both sides seemingly retain their red lines, which are as far apart as ever.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says that the US and China have made “substantial progress” on de-escalating the trade war as high-level talks wrapped in Geneva, Switzerland.

Bessent and China’s vice-premier He Lifeng have been engaged in secretive closed-door discussions all weekend, in the first meeting since US President Donald Trump levied steep tariffs against China in January.

The treasury secretary did not elaborate on what had been agreed to, but said details would be announced on Monday and that Trump had been updated.

On Saturday Trump praised the talks for engendering a “total reset” on the relationship between the two countries.

In a social media post, the US president described the talks as being “very good” and said change had been “negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner”.

“We want to see, for the good of both China and the U.S., an opening up of China to American business. GREAT PROGRESS MADE!!!” Trump added.

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng also praised the “important progress” from the talk, and told reporters in Geneva that the meetings had been substantive, Reuters reported.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, inspector general of the World Trade Organisation, called the talks “a significant step forward.”

“I urge both nations to build on this momentum by continuing to develop practical solutions that mitigate tensions, restore predictability, and strengthen confidence in the multilateral trading system,” she said in a statement.

An escalating trade war between Washington and Beijing has seen the US president hit Chinese imports to the US with tariffs of 145%. China retaliated with levies of 125% on some US goods.

On Friday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Washington would not lower tariffs unilaterally, and China would need to make its own concessions.

Both sides issued various other warnings ahead of the meeting, with Beijing saying the US must ease tariffs while Bessent stressed that the focus was on “de-escalation” and this was not a “big trade deal”.

Chinese state media reported that Beijing had decided to engage with the US after fully considering global expectations, the country’s interests and appeals from American businesses.

Last month, the BBC found that Chinese exporters were struggling with the US’s tariffs – one company, Sorbo Technology, reported that half of its products were normally sold to the US and were now sat in boxes in a warehouse in China.

Meanwhile, the US economy was found to have shrank in the first three months of the year – contracting at an annual rate of 0.3% – as firms raced to get goods into the country.

The trade war between China and the US intensified last month after President Trump announced a universal baseline tariff on all imports to the United States, on what he called “Liberation Day”.

Around 60 trading partners, which the White House described as the “worst offenders”, were subjected to higher rates than others. The list included China and the European Union.

Trump said this was payback for years worth of unfair trade policies for the US.

He also separately announced a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium coming into the US, and a further 25% tariff on all cars and car parts.

It was announced last week that the US and UK had agreed a deal, in which the 25% will be cut to 10% for a maximum of 100,000 UK cars – matching the number of cars the UK exported last year.

Cars are the UK’s biggest export to the US, worth about £9bn last year.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has banned chess until further notice due to fears the game is a source of gambling.

Officials said the game has been prohibited indefinitely until its compatibility with Islamic law can be determined.

Chess is the latest sport to be restricted by the Taliban. Women are essentially barred from participating in sport at all.

Since seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban has steadily imposed laws and regulations that reflect its austere vision of Islamic law.

On Sunday, Atal Mashwani, the spokesman of the Taliban government’s sports directorate, said chess in Islamic sharia law is “considered a means of gambling”.

“There are religious considerations regarding the sport of chess,” he told AFP news agency.

“Until these considerations are addressed, the sport of chess is suspended in Afghanistan.”

• How the Taliban stormed across Afghanistan in 10 days
• The Taliban’s broken promises

One cafe owner in Kabul, who has hosted informal chess competitions in recent years, said he would respect the decision but it would hurt his business.

“Young people don’t have a lot of activities these days, so many came here everyday,” Azizullah Gulzada said.

“They would have a cup of tea and challenge their friends to a game of chess.”

He also noted that chess is played in other Muslim-majority countries.

Last year, the authorities banned free fighting such as mixed martial arts (MMA) in professional competition, saying it was too “violent” and “problematic with respect to sharia”.

“It was found that the sport is problematic with respect to Sharia and it has many aspects which are contradictory to the teachings of Islam,” a Taliban spokesperson said last August.

MMA competitions were effectively outlawed in 2021 when the Taliban introduced legislation prohibiting “face-punching”.

The White House is in discussions with the royal family of Qatar to possibly receive a luxury jumbo jet, intended for use as a presidential plane on Air Force One.

In a statement, Qatar denied that the plane would be a gift, but said the transfer of an aircraft for “temporary use” was under discussion between the two countries.

According to CBS News, the BBC’s news partner in America, the plane would be donated to Trump’s presidential library at the end of his term.

The news comes as Trump is set to visit Qatar this week as part of the first major foreign trip of his second term.

Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar’s Media Attaché to the US, said negotiations were ongoing between Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense.

“The matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made.”

Sources told CBS News that the plane will not be ready for use right away as it will need to retrofitted and cleared by security officials.

The potential value of the plane and its handling is sure to raise legal and ethical questions among critics.

On Sunday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “any gift given by a foreign government is always accepted in full compliance with all applicable laws. President Trump’s Administration is committed to full transparency”.

The White House’s current fleet includes two Boeing 747-200B planes customised for presidential use with special communications equipment and features like a stateroom, office and conference room, according to the US Air Force. The planes have been in use since 1990 and 1991.

Air Force One planes usually carry over to other administrations. According to the National Archives, only the Reagan presidential library has an Air Force One jet, and it flew seven presidents before being donated.

Qatar is said to be offering a version of a Boeing 747-8, a much newer model that ABC News reports has been upgraded into a “flying palace”.

Boeing had been contracted to provide the White House with newer planes, but Trump complained earlier this year that the company was behind schedule. His administration had initially negotiated with Boeing for two specialised 747-8 planes during his first administration.

The plane maker said the aircraft would not be available until 2027 or 2028.

“No, I’m not happy with Boeing. It takes them a long time to do, you know, Air Force One, we gave that contract out a long time ago,” Trump said in February.

“We may buy a plane or get a plane, or something.”

Trump had a positive diplomatic relationship with Qatar during his first term, which included an announcement in 2019 that the country would make a large purchase of American airplanes.

Qatar has also previously given private jets as gifts to other countries, such as a luxury plane given to Turkey in 2018.

Pope Leo XIV appealed for “no more war” in a message to world powers during his first Sunday address at the Vatican.

Reflecting on current conflicts, the newly selected pontiff called for a “lasting peace” in the war in Ukraine, a ceasefire in Gaza, and welcomed Saturday’s agreement to end recent hostilities between India and Pakistan.

He said he was “deeply hurt” by events in Gaza, expressed hope for a “lasting accord” between India and Pakistan, and wished for a “authentic, true and lasting peace” in Ukraine.

The Pope also recited the Regina Caeli prayer, in honour of the Virgin Mary, to the crowd in St Peter’s Square.

Pope Leo was chosen as the new leader of the Catholic Church on Thursday following the death of his predecessor, Pope Francis, and a two-day conclave in Vatican City.

On Saturday, he visited a shrine outside Rome before praying at Francis’ tomb inside the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

Pope Leo will be formally inaugurated at a mass in St Peter’s Square next week on 18 May.

Three years ago, as Bishop Robert Prevost, he denounced Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as an imperialist war and condemned crimes against humanity he said were being committed there.

On Sunday, he restricted himself to echoing his predecessor, Francis, in calling for peace.

“I would also like to address the powerful people of the world, repeating the always current call: ‘no more war’,” he told the crowd from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica.

“The immense tragedy of the Second World War ended 80 years ago…now we’re facing the tragedy of a third world war in pieces.”

The pontiff continued: “I carry in my heart the suffering of the beloved Ukrainian people.

“May whatever is possible be done to reach an authentic, true and lasting peace as quickly as possible. May all the prisoners be freed. May children return to their families.

“And I am deeply hurt by what is happening in the Gaza Strip.

“May a ceasefire immediately come into effect. May humanitarian aid be allowed into the civilian population and may all hostages be freed.”

He added: “I was happy to hear on the other hand that there was a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, and I hope that through the coming negotiations we might soon come to a lasting accord.”

His remarks came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin set out competing plans for a peace process to bring the three-year invasion of Ukraine to an end.

In the Middle East, Israel has cut off all humanitarian aid entering Gaza and resumed its military offensive in the Palestinian territory following the collapse of a two-month ceasefire and hostage exchange agreement.

Meanwhile, India and Pakistan agreed to a tentative ceasefire on Saturday after days of cross-border military strikes that followed an attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir on 22 April.

It has been a busy week for the pontiff, who held his first Mass as Pope in the Sistine chapel on Friday before speaking to cardinals on Saturday.

During this meeting, he described himself as an unworthy choice for Pope, and vowed to continue the “precious legacy” of his predecessor.

He highlighted the importance of missionary work and discussion – as well as care for those he called the “least and the rejected”.

He explained he had chosen the name Leo after a 19th-century Pope known for his teaching on social justice.

The new Pope also suggested the development of artificial intelligence and other advances meant the church was necessary today for the defence of human dignity and justice.

He is due to hold an audience with the media on Monday ahead of his inauguration next Sunday.

As part of that mass he will deliver a homily in the presence of numerous heads of state and dignitaries.

The 69-year-old is the 267th occupant of the throne of St Peter, and the first American to become a pontiff. He will lead members of the Catholic Church’s global community of 1.4bn people.

Born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, he worked for many years as a missionary in Peru before being made an archbishop there. He also has Peruvian nationality.

Although Leo was born in the US, the Vatican described him as the second pope from the Americas. Pope Francis, from Argentina, was the first.

Pope Leo is widely seen as a moderate who can offer “continuity” and “unity” following the death of his predecessor last month.

The new pontiff is believed to have shared Francis’ views on migrants, the poor and the environment.

In his first speech he told the crowds he wanted “to walk together with you as a united Church searching all together for peace and justice”.

Amber Heard has announced the arrival of twins in an Instagram post shared on Mother’s Day in the United States.

The American actor revealed that she had welcomed daughter Agnes and son Ocean and was “elated beyond words” to celebrate the “completion” of her family.

Heard, 39, welcomed her first daughter, Oonagh, in 2021.

Under a picture of three pairs of feet, Heard wrote: “Becoming a mother by myself and on my own terms despite my own fertility challenges has been the most humbling experience of my life.”

The actor said she had chosen motherhood “responsibly and thoughtfully” and “couldn’t possibly burst with more joy”.

She described her family as one she had “strived to build for years”.

“To all the moms, wherever you are today and however you got here, my dream family and I are celebrating with you,” she added.

When Heard announced the birth of her first daughter in 2021, she spoke about her desire for it to be “normalised to not want a ring in order to have a crib”.

“I now appreciate how radical it is for us as women to think about one of the most fundamental parts of our destinies in this way,” she wrote on Instagram at the time.

Heard is best known for her films The Rum Diary, Drive Angry, Zombieland and Aquaman.

She was married to actor Johnny Depp from 2015 to 2016.

After their marriage ended, the pair accused each other of domestic abuse and engaged in two lengthy and high-profile defamation cases.

In the Depp v. News Group Newspapers (NGN) trial in 2020, Depp lost his UK libel case against the Sun newpaper after Heard gave evidence to back claims in the newspaper that he was a “wife-beater”.

In the widely publicised Depp v. Heard trial in the US, Heard was found liable for defaming Depp.

For six weeks in 2022, a court in the US state of Virginia heard details of the couple’s volatile relationship.

Depp sued his ex-wife for defamation over an opinion article she wrote for the Washington Post that alleged she was a domestic abuse victim, although it did not mention him by name. Heard counter-sued.

Jurors awarded Depp – who denied abusing Heard – $15m (£12m) in compensatory and punitive damages.

Heard won one of three counter-claims against Depp and was awarded $2m in compensatory damages.

The US-China trade war could be letting up, with the world’s two largest economies beginning talks in Switzerland.

Top trade officials from both sides met on Saturday in the first high-level meeting since US President Donald Trump hit China with tariffs in January.

Beijing retaliated immediately and a tense stand-off ensued as the two countries heaped levies on each other. New US tariffs on Chinese imports stand at 145%, and some US exports to China face duties of 125%.

There have been weeks of stern, and sometimes fiery, rhetoric where each side sought to paint the other as the more desperate party.

And yet this weekend they face each other over the negotiating table.

So why now?

Despite multiple rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs, both sides have been sending signals that they want to break the deadlock. Except it wasn’t clear who would blink first.

“Neither side wants to appear to be backing down,” said Stephen Olson, senior visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute and a former US trade negotiator.

“The talks are taking place now because both countries have judged that they can move forward without appearing to have caved in to the other side.”

Still, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian emphasised on Wednesday that “the talks are being held at the request of the US”.

And the commerce ministry framed it as a favour to Washington, saying it was answering the “calls of US businesses and consumers”.

The Trump administration, however, claims it’s Chinese officials who “want to do business very much” because “their economy is collapsing”.

“They said we initiated? Well, I think they ought to go back and study their files,” Trump said at the White House on Wednesday.

But as the talks drew closer, the president struck a more diplomatic note: “We can all play games. Who made the first call, who didn’t make the – it doesn’t matter,” he told reporters on Thursday. “It only matters what happens in that room.”

The timing is also key for Beijing because it’s during Xi’s visit to Moscow. He was a guest of honour on Friday at Moscow’s Victory Day parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the World War Two victory over Nazi Germany.

Xi stood alongside leaders from across the Global South – a reminder to Trump’s administration that China not only has other options for trade, but it is also presenting itself as an alternative global leader.

This allows Beijing to project strength even as it heads to the negotiating table.

Trump insists that the tariffs will make America stronger, and Beijing has vowed to “fight till the end”- but the fact is the levies are hurting both countries.

Factory output in China has taken a hit, according to government data. Manufacturing activity in April dipped to the lowest level since December 2023. And a survey by news outlet Caixin this week showed that services activity has reached a seven-month low.

The BBC found that Chinese exporters have been reeling from the steep tariffs, with stock piling up in warehouses, even as they strike a defiant note and look for markets beyond the US.

“I think [China] realises that a deal is better than no deal,” says Bert Hofman, a professor at the East Asian Institute in National University Singapore.

“So they’ve taken a pragmatic view and said, ‘OK, well we need to get these talks going.'”

And so with the major May Day holiday in China over, officials in Beijing have decided the time is right to talk.

On the other side, the uncertainty caused by tariffs led to the US economy contracting for the first time in three years.

And industries that have long depended on Chinese-made goods are especially worried. A Los Angeles toy company owner told the BBC that they were “looking at the total implosion of the supply chain”.

Trump himself has acknowledged that US consumers will feel the sting.

American children may “have two dolls instead of 30 dolls”, he said at a cabinet meeting this month, “and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple bucks more than they would normally”.

Trump’s approval ratings have also slid over fears of inflation and a possible recession, with more than 60% of Americans saying he was focusing too much on tariffs.

“Both countries are feeling pressure to provide a bit of reassurance to increasingly nervous markets, businesses, and domestic constituencies,” Mr Olson says.

“A couple of days of meetings in Geneva will serve that purpose.”

While the talks have been met with optimism, a deal may take a while to materialise.

The talks will mostly be about “touching base”, Mr Hofman said, adding that this could look like an “exchange of positions” and, if things go well, “an agenda [will be] set for future talks”.

The negotiations on the whole are expected to take months, much like what happened during Trump’s first term.

After nearly two years of tit-for-tat tariffs, the US and China signed a “phase one” deal in early 2020 to suspend or reduce some levies. Even then, it did not include thornier issues, such as Chinese government subsidies for key industries or a timeline for scrapping the remaining tariffs.

In fact, many of them stayed in place through Joe Biden’s presidency, and Trump’s latest tariffs add to those older levies.

What could emerge this time is a “phase one deal on steroids”, Mr Olson said: that is, it would go beyond the earlier deal and try to address flashpoints. There are many, from the illegal fentanyl trade which Washington wants China to crack down harder on to Beijing’s relationship with Moscow.

But all of that is far down the line, experts warn.

“The systemic frictions that bedevil the US-China trade relationship will not be solved any time soon,” Mr Olson adds.

“Geneva will only produce anodyne statements about ‘frank dialogues’ and the desire to keep talking.”

In a dramatic turn of events, US President Donald Trump took to social media on Saturday to announce that India and Pakistan – after four tense days of cross-border clashes – had agreed to a “full and immediate ceasefire”.

Behind the scenes, US mediators, alongside diplomatic backchannels and regional players, proved critical in pulling the nuclear-armed rivals back from the brink, experts say.

However, hours after a ceasefire deal, India and Pakistan were trading accusations of fresh violations – underscoring its fragility.

India accused Pakistan of “repeated violations” while Pakistan insisted it remained committed to the ceasefire, with its forces showing “responsibility and restraint.”

Before Trump’s ceasefire announcement, India and Pakistan were spiralling towards what many feared could become a full-blown conflict.

After a deadly militant attack killed 26 tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir last month, India launched air strikes inside Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir – triggering days of aerial clashes, artillery duels and, by Saturday morning, accusations from both sides of missile strikes on each other’s airbases.

The rhetoric escalated sharply, with each country claiming to have inflicted heavy damage while foiling the other’s attacks.

• Why India and Pakistan fight over Kashmir
• Drone war opens a new chapter in India-Pakistan conflict

Tanvi Madan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, says US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s call to Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir on 9 May “might have been the crucial point”.

“There’s still much we don’t know about the roles of various international actors, but it’s clear over the past three days that at least three countries were working to de-escalate – the US, of course, but also the UK and Saudi Arabia,” she says.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told Pakistani media that “three dozen countries” were involved in the diplomacy – including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the US.

“One question is whether, if this call had come earlier – right after the initial Indian strikes, when Pakistan was already claiming some Indian losses and an off-ramp was available – it might have prevented further escalation,” Ms Madan says.

This isn’t the first time US mediation has helped defuse an India–Pakistan crisis.

In his memoir, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo claimed he was woken up to speak with an unnamed “Indian counterpart”, who feared Pakistan was preparing nuclear weapons during the 2019 standoff.

Former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria later wrote that Pompeo overstated both the risk of nuclear escalation and the US role in calming the conflict.

But diplomats say there is little doubt the US played an important role in defusing the crisis this time.

“The US was the most prominent external player. Last time, Pompeo claimed they averted nuclear war. While they’ll likely exaggerate, they may have played the primary diplomatic role, perhaps amplifying Delhi’s positions in Islamabad,” Mr Bisaria told the BBC on Saturday.

Yet at the outset, the US appeared strikingly standoffish.

As tensions flared, US Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday that the US was not going to get involved in a war that’s “fundamentally none of our business”.

“We can’t control these countries though. Fundamentally, India has its gripes with Pakistan… America can’t tell the Indians to lay down their arms. We can’t tell the Pakistanis to lay down their arms. And so we’re going to continue to pursue this thing through diplomatic channels, ” he said in a television interview.

Meanwhile, President Trump said earlier this week: “I know both [leaders of India and Pakistan] very well, and I want to see them work it out… I want to see them stop, and hopefully they can stop now”.

Ejaz Haider, a Lahore-based defence analyst, told the BBC this appeared to be the only difference from previous occasions.

“The American role was a continuation of past patterns, but with one key difference – this time, they initially stayed hands-off, watching the crisis unfold instead of jumping in right away. Only when they saw how it was playing out did they step in to manage it,” Mr Haider told the BBC.

Experts in Pakistan say as the escalation cycle deepened, Pakistan sent “dual signals”, retaliating militarily while announcing a National Command Authority (NCA) meeting – a clear reminder of the nuclear overhang.

The NCA controls and takes operational decisions regarding Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.

This was around the time US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stepped in.

“The US was indispensable. This outcome would not have occurred without Secretary Rubio’s efforts,” Ashley J Tellis, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the BBC.

What also helped was Washington’s deepening ties with Delhi.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal rapport with Trump, plus the US’s broader strategic and economic stakes, gave the US administration diplomatic leverage to push both nuclear-armed rivals towards de-escalation.

Indian diplomats see three key peace tracks that happened this time, much like after Pulwama–Balakot in 2019:

• US and UK pressure
• Saudi mediation, with the Saudi junior foreign minister visiting both capitals
• The direct India-Pakistan channel between the two national security advisors (NSAs)

Despite shifting global priorities and a hands-off posture at first, the US ultimately stepped in as the indispensable mediator between South Asia’s nuclear rivals.

Whether overstated by its own officials or underacknowledged by Delhi and Islamabad, experts believe the US’s role as crisis manager remains as vital – and as complicated – as ever.

Doubts do, however, linger over the ceasefire’s durability after Saturday’s events, with some Indian media reporting it was essentially brokered by senior military officials of the two countries – not the US.

“This ceasefire is bound to be a fragile one. It came about very quickly, amid sky-high tensions. India appears to have interpreted it differently than did the US and Pakistan,” Michael Kugelman, a foreign policy analyst, told the BBC.

“Also, since it was put together so hastily, the accord may lack the proper guarantees and assurances one would need at such a tense moment.”

A fourth round of talks between the US and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme have taken place in Oman, with both sides agreeing to meet again.

US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff said the discussions in Muscat were encouraging, while Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described them as “difficult but useful”.

The US has insisted that Iran must scrap its uranium enrichment to prevent the country developing nuclear weapons, but Tehran denies it has such an aim and on Sunday again stressed it did not intend to give up the programme.

Donald Trump pulled out of a previous nuclear agreement between Iran and five other world powers in 2018.

He previously warned of possible military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities if the fresh set of talks, which began in April, do not succeed.

Two previous rounds of the negotiations were held in Muscat with one taking place in the Omani embassy in Rome.

A senior US official said the latest discussions lasted more than three hours, adding: “Agreement was reached to move forward with the talks to continue working through technical elements.

“We are encouraged by today’s outcome and look forward to our next meeting, which will happen in the near future.”

Speaking to Iranian state TV, Araghchi said the talks had been “more serious and more direct” than on previous occasions.

“The two sides have now a better understanding of each other’s positions. We can characterise the talks today as moving forward.”

But Araghchi said “contradictory positions taken by the US in the media is not acceptable to us as they do not help the negotiations”.

The talks came in the same week that Witkoff said in an interview with US media outlet Breitbart News that the US expects Iran to dismantle its uranium enrichment activities.

Araghchi said: “Enrichment is an issue that Iran will not give up and there is no room for compromise on it. However, its dimensions, levels, or amounts might change for a period to allow confidence-building.”

Iran insists its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful and that it will never seek to develop or acquire nuclear weapons.

However, since Trump pulled out of the 2015 agreement – which expires later this year – Iran has increasingly breached restrictions imposed by the existing nuclear deal in retaliation for crippling US sanctions reinstated seven years ago, and has stockpiled enough highly-enriched uranium to make several bombs.

Under the terms of the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to only enrich uranium up to 3.67% purity for the next 15 years.

In February, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog reported that Tehran had stockpiled uranium enriched to 60% purity and could swiftly move to 90%, which would be weapons-grade.

The 2015 nuclear deal took nearly two years of intensive negotiations. At the start of this new effort to reach an agreement, Iran’s programme is far more developed and complex, and the wider region is far more volatile.

The Swiss city of Basel is going into party mode this weekend, as it prepares to welcome the Eurovision Song Contest.

It’s been 36 years since Switzerland last hosted the contest, after Celine Dion won in 1988, so the wait to roll out Eurovision’s famous turquoise carpet has been long.

Switzerland hosted the first ever Eurovision at Lugano in 1956, but its record since Dion’s victory in Dublin has been mixed.

Between 2007 and 2010, and again between 2015 and 2018, its entries failed to even qualify for the final. Swiss singer Nemo finally won last year with The Code.

Perhaps because of that, Basel is determined to make this contest memorable for all the right reasons. At 1.3km (0.8 miles), its turquoise carpet will be Eurovision’s longest ever, stretching from Basel town hall, across the river Rhine all the way to the Eurovision village.

The head of Basel’s government, Conradin Cramer, believes his city of just 175,000 residents is the natural home for Eurovision’s estimated half a million visitors.

Because of its borders with both France and Germany, Basel is “the heart of Europe”, he says. What’s more, he points out, the city has a long humanist tradition; when other cities in medieval Europe were cracking down on free thinkers, Basel welcomed them.

So Basel, with its geographic location and its history of tolerance, and Eurovision with its tradition of inclusivity and diversity are, he says “the perfect match”.

Last year’s contest in Malmo attracted thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators and further protests against the war in Gaza are expected in Basel too.

Police have not yet released their plans to manage this, but have said that everyone should have the right to express their opinion, as long they stay within the law, and do not risk the safety of others.

Throughout the contest they say 1,300 officers will be on duty. Basel has also unveiled a security operation to ensure visitors can enjoy the song contest safely. They are promising “mobile awareness teams”, safe retreats for victims of violence or hostility and a 24-hour hotline. The concept, which Basel officials describe as unique, aims to prevent violence, sexual assault or harassment, and racist aggression and insults.

The awareness teams, recognisable by their pink jackets, will be available 24 hours a day across the city. Basel’s security director Stephanie Eymann said the teams were a “low-threshold” measure to give visitors a chance to report harassment or assaults, and seek protection, even if some might not want to approach the police.

The entire town appears to have embraced the event, with turquoise welcome flags now waving from every lamp post. Tickets for the contest itself sold out in minutes, but Basel is promising that there will be “something for everyone”, ticket or no ticket, and most of it will be free.

“There will be concerts all over the city, there will be art projects,” says tourism director Letizia Elia. Basel has 40 museums and galleries in a space of just 37 square kilometres, a record for a European city, and they are all getting involved.

An exhibition featuring works by Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko, Wassily Kandinsky, and Pablo Picasso has opened at the Beyeler Foundation, where Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone’s We are Poems rainbow sculpture sits on the roof. There’s also a Glitz and Glam exhibition at Basel’s museum of natural history.

The celebrations have spread across Switzerland, with competitions across the country for the best school band – the top four will get a spot on stage in Basel.

But hosting an event like Eurovision is never hitch-free, and this one is no exception. The final choice of Basel as a venue was only made at the end of August last year, allowing just over seven months to organise everything.

Then came objections from evangelical Christian groups, who claimed Eurovision undermined traditional family values and that performers regularly sang about satanism and the occult. They gathered enough signatures to force a referendum aimed at banning public money for the event.

But on 24 November voters gave a huge yes to the song contest; with 66.6% approving Basel’s budget of almost $40m. Conradin Cramer had expected a referendum, because “that’s how Switzerland works, it’s perfectly fine.” But he was still delighted at the size of the vote in favour: “It shows this is a city where people really want to do this.”

He is very conscious that the global debate around diversity and inclusion has changed in the year since Swiss singer Nemo became the first non-binary person to win Eurovision.

The overriding message of Basel, Mr Cramer says, is “everyone is welcome”.

On-stage and in the dressing rooms though, things are stricter. EBU, which runs the contest itself, has stuck to its rules saying performers can only bring their own national flags onstage or into the green rooms. This means that they will not be able to fly the Pride flag or that of any other gender identity or sexuality.

Fans, however, will be able to bring whatever flags they like into the arena.

Last year Swiss winner Nemo did wave a non-binary flag during the performance, but said they had to ‘smuggle’ the flag in. This year LGBTQ+ groups say they are disappointed the EBU has not relaxed the rules.

“Banning our symbols is a slap in the face for the LGBTIQ community’, said Swiss group Pink Cross. “It sends the wrong message at a time when queer communities across Europe are facing increasing hostility.”

EBU has said that the guidelines were designed to create clarity and balance explaining: “Eurovision needs no flag to demonstrate its alliance and celebration of the LGBTQ+ community.”

Across the Atlantic, Donald Trump’s administration is actively removing government support for diversity and inclusion measures, and he is asking partnered European institutions (including some Swiss universities) to do the same.

That’s why Basel, says Mr Cramer, should take a stand, even if the EBU will not.

“These are our European values. People and nations are coming together in a friendly championship. Whoever you are, if you are young, if you are not that young, if you are straight, if you are gay, if you are female, male, or if you are non-binary, this is all perfectly fine. And I think this is not just what Basel stands for, this is what Europe should stand for.”

So if everyone is welcome, how do they get there? The host country being Switzerland, punctual transport is catered for. Swiss railways is laying on hundreds of extra trains. In Basel, the trams will run 24 hours a day.

And, for those who are really in Eurovision mode, there is even a karaoke tram, where passengers can take a free 90-minute journey right across town, all the while singing their hearts out.

When Charlie Hopkins thinks back to the three years he spent in one of America’s most famous prisons, he remembers the “deathly quiet” the most.

In 1955, Hopkins was sent to Alcatraz – a famed prison on an isolated island off the coast of San Francisco – after causing trouble at other prisons to serve a 17-year sentence for kidnapping and robbery.

Falling asleep at night in his cell on the remote island, he said, the only sound was the whistle of ships passing.

“That’s a lonely sound,” Hopkins said. “It reminds you of Hank Williams singing that song, ‘I’m so lonesome I could cry.'”

Now 93 and living in Florida, Hopkins said the San Francisco National Archives informed him that he is likely the last surviving former Alcatraz inmate. Another former inmate, William Baker, appeared to be alive as of last year.

In an interview with the BBC this week, Hopkins described life at Alcatraz – which formed the setting for the 1996 film The Rock – where he made friends with gangsters and once helped plan an unsuccessful escape.

Although it closed decades ago, US President Donald Trump recently claimed that he wants to re-open it as a federal prison.

When Hopkins was transferred to the high-security prison in 1955, from an Atlanta facility, he remembers it being clean, but barren. And there were few distractions – no radio at the time, and few books, he said.

“There was nothing to do,” he said. “You could walk back and forth in your cell or do push-ups.”

Hopkins kept busy part of the time with his job cleaning Alcatraz, sweeping the floors and buffing them “until they shined”, he said.

He was sent to prison in 1952 in Jacksonville, Florida, for his role in a series of robberies and kidnappings. He was part of a group that took hostages to get through roadblocks and steal cars, he said.

• The men who broke out of Alcatraz with a spoon

At Alcatraz, Hopkins had some infamous neighbours. The facility housed many violent criminals over its 30 years – Al Capone; Robert Stroud, a murderer known as the “Birdman of Alcatraz”; and crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger – making it the subject of a host of films and television shows.

A 22-acre island, 1.25 miles (2km) off San Francisco and surrounded by freezing waters with strong currents, Alcatraz was originally a naval defence fort. It was rebuilt in the early 20th century as a military prison. The US Justice Department took it over in the 1930s, transforming the facility into a federal prison to address rampant organised crime at the time.

Even in the high-security prison, Hopkins said he still managed to get into trouble and spent many days in the facility’s “D Block” – solitary confinement where inmates who misbehaved were held and rarely let out of their cells.

His longest stint there – six months – came after he tried to help several other prisoners, including notorious bank robber Forrest Tucker, escape Alcatraz, Hopkins said. He helped steal hacksaw blades from the prison’s electric shop to cut the prison bars in the basement kitchen.

The plan didn’t work – prison guards discovered the blades in other inmates’ cells, Hopkins said. “A few days after they locked them up, they locked me up,” he said.

But that did not stop one of the inmates.

In 1956, when Tucker was taken to a hospital for a kidney operation, he stabbed his ankle with a pencil so prison guards would have to remove his leg irons, Tucker told the New Yorker. Then, as he was taken to get an X-ray, he overpowered hospital orderlies and ran away, he said.

He was captured in a hospital gown in a cornfield hours later.

As more prisoners attempted to escape Alcatraz over the years, officials ramped up security, Hopkins said.

“When I left there in 1958, the security was so tight you couldn’t breathe,” he said.

All told, there were 14 separate attempts over the years involving 36 inmates, according to the National Park Service.

One of the most famous involved Frank Morris, and brothers Clarence and John Anglin, who escaped in June 1962 by placing papier-mâché heads in their beds and breaking out through ventilation ducts. They were never found, but the FBI concluded that they drowned in the cold waters surrounding the island.

A year later, the prison shut down after the government determined it would be more cost-effective to build new prisons than to keep the remote island facility in operation.

Now it’s a publicly run museum visited by millions each year that generates about $60m (£45m) a year in revenue for park partners.

The building is decrepit, with peeling paint, rusted pipes, and crumbling toilets in each cramped cell. Construction on the main prison facility began in 1907, and more than a century of exposure to the elements has rendered the place all but uninhabitable.

Trump said this week, however, that he wants his government to re-open and expand the island prison for the country’s “most ruthless and violent offenders”.

Alcatraz “represents something very strong, very powerful” – law and order, Trump said.

But experts and historians said Trump’s proposal to re-establish the prison is far-fetched, as it would cost billions to repair and bring up to date with other federal facilities.

Hopkins agrees. “It would be so expensive,” he said.

“Back then, the sewage system went into the ocean,” he added. “They’d have to come up with another way of handling that.”

Hopkins left Alcatraz five years before it closed down for good. He had been transferred to a prison in Springfield, Missouri and given psychiatric medication that improved his behaviour and helped him heal psychological issues, he said.

But the avid Trump supporter said he does not believe the president’s proposal is serious.

“He don’t really want to open that place,” Hopkins said, adding that Trump was trying to “get a point across to the public” about punishing criminals and those who enter the US illegally.

Hopkins was released in 1963, working first at a truck stop before taking on other jobs. He went back to his home state of Florida, where now he has a daughter and grandson.

After several decades reflecting on his crimes and life in Alcatraz, he wrote a 1,000-page memoir, with nearly half of the book detailing his troubled behaviour, he said.

“You wouldn’t believe the trouble I caused them when I was there,” he said. “I can see now, looking back, that I had problems.”

Care workers will no longer be recruited from overseas as part of a crackdown on visas for lower-skilled workers, the home secretary has told the BBC.

Yvette Cooper said it is “time to end that care worker recruitment from abroad” and rules will change this year – instead requiring firms to hire British nationals or extend visas of overseas workers already in the country.

The government plans to unveil changes to visa and recruitment laws on Monday in a bid to cut net migration, and says measures will cut up to 50,000 lower-skilled and care workers coming to the UK over the next year.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the plans were “too little” and called for an annual cap on migration.

Successive governments have tried unsuccessfully to reduce net migration, which is the number of people coming to the UK minus the number leaving.

Net migration climbed to a record 906,000 in June 2023, and last year it stood at 728,000.

The Home Office has not yet officially confirmed what will be in its immigration White Paper, due early next week.

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Cooper said the government “was setting up plans for a substantial reduction in net migration” but added targets would not be set, saying “they undermined the credibility of anything that governments do”.

The threshold for skilled visas is expected to be increased to graduate level, tightened from the current A-level measure.

There will also be a “narrower” list of exceptions to the rules for temporary shortage visas in some industries, Cooper said, but did not give examples.

Currently, roles considered to be in short supply in the UK like carpenters, graphic designers and pharmaceutical technicians can be placed on the Immigration Salary List (ISL), allowing employers to hire overseas workers at discount – set at 80% of the market rate.

Cooper said the government expects those changes will “lead to a reduction of up to 50,000 fewer lower skilled visas over the course of the next year”.

As well as visa changes, the home secretary added there would be new requirements for training commitments “to get people who are not working back into the labour market here in the UK”.

Philp – who said he agreed with the plan to end care worker recruitment from abroad – told the same programme the Conservatives would push Parliament to vote on a yearly migration cap this week.

When asked what the cap would be, he said “we’re working on the detail to specify that number”, but it would be “a further reduction of significantly more than 50,000”.

He argued that if Labour had stuck with Tory changes net migration would have dropped “by about 400,000”.

Cooper also said there would be “some changes” to rules around international students and graduates.

“We will let them continue to come and to stay and to work afterwards,” she added.

“We are making some changes, particularly around the standards and the compliance for universities, because, again, we’ve had problems where some universities haven’t had proper standards in place.

“They’ve recruited people to come as international students who then haven’t completed their courses, have either overstayed or… other problems with compliance of the system.”

The government has already tightened rules around care sector worker after coming to power last July.

Applications for Health and Care Worker visas peaked at 18,300 in August 2023, then collapsed to 1,700 by April this year following the ban on bringing dependants.

And on 9 April, an additional restriction was added requiring care firms who want to recruit a new worker from overseas to prove they attempted to recruit a worker from within England first.

But the new rules will require care companies to recruit from domestic workers or a pool of over 10,000 care workers brought to the UK on visas for jobs that never materialised.

Alongside this Cooper promised “to bring in a new fair pay agreement for care workers” to make care jobs more attractive to UK workers and reduce overseas demand.

Nadra Ahmed, the National Care Association’s executive chairman, told the BBC the changes would a “challenging scenario” for care homes even “worse”.

She said providers “always prefer to have a domestic workforce” but said it was not available.

Responding to the changes, the Liberal Democrats social care spokesperson Helen Morgan said the government was “tinkering around the edges yet failing to properly tackle the crisis in our social care”.

“Labour must step up and take proper action to address recruitment shortages including paying our care workers properly and rolling out a plan for career progression,” she said.

While Labour have been reviewing migration policy for months, many have suggested this week’s crackdown was triggered by Reform UK’s surge in the local elections, where it took the Runcorn and Helsby constituency off Labour and won control of 10 councils.

Reform leader Nigel Farage claimed “this new legislation is only happening because Reform is leading in the polls”.

Labour’s plan was “doomed to fail”, he argued as immigration was “not just about what numbers come in but who comes in and if they can assimilate”.

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We’ve seen it before: Vladimir Putin doesn’t react well to ultimatums. We saw it again, last night, in the Kremlin.

President Putin slammed European powers for talking to Russia “in a boorish manner and with the help of ultimatums”.

He didn’t go into detail. He didn’t need to.

This was clearly his response to the ultimatum set by European leaders in Kyiv.

They had warned Moscow that if Russia didn’t agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire from Monday, there will be more sanctions against Russia and more military assistance for Ukraine.

On Saturday, Sir Keir Starmer said that “if he [Putin] is serious about peace, then he has a chance to show it”.

The Kremlin’s response: we’re serious, but we’ll show it our way.

Putin’s way (his counter proposal) is direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul next Thursday.

But, crucially, no immediate ceasefire.

So, is the Kremlin’s offer a serious peace initiative? Or is it simply an attempt by Moscow to play for time and to prolong the war? And, with this proposal, might Russia also be trying to split the Western coalition that is backing Ukraine?

Let’s begin with a short, but key question: does Vladimir Putin want peace?

He claims he does. But peace only on Russia’s terms.

Moscow suspects it has little to gain from a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, especially since the Russians believe they currently have the initiative on the battlefield in Ukraine.

• Live updates on this story
• Frank Gardner: What Trump does next is crucial – and he could go either way

But neither does Russia want to be seen as an obstacle to peace. It’s keen to maintain a good relationship with the Donald Trump administration, with which the Kremlin has been working hard on improving ties.

If a US-Russia rapprochement continues, the Kremlin will be hoping for speedy sanctions relief and an economic boost.

By proposing direct talks in Istanbul, President Putin is sending a signal to the White House: “I am a man of peace.”

• Why Zelensky can’t and won’t give up Crimea

But by not committing to an immediate 30-day ceasefire, the likelihood is Russia will continue the war, and push on to seize and occupy more Ukrainian territory.

The Kremlin leader’s vague reference to “not excluding” that the Istanbul talks might lead to “new ceasefires” will be greeted with deep scepticism by Kyiv.

And when we’re talking about war and peace, keep in mind that it was President Putin who ordered the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

This was his decision, one widely seen as an attempt to force Ukraine back into Moscow’s orbit.

He didn’t call it a war, though. He portrayed Russia’s actions as a “special military operation”.

Last night, though, Putin declared: “There is ongoing fighting, war. But we’re offering to resume talks that were interrupted, and not by us. What’s bad about that?”

The Kremlin may well be calculating that its offer of direct talks in Istanbul will drive a wedge between the US administration and European leaders.

Following Putin’s announcement, President Trump hailed a “potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine” in a social media post, and promised to “continue to work with both sides to make sure that it happens”.

Emmanuel Macron described Putin’s offer as a “first step, but not enough.” The French president also said “an unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations.”

Putin announced his proposal in a late-night statement delivered inside the Kremlin.

I was among a small group of foreign journalists invited to join Russian reporters for what we were told would be a press conference.

We waited several hours for the event to begin. In the end, the Russian president took no questions. After delivering his statement he left the hall.

Every fortnight, Samii Wood snuggles up with a group of strangers for a “cuddle puddle”.

These gatherings see attendees melt into a large nest of cushions and blankets, offering each other platonic touch and comfort.

Samii, who is 41 and based in Bedford, is a professional cuddler, who also offers one-to-one cuddle therapy.

She believes human touch is not just comforting but also has measurable health benefits.

“Your serotonin levels, which is your feel-good hormone, are boosted and so is your oxytocin level, which is your love and bonding hormone,” she says.

Touch can also lower your levels of stress hormone cortisol and “can regulate the nervous system”, she adds.

Samii’s clients are sometimes suffering with nervous system issues, post-traumatic stress disorder or loneliness.

“People think that my service will be just full of creepy guys,” she says.

“It’s not like that. I have a variety of ages and males and females that come to these events.”

Pep Valerio, 36, from Bedford, has been attending Samii’s cuddle puddles for a couple of months.

“It’s healing without words. You don’t need to know people’s problems; you just know your touch is providing aid to them,” he said.

Samii describes how in group sessions, attendees are told to imagine certain scenarios to give specific emotional context.

“Sometimes I say, ‘Imagine the person you’re hugging is the person you’d most like to hug just one more time’,” she adds.

“That always chokes me up, and and we’ve had men and women both literally just sobbing on each other.”

One-to-one sessions are catered more towards an individual’s needs.

They can range from simply sitting close together and talking with an arm around them, to lying down and spooning.

It can also involve other nurturing touch, such as back stroking or cradling.

Some might raise an eyebrow at the thought that people are paying for this, but Sammi stresses it is a “fully clothed, platonic, nurturing service”.

To safeguard all involved, she screens clients before taking them on and gets them to sign consent forms that explicitly state boundaries.

“It’s very client-led, so they tell me what they want and what they’re comfortable with. It’s an ongoing dialogue,” Samii says.

She acknowledges that intimate touch can lead to arousal, but in those cases she enforces a break or change of position to refocus clients on the nurturing aspect of the session.

There is no regulatory body in the UK for this type of therapy, but professionals like Samii can gain accreditation from Cuddle Professionals International (CPI).

This body insists its members are taught to observe “ethical touch protocols” that rely on informed consent.

While many practices may uphold professional standards, it is potentially an easy environment to misuse and exploit.

Samii says people can report any wrongdoing to the police, local authority or CPI.

The body was founded by wellness expert Claire Mendelsohn, who according to her website, “recognised the need for regulation within the profession”.

CPI is now a registered college with the Complementary Medical Association, and approved by the International Institute for Complementary Therapists to deliver training.

Samii discovered cuddle therapy after watching a documentary showing how popular it was overseas.

However, in the UK, she finds that people are more reluctant to touch and be touched.

She blames the Covid pandemic and lockdowns for simultaneously making people “crave it more” but also be “more fearful of having it”.

She explains: “It’s huge in America and in Europe, not so much over here, but we really need it and people wouldn’t come to professional cuddlers like myself if we did not need that.

“We think we’re all connected because we’re online, but that’s why we’re so much more disconnected.

“We’re all seeking that connection and there’s no shame in saying, ‘I just want to be held by someone and I want to be hugged. I want to be seen and drop my walls and and have that’.”

Touch can benefit physical and mental health, according to a paper by Danish neuroscientist Dr Julian Packheiser and his colleagues from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany.

They found there was no difference in health benefits in adults between touch from a familiar person or a health care professional.

However, Sophie Scott, professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London, argues that while touch has demonstrable benefits, the relationship between people involved is important.

Referring to another study, she says: “They put people in a scanner and physically hurt them; you could see the brain responding to the pain.

“However, when a partner held their hand, they had a reduced response to the pain. So there are chemical changes making you feel better, but that isn’t a random person; that is your partner.

“What worries me slightly about somebody doing that professionally is you need to develop that relationship. You wouldn’t just let anybody hold your hand.

“People like going to get their haircut or a manicure. Those are quite neutral parts of the body. Hugging might get a bit closer to their danger zones.

“What I’m saying is people would need to feel safe. If they didn’t feel safe, it would be highly adversive to do that”.

Numerous other studies have highlighted the benefit of touch and its potential to benefit mental and physical health.

Mr Valerio had been exploring alternative methods of healing, such as tapping and tai-chi, when he came across cuddle therapy.

“It relieves stress, promotes relaxation and togetherness,” he says.

He says Samii has created a safe environment by playing a soothing soundtrack and getting people to take part in warm-up hug-based exercises at the start.

“Once you’ve done a few exercises, to break down those walls, it feels like the most natural thing lie on the floor and cuddle a lot of strangers,” he says.

“There are people are crying before we have settled into the cuddle puddle, just based on the hug-based exercises we’ve done and some of the emotions that are brought up.”

He has also taken part in one-to-one exercises with Samii, which he says allow for “a deeper bond”.

“Spooning feels vulnerable, especially being the guy spooned by a woman. It allows you to experience holding and being held,” he says.

“Afterwards I feel held, I feel supported, I feel as if I’ve shed some of my load and my wall has been lowered.”

Baby Reindeer and Mr Bates vs the Post Office will go head to head at the Bafta TV Awards, which take place later at London’s Royal Festival Hall.

The event is one of the most prestigious in the TV calendar, and will see shows broadcast in 2024 compete for awards voted for by the British Academy.

First screened by ITV in January 2024, Mr Bates vs the Post Office was one of the most impactful shows of the year and led to widespread public outcry about the wrongful convictions of hundreds of sub-postmasters.

Baby Reindeer, meanwhile, was a breakout viral hit for Netflix about an aspiring comedian and his stalker, but it also prompted a defamation claim from the woman said to have inspired it.

• Follow the Bafta TV Awards live

The TV Baftas mark the final stop on the awards circuit for both shows, after wins at other events such as the Emmys, Golden Globes, SAG and National Television Awards.

• 4 nominations – Baby Reindeer, Mr Bates vs The Post Office
• 3 – Rivals, Slow Horses, Mr Loverman, Say Nothing, The Traitors
• 2 – Sherwood, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, Gavin & Stacey: The Finale

The above tallies include nominations for the memorable moment prize, the only award voted by the public.

The numbers do not include the shows’ earlier nominations and wins at the Bafta Craft Awards, which took place last month and saw Baby Reindeer’s Richard Gadd take home best comedy writing, with Slow Horses and Inside No. 9 among the other winners.

The Post Office scandal is widely considered the biggest miscarriage of justice in modern British history, and saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted and convicted of crimes they didn’t commit, based on inaccurate data from the Horizon software system.

The story was reported in the media over several years, but ITV dramatisation Mr Bates vs the Post Office brought it a new league of public attention and prompted the government to announce new legislation to exonerate and compensate victims.

Meanwhile, Baby Reindeer told the story of a struggling stand-up comedian, the woman who stalks him, and the powerful man in the TV industry who mentors and then sexually assaults him. Richard Gadd’s partly autobiographical drama became one of the most dissected series of the year.

Other nominees include Rivals, a Disney+ adaptation of a Jilly Cooper novel about two powerful men battling for control of a local TV network, and Slow Horses, about a dysfunctional unit within MI5 made up of disgraced agents.

Say Nothing, which followed the lives of those growing up during the troubles in Belfast, is also nominated, alongside Mr Loverman, a screen adaptation of Bernadine Evaristo’s novel about an elderly man whose marriage falls apart after his long-term affair with his male friend is revealed.

Sherwood focused on a Nottinghamshire community still reeling from the 1980s miners’ strike, while Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light continued Hilary Mantel’s trilogy about Thomas Cromwell’s continued rise to power and eventual fall from grace.

Other nominees include reality series The Traitors, a game of deception played in a Scottish castle, and Gavin & Stacey: The Finale, which saw the long-running series about two families from from Billericay in Essex and Barry in Wales reach an emotional conclusion.

Actor and TV presenter Alan Cumming will take over hosting duties this year, and we hope he brings just as much drama as he did to the latest cracking series of The Traitors US.

The Scottish star’s film credits include Eyes Wide Shut, GoldenEye and Emma, as well as two absolute masterpieces of 1990s cinema – Spice World: The Movie and Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion.

Bafta’s executive director of awards and content, Emma Baehr, said Cumming would “definitely bring a playful sense of mischief and fun to the ceremony”.

Elsewhere in the ceremony, Jessie J will deliver her first TV performance in six years, singing the appropriately titled The Award Goes To, while Tom Grennan will perform his new single Full Attention.

Awards will be presented by stars including Dame Mary Berry, Billy Porter, Suranne Jones, Ashley Walters, Katie Piper, Sir David Suchet, Big Zuu, Ellie Simmonds, Owen Cooper, Rose Ayling Ellis, Stacey Dooley and Baroness Benjamin.

The ceremony will be broadcast on BBC One at 19:00 BST.

But it actually takes place a couple of hours earlier, so that some sections of the ceremony can be edited down before the show airs.

BBC News will be running spoiler-free coverage, with winners revealed on our live page in line with when they are announced on BBC One.

Drama series

• Blue Lights – BBC One
• Sherwood – BBC One
• Supacell – Netflix
• Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light – BBC One

Limited drama

• Baby Reindeer – Netflix
• Lost Boys And Fairies – BBC One
• Mr Bates Vs The Post Office – ITV1
• One Day – Netflix

Scripted comedy

• Alma’s Not Normal (BBC Two)
• Brassic (Sky Max)
• G’Wed (ITV1)
• Ludwig (BBC One)

Leading actress

• Anna Maxwell Martin – Until I Kill You (ITV1)
• Billie Piper – Scoop (Netflix)
• Lola Petticrew – Say Nothing (Disney+)
• Marisa Abela – Industry (BBC One)
• Monica Dolan – Mr Bates vs The Post Office (ITV1)
• Sharon D Clarke – Mr Loverman (BBC One)

Leading actor

• David Tennant – Rivals (Disney+)
• Gary Oldman – Slow Horses (Apple TV+)
• Lennie James – Mr Loverman (BBC One)
• Martin Freeman – The Responder (BBC One)
• Richard Gadd – Baby Reindeer (Netflix)
• Toby Jones – Mr Bates vs The Post Office (ITV1)

Supporting actress

• Jessica Gunning – Baby Reindeer (Netflix)
• Katherine Parkinson – Rivals (Disney+)
• Maxine Peake – Say Nothing – (Disney+)
• Monica Dolan – Sherwood (BBC One)
• Nava Mau – Baby Reindeer (Netflix)
• Sue Johnston – Truelove (Channel 4)

Supporting actor

• Ariyon Bakare, Mr Loverman (BBC One)
• Christopher Chung, Slow Horses (Apple TV+)
• Damian Lewis, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (BBC One
• Jonathan Pryce, Slow Horses (Apple TV+)
• McKinley Belcher III, Eric (Netflix)
• Sonny Walker, The Gathering (Channel 4)

Female performance in a comedy

• Anjana Vasan – We Are Lady Parts (Channel 4)
• Kate O’Flynn – Everyone Else Burns (Channel 4)
• Lolly Adefope – The Franchise (Sky Comedy)
• Nicola Coughlan – Big Mood (Channel 4)
• Ruth Jones – Gavin & Stacey: The Finale (BBC One)
• Sophie Willan – Alma’s Not Normal (BBC Two)

Male performance in a comedy

• Bilal Hasna – Extraordinary (Disney+)
• Danny Dyer – Mr Bigstuff (Sky Comedy)
• Dylan Thomas-Smith – G’Wed (ITV2)
• Nabhaan Rizwan – Kaos – Sister (Netflix)
• Oliver Savell- Changing Ends (ITV1)
• Phil Dunning – Smoggie Queens (BBC Three)

Soap

• Casualty (BBC One)
• Coronation Street (ITV1)
• EastEnders (BBC One)

Entertainment programme

• The 1% Club (ITV1)
• Michael McIntyre’s Big Show (BBC One)
• Taskmaster (Channel 4)
• Would I Lie To You? (BBC One)

Entertainment performance

• Anthony McPartlin, Declan Donnelly – Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway – (ITV1)
• Claudia Winkleman – The Traitors (BBC One)
• Graham Norton – The Graham Norton Show (BBC One)
• Joe Lycett Late Night Lycett – (Channel 4)
• Romesh Ranganathan, Rob Beckett Rob & Romesh Vs (Sky Max)
• Stacey Solomon Sort Your Life Out – (BBC One)

Factual entertainment

• In Vogue: The 90s (Disney+)
• Race Across The World (BBC One)
• Rob And Rylan’s Grand Tour (BBC Two)
• Sort Your Life Out (BBC One)

Reality

• Dragons’ Den (BBC One)
• The Jury: Murder Trial (Channel 4)
• Love Is Blind (Netflix)
• The Traitors (BBC One)

Daytime

• Clive Myrie’s Caribbean Adventure (BBC Two)
• Loose Women (ITV1)
• Morning Live (BBC One)
• Richard Osman’s House Of Games (BBC Two)

International

• After The Party (Channel 4)
• Colin From Accounts (BBC Two)
• Say Nothing (Disney+)
• Shōgun (Disney+)
• True Detective: Night Country (Sky Atlantic)
• You Are Not Alone: Fighting The Wolfpack (Netflix)

Live event coverage

• D-Day 80: Tribute To The Fallen (BBC One)
• Glastonbury 2024 (BBC Two)
• Last Night Of The Proms (BBC Two)

Current affairs

• Life and Death in Gaza – Storyville (BBC Two)
• Maternity: Broken Trust – Exposure (ITV1)
• State of Rage (Channel 4)
• Ukraine’s War: The Other Side (ITV1)

Single documentary

• Hell Jumper (BBC Two)
• Tell Them You Love Me (Sky Documentaries)
• Ukraine: Enemy In The Woods (BBC Two)
• Undercover: Exposing The Far Right (Channel 4)

Factual series

• American Nightmare (Netflix)
• Freddie Flintoff’s Field Of Dreams On Tour (BBC One)
• The Push: Murder On The Cliff (Channel 4)
• To Catch A Copper (Channel 4)

Specialist factual

• Atomic People (BBC Two)
• Billy & Molly: An Otter Love (National Geographic)
• Children of the Cult (ITV1)
• Miners’ Strike 1984: The Battle For Britain (Channel 4)

News coverage

• BBC Breakfast: Post Office Special (BBC News/BBC One)
• Channel 4 News: Inside Sednaya – The Fall Of Assad (Channel 4 News/Channel 4)
• Channel 4 News: Undercover Inside Reform’s Campaign (Channel 4 News/Channel 4)

Sports coverage

• Euro 2024 (BBC Sport/BBC One)
• Paris 2024 Olympics (BBC Sport/BBC One)
• Wimbledon 2024 (BBC Sport/Wimbledon Broadcast Services/BBC One)

Memorable moment

• Bridgerton – “THE” carriage scene where Colin admits his true feelings for Penelope (Netflix)
• Gavin & Stacey: The Finale – Smithy’s Wedding: Mick Stands Up (BBC One)
• Mr Bates Vs The Post Office – Jo Hamilton phones the Horizon helpline (ITV1)
• Rivals – Rupert Campbell-Black and Sarah Stratton are caught in a game of naked tennis (Disney+)
• Strictly Come Dancing – Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell Waltz to You’ll Never Walk Alone (BBC One)
• The Traitors – “Paul isn’t my son… but Ross is!” (BBC One)

Short form

• Brown Brit (Channel 4)
• Peaked (Channel 4)
• Quiet Life (BBC Three)

Read more about the Bafta nominees:

• Baby Reindeer stars win big at Emmy Awards
• Netflix fails to get Baby Reindeer lawsuit dropped
• The power of Mr Bates vs The Post Office in bringing about justice
• Mr Bates vs Post Office drama lost £1m, ITV boss says
• Rivals: Dame Jilly Cooper on why jogging is ruinous for our sex lives
• Gary Oldman wants to play shabby secret agent ‘for the long run’
• Marian Price to sue Disney over Say Nothing murder scene
• Life and Death in Gaza: ‘I say bye to my kids, in case we don’t wake up’
• Scoop: Why Gillian Anderson found it ‘scary’ to play Emily Maitlis
• Bankers ‘neither villains nor rock stars’, says Industry creator
• ‘I was told Mr Loverman was too niche for TV’
• Martin Freeman: The Responder star on why TV viewers can ‘smell lies’
• UK TV industry in crisis, says Wolf Hall director
• Eric: Benedict Cumberbatch says dressing as monster is ‘one of the most ludicrous things I’ve done’
• Sherwood actress aims to break Down’s syndrome barriers
• TV drama Truelove puts seaside town ‘on the map’
• We Are Lady Parts: Why Anjana Vasan is done people pleasing
• Nicola Coughlan: Why I hate on-screen vanity, in new show Big Mood
• Gavin and Stacey tops Christmas Day TV ratings
• Gavin & Stacey: An exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the Christmas finale
• Alma’s Not Normal: How anger and spa breaks fuelled new series
• Extraordinary: Peat & Diesel music to feature on new Disney show
• Blue Lights series two promises ‘absolute chaos’
• Supacell: Superhero series tackling knife crime and sickle cell
• Lost Boys and Fairies writer proud of adoption drama
• One Day: I rarely saw people like me in lead roles, says Ambika Mod
• Derek Thompson: Casualty’s Charlie Fairhead exits after 38 years
• Coronation Street’s Gail bids farewell after 50 years
• EastEnders gets ratings bump for ‘flawless’ live episode
• Why is Race Across the World so popular?
• Rylan Clark and Rob Rinder: ‘The tour that helped mend our broken hearts’
• Sort Your Life Out: How to plump up your saggy sofa
• Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway: More than 4m tune in for final show
• The Traitors finale was most-watched live episode in show’s history
• Late Night Lycett: Joe Lycett behind Banksy mural hoax
• Michael McIntyre’s Big Show: LeAnn Rimes in duet with Harrogate mum
• Romesh and Roisin remember the original Taskmaster
• Sara Davies to ‘step away’ from Dragons’ Den
• Matt and Emma Willis on a ‘very British’ Love is Blind
• Shogun: A guide to the hit Japanese samurai epic as its finale cuts deep
• King and Queen hear first-hand D-Day veteran stories
• Glastonbury 2024: 15 magical and memorable moments
• Thousands wave flags to classics at Last Night of the Proms
• Maternity: Broken Trust: Parents hope documentary will help maternity inquiry bid
• Hell Jumper: Story of Ukraine war victims’ rescuer told in film
• Freddie Flintoff: Star returns to BBC with second Field of Dreams series
• To Catch a Copper: Avon and Somerset Police staff ‘betrayed’ by Channel 4 documentary
• Atomic People: ‘Atomic bomb hell must never be repeated’ say Japan’s last survivors
• BBC Breakfast: Post Office Special: ‘I carried the shame – I refuse to carry it any longer’
• Euro 2024 final in numbers
• Paris 2024: How is France preparing for the Olympics and Paralympics?
• Five Wimbledon storylines to look out for
• Bridgerton or Strictly? Bafta opens vote on best TV moments of 2024
• Peaked: Actress returns home for Derbyshire-set comedy

The US-China trade war could be letting up, with the world’s two largest economies beginning talks in Switzerland.

Top trade officials from both sides met on Saturday in the first high-level meeting since US President Donald Trump hit China with tariffs in January.

Beijing retaliated immediately and a tense stand-off ensued as the two countries heaped levies on each other. New US tariffs on Chinese imports stand at 145%, and some US exports to China face duties of 125%.

There have been weeks of stern, and sometimes fiery, rhetoric where each side sought to paint the other as the more desperate party.

And yet this weekend they face each other over the negotiating table.

So why now?

Despite multiple rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs, both sides have been sending signals that they want to break the deadlock. Except it wasn’t clear who would blink first.

“Neither side wants to appear to be backing down,” said Stephen Olson, senior visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute and a former US trade negotiator.

“The talks are taking place now because both countries have judged that they can move forward without appearing to have caved in to the other side.”

Still, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian emphasised on Wednesday that “the talks are being held at the request of the US”.

And the commerce ministry framed it as a favour to Washington, saying it was answering the “calls of US businesses and consumers”.

The Trump administration, however, claims it’s Chinese officials who “want to do business very much” because “their economy is collapsing”.

“They said we initiated? Well, I think they ought to go back and study their files,” Trump said at the White House on Wednesday.

But as the talks drew closer, the president struck a more diplomatic note: “We can all play games. Who made the first call, who didn’t make the – it doesn’t matter,” he told reporters on Thursday. “It only matters what happens in that room.”

The timing is also key for Beijing because it’s during Xi’s visit to Moscow. He was a guest of honour on Friday at Moscow’s Victory Day parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the World War Two victory over Nazi Germany.

Xi stood alongside leaders from across the Global South – a reminder to Trump’s administration that China not only has other options for trade, but it is also presenting itself as an alternative global leader.

This allows Beijing to project strength even as it heads to the negotiating table.

Trump insists that the tariffs will make America stronger, and Beijing has vowed to “fight till the end”- but the fact is the levies are hurting both countries.

Factory output in China has taken a hit, according to government data. Manufacturing activity in April dipped to the lowest level since December 2023. And a survey by news outlet Caixin this week showed that services activity has reached a seven-month low.

The BBC found that Chinese exporters have been reeling from the steep tariffs, with stock piling up in warehouses, even as they strike a defiant note and look for markets beyond the US.

“I think [China] realises that a deal is better than no deal,” says Bert Hofman, a professor at the East Asian Institute in National University Singapore.

“So they’ve taken a pragmatic view and said, ‘OK, well we need to get these talks going.'”

And so with the major May Day holiday in China over, officials in Beijing have decided the time is right to talk.

On the other side, the uncertainty caused by tariffs led to the US economy contracting for the first time in three years.

And industries that have long depended on Chinese-made goods are especially worried. A Los Angeles toy company owner told the BBC that they were “looking at the total implosion of the supply chain”.

Trump himself has acknowledged that US consumers will feel the sting.

American children may “have two dolls instead of 30 dolls”, he said at a cabinet meeting this month, “and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple bucks more than they would normally”.

Trump’s approval ratings have also slid over fears of inflation and a possible recession, with more than 60% of Americans saying he was focusing too much on tariffs.

“Both countries are feeling pressure to provide a bit of reassurance to increasingly nervous markets, businesses, and domestic constituencies,” Mr Olson says.

“A couple of days of meetings in Geneva will serve that purpose.”

While the talks have been met with optimism, a deal may take a while to materialise.

The talks will mostly be about “touching base”, Mr Hofman said, adding that this could look like an “exchange of positions” and, if things go well, “an agenda [will be] set for future talks”.

The negotiations on the whole are expected to take months, much like what happened during Trump’s first term.

After nearly two years of tit-for-tat tariffs, the US and China signed a “phase one” deal in early 2020 to suspend or reduce some levies. Even then, it did not include thornier issues, such as Chinese government subsidies for key industries or a timeline for scrapping the remaining tariffs.

In fact, many of them stayed in place through Joe Biden’s presidency, and Trump’s latest tariffs add to those older levies.

What could emerge this time is a “phase one deal on steroids”, Mr Olson said: that is, it would go beyond the earlier deal and try to address flashpoints. There are many, from the illegal fentanyl trade which Washington wants China to crack down harder on to Beijing’s relationship with Moscow.

But all of that is far down the line, experts warn.

“The systemic frictions that bedevil the US-China trade relationship will not be solved any time soon,” Mr Olson adds.

“Geneva will only produce anodyne statements about ‘frank dialogues’ and the desire to keep talking.”

The Eurovision Song Contest was watched by around 163 million people last year – meaning there are potentially 163 million different opinions on what makes a perfect entrant.

Do you go for a soulful ballad, guaranteed to leave Europe misty-eyed and full of love and peace?

Or do you opt for a cheesy extravaganza, complete with saucy takes on regional costumes and eye-popping staging that will have the entire continent (and Australia) raving in their living rooms?

Forensic musicologist at Boston’s Berklee College of Music Joe Bennett has analysed hundreds of Eurovision finalists, identifying two dominant musical styles.

One is the “Euro-banger” – high-energy, 120+ BPM songs with kick drums and synth-heavy production, like Sweden’s winning entries Euphoria (Loreen, 2012) and Heroes (Måns Zelmerlöw, 2015).

The other is the slow-burning ballad – typically around 70 BPM, such as Portugal’s Amar Pelos Dois (Salvador Sobral, 2017) and the Netherlands’ Arcade (Duncan Laurence, 2019).

There is a cliché that Eurovision songs are only about love and peace – reinforced by a song performed during the 2016 contest’s interval about writing a perfect Eurovision song, called Love Love Peace Peace.

According to Bennett, there is some validity to this, with every Eurovision song falling under six broad lyrical themes: “love, unity, self-assertion, partying, history and songs about making music”.

He adds that “songs of self-assertion or lyrical self-empowerment do very well” – as seen with Austria’s 2014 winner Rise Like a Phoenix (Conchita Wurst).

Acts might be tempted to go over the top on staging, but this may not be the way to secure victory, according to our experts.

Songwriter Thomas Stengaard co-wrote Denmark’s 2013 winner Only Teardrops (as well as this year’s UK entry What the Hell Just Happened by Remember Monday). He puts his success down, in part, to its simple staging, which he says made it easy to remember.

“If you asked a kid to draw that staging, they could. It was a girl with no shoes on, two guys playing the drums and a flute guy. Very simple, but it worked.”

Vocal coach Carrie Grant, who led the UK’s jury in 2014 and came sixth in the contest as part of Sweet Dreams in 1983, agrees.

“There is nothing worse than having an artist whose stage has lots of money but their performance doesn’t warrant it,” she says. “It makes that performance seem worse.”

The 2014 winner (and Carrie’s personal favourite) was Conchita Wurst – the first act to win the contest without backing singers or dancers on stage since 1970.

What made Conchita stand out was that she was a bearded drag queen. Carrie believes Eurovision fans love things that are quirky and that “embrace the LGBT community”.

But she adds that Conchita wasn’t a gimmick but instead “a brilliant singer who could deliver what we call in vocal coaching ‘money moments'”.

Minor-key songs increasingly dominate Eurovision.

Bennett debunks the idea that “major equals happy, minor equals sad”, adding that “minor keys are more a shorthand for emotional depth”.

In 2023, 85% of finalists performed in minor keys, according to the Press Association. In the last 20 years, only two major-key songs have won – 2011’s Running Scared (for Azerbaijan) and 2017’s Amar Pelos Dois.

Professor Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, a researcher in music cognition at Princeton, highlights source sensitivity – our instinct to associate a song’s sound with its intended context. A few bars of a techno song, for example, and we have a mental image of a dark nightclub, and of the sort of DJ who might perform there.

This means certain minor keys now immediately signal “Eurovision-ness” to audiences.

Remember Monday’s What the Hell Just Happened was written at a songwriting camp, with multiple songwriters working together at a countryside retreat to write the perfect song for this year’s UK act.

The song was intentionally written in a major key to stand out in a sea of minor-key songs – similar to the UK’s 2022 second-place entry, Spaceman by Sam Ryder (B Major).

• Witchcraft, innuendo and moody goth boys: Your guide to all 37 of this year’s Eurovision songs

Repetition is important to make a song stick in the mind, says Margulis. But songs should avoid being too repetitive. Margulis says that what particularly makes a song catchy is “not only when they are heard repeatedly, but also when they throw in some kind of surprise twist”.

Bucks Fizz’s 1981 winner for the UK, Making Your Mind Up, is a classic example. First, the song changes key, quickly followed by a memorable costume change in which the female singers’ skirts were ripped off to reveal shorter skirts – a joint visual and musical twist.

Earlier Eurovision winners were often mocked for their nonsense lyrics, like Sweden’s 1984 winner Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley, but Bennett argues this highlights Eurovision’s strong focus on melody.

“Eurovision really needs big melodic hooks. You want people across Europe to be singing that melody. The need for a very accessible, catchy chorus is essential.”

Key changes have long been a way to introduce novelty into Eurovision songs. The 2000s saw multiple winners follow this formula, including Olsen Brothers’ Fly on the Wings of Love for Norway (2000), and Serbia’s Molitva in 2007.

But as Bennett points out, though they are still present in around a fifth of finalists, no song with a final chorus key change has won since Molitva almost 20 years ago.

Stengaard’s song for this year’s UK act Remember Monday is certainly full of surprises. BBC music correspondent Mark Savage said the song featured “a dizzying array of key changes and tempo shifts”.

The song is the songwriter’s answer to the question he asks himself whenever he writes for Eurovision: “How do you stand out in a contest where everyone wants to stand out?”

At the end of a waitressing shift, Kristina Lampert used to separate her tips in two piles: Canadian cash and American.

But it’s been weeks since she has done that.

Freighters, the restaurant where she works, is one of the first places people can grab a bite after crossing the US-Canada border between Sarnia, Ontario, and Port Huron, Michigan.

The Blue Water Bridge, which connects the US and Canada, is in full view from the restaurant’s windows.

“A lot of people used to come over and say ‘we’re here for the view’,” she says of Canadian diners. “I haven’t heard that at all recently.”

Border towns noticed almost instantly when US President Donald Trump began imposing tariffs on countries around the world and saying he wanted to make Canada the 51st US state – because the number of Canadians crossing the border plummeted.

Border crossings between the US and Canada are down some 17% since Trump started bringing in tariffs, according to CBP data.

Canadian’s car trips to the US are down almost 32% compared to March 2024, according to Statistics Canada.

Like many of the towns that dot along the 5,525 mile (8,891km) border, the economies of Port Huron and Sarnia are linked and in some ways dependent on one another. Port Huron is a manufacturing town of less than 30,000 people with a quaint downtown and lots of retail, offering visitors an enticing opportunity for a day-trip.

On a day where there is little traffic, a Sarnia resident can cross the border and be in Michigan in a matter of minutes.

Many of these towns faced their first test more than five years ago when the Covid-19 pandemic shut crossings down for 19 months and left local economies reeling.

Now, they are seeing a second economic hit due to Trump’s trade war, with many Canadians choosing to “buy Canadian” and reducing travel to the US in response to the fraying relationship between the two neighbouring countries.

One place this is being felt is at Sarnia’s Duty Free, the last place you can purchase goods before leaving Canada and entering the US. The shelves of perfume and liquor are fuller and the parking lot is emptier since tariffs tensions began.

Barbara Barett, the executive director of Frontier Duty Free Association, says some of the 32 land-border duty frees in Canada have seen as much as an 80% decrease in sales since Trump’s return to the White House. Most stores have seeing a 50-60% drop in business.

“We’re 100% reliant on the travel across the border,” she says of duty frees. “Our stores are often pillars of these communities – communities depend on them.”

And while the crossing at Port Huron-Sarnia is faring better than most, on a Friday in May the parking lot of the Sarnia Duty Free is almost empty.

Tania Lee, who runs the store with her family, says that has become the new norm.

On Easter weekend – usually one of their busiest of the year, as Canadians take advantage of the break to stop in at a favourite restaurant and go to a church service in Port Huron – cars were few and far between, and sales were not what they should have been, she says.

“We are suffering because of collateral damage at the border,” Ms Lee says of her second-generation family business.

She notes that people who live in border towns often cross the boundary multiple times a week. Ms Lee, for example, has a mailbox at a shipping facility in Port Huron that she visits regularly, as do her neighbours.

People across the Blue Water Bridge are feeling the effects too, Mayor Anita Ashford says.

She has heard from both residents of her town and Canadians frustrated about the increased tension between the nations.

Nationally, a 10% drop in Canadian tourism would cost the US up to 14,000 jobs and $2.1bn (£1.56bn) in business, according to the US Travel Association.

Michigan is one of the places likely to see the brunt of that impact. In 2023, Canadian visitors spent a collective $238m in the state, according to tourism officials.

That money is essential for border towns like Port Huron, its mayor says.

“I hope people in Washington will start to understand what they’re doing to the people,” she says. “We are not responsible for this, the [federal] government put us in this position and now we have to deal with it respectfully.”

“We need each other,” she says.

Public funding for the Royal Household has tripled in real terms since 2012, official figures show, with the rise driven largely by repairs and building work at Buckingham Palace.

The Sovereign Grant, which provides state funding for the monarchy, was introduced in 2012 at £31m per year. That has now risen to £132m, data from the House of Commons Library shows, and once inflation has been taken into account, that represents about a threefold increase.

The grant rose 53% in April, from £86.3m to £132.1m. Royal aides say this was because of a Buckingham Palace building project and the grant will come down again, adding that the monarchy represents good value.

Lord Turnbull, a crossbench peer and a former Cabinet Secretary, called the way the grant was calculated “complete and utter nonsense” but said that the budget isn’t high compared with other presidential heads of state.

The Sovereign Grant provides funding for the official duties of the monarchy. In the most recent figures, for 2023-24, the biggest items were property maintenance and staff payroll, with smaller amounts for travel and hospitality and housekeeping.

The analysis by the House of Commons Library shows how much the Sovereign Grant has risen over time – using a measure that takes into account inflation, with comparisons using 2023-24 values as a benchmark.

Using that measure, the Sovereign Grant in 2012-13 was worth £41.5m – which rose to almost £100m in 2018-19, to cover renovations in Buckingham Palace, and then rose in 2025-26 to being worth £129.3m, again for work on Buckingham Palace.

A Bank of England inflation calculation also shows the grant’s value having trebled since 2012, although Buckingham Palace uses a separate figure which is slightly below a threefold real-terms increase.

Buckingham Palace says the current figures are higher because of a 10-year, £369m project to modernise facilities in the Palace, including cabling, plumbing, wiring and lifts. It’s a project that the National Audit Office says has been well-run and delivers “good value for money”.

The Palace says it’s misleading to compare this year’s figures with earlier levels of grants. They say the big increase is due to the element of the grant that pays for Buckingham Palace building works, rather than the “core” grant for other running costs.

“The Sovereign Grant remained virtually flat for five years from 2020, during a period of high inflation. The majority of the increase in this year’s Sovereign Grant is to fund the Buckingham Palace Reservicing Programme, which is ensuring that the Palace, a national asset, is accessible and protected from fire and flood,” said a Palace spokesperson.

“A temporary increase in the grant across two years was approved to provide the remainder of the funding agreed in 2016 for this reservicing work. It has always been anticipated that the level of the Sovereign Grant will drop once the project is completed,” said the spokesperson.

This could mean funding from the public purse reducing after 2027.

The sharp increase over the past decade has been during difficult years for public finances, including periods of austerity and tight controls over budgets.

For example, a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies showed that public spending on education in England went down by 11% in real terms between 2010-11 and 2023-24, although the IFS says that it is difficult to compare such big multi-billion budgets with changes in relatively smaller amounts such as the Sovereign Grant.

Before the Sovereign Grant was introduced, state funding for the monarchy came through a mix of grants, government department spending and a “civil list” payment.

Figures from the House of Commons Library, going back to 1995, show the pre-Sovereign Grant totals as lower than than they are today – for instance, using 2023-24 values, it was worth £67m in 2000 and £56m in 2005.

The Sovereign Grant was introduced as a more “modern, transparent” way of bringing together royal funding, presented to MPs in 2011 as being likely to reduce the royal income.

The grant is based on a percentage of the profits of the independent property and landowning business, the Crown Estate. The grant is not from the Crown Estate, it comes from the Treasury, but the Crown Estate is used as a benchmark.

Sovereign Grant was initially set at 15% of Crown Estate profits, which rose to 25% to cover the cost of renovating Buckingham Palace.

It’s now being reduced to 12%. But because of increased profits for the Crown Estate from selling leases for offshore wind farms, the actual cash amount has risen sharply, because it’s a percentage based on a much bigger total.

The increase in the Sovereign Grant’s value is blamed by former Lib Dem Home Office minister Norman Baker, a prominent critic of royal finances, on what he calls the “completely absurd” way it’s calculated and “weak-kneed” governments that don’t want to challenge it.

“The Royal Family has been very efficient in persuading the public purse to keep coughing up more money,” he says.

“Buckingham Palace has been used again and again to justify the increases.

“We’re told public finances are tight, we can’t afford a winter fuel allowance, but we can pay for an increase for the Royal Family. It’s completely wrong.”

Lord Turnbull, a former Cabinet Secretary and Permanent Secretary at the Treasury in the 1990s and 2000s, is also critical of the way the grant is calculated. He says successive governments have used the Crown Estate calculation as a convenient way of avoiding debate and stopping a “lot of bolshy backbenchers moaning about the cost of the monarchy”.

He says it would be much better to have a straightforward grant to pay for the monarchy, which could be debated on its own merits.

But he also says it’s a “red herring” to focus on the headline increase in the Sovereign Grant, when that figure has been driven by work to preserve Buckingham Palace, rather than underlying running costs. He says that if you have a monarchy it has to be properly funded. “You either have one or you don’t,” says Lord Turnbull.

Pauline Maclaran, a royal commentator from Royal Holloway, University of London, says the monarchy “generates a great deal of money and goodwill.”

This is often seen in terms of boosting tourism and promoting business links, but Prof Maclaran says increasingly it needs to recognise the impact of royal “soft power”.

US President Trump is a self-professed fan of King Charles and if those warm feelings helped with UK and US trade and tariff negotiations the benefits would hugely outweigh any annual costs of the monarchy, says Prof Maclaran.

But the royals can’t be immune to questions about finances, she says: “The public wants to know if they’re of value.”

Royal expert Richard Palmer says this year’s increase has “raised eyebrows”.

“Of course the head of state and those who support him need to be funded properly, but so do other parts of the state – the health service, schools, the military, for example,” says Mr Palmer.

Royal sources say there is transparency and funding is subject to the approval of Parliament. The Royal Trustees overseeing the grant are the prime minister, chancellor and the keeper of the privy purse, who looks after the monarch’s finances.

You can dig into the accounts and see from 2023-24 that the royals spent over £1m on helicopter flights, there was an electricity bill of £2.2m and that travel for the Duke of Kent over three days to attend regimental events in Scotland cost more than £23,000.

There are also details of what the monarchy provides in a year – including hosting 400 events, inviting 105,000 guests to receptions, garden parties and official lunches. There were also 2,300 public engagements, supporting charities and good causes.

There are national and international events, including state visits which help to promote UK trade. There’s a constitutional role, such as the state opening of Parliament and regular meetings with the prime minister.

Republic, a group campaigning for an elected head of state, have argued that other costs need to be included, such as security, which is not covered by the Sovereign Grant.

They also want the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall to count as public funding, rather than private incomes for the King and Prince of Wales. A report from the group claims that the total cost of the monarchy is about £510m per year.

Opinion polls suggest the monarchy remains popular, with a YouGov survey in February 2025 suggesting 55% viewed the monarchy positively compared with 36% who saw it negatively.

But there is less certainty about funding. Another YouGov survey in December 2024 suggested strong public opposition to government money being spent on Buckingham Palace – by 56% to 29%.

And there are divisions by age groups – with 74% of the over-65s thinking the royals are good value for money, compared with 44% of 25 to 49 year olds.

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Lesego Chombo’s enthusiasm for life is as infectious as her achievements are impressive: she has won the Miss Botswana 2022 and Miss World Africa 2024 crowns, is a working lawyer, has set up her own charitable foundation – and made history in November, becoming Botswana’s youngest cabinet minister.

She was just 26 years old at the time – and had clearly impressed Botswana’s incoming President Duma Boko, whose Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) had just won a landslide, ousting the party that had governed for 58 years.

It was a seismic shift in the politics of the diamond-rich southern African nation – and Boko, a 55-year-old Harvard-trained lawyer, hit the ground running.

His main focus, he said, was fixing an economy too reliant on diamonds, telling the BBC ahead of his inauguration that he wanted young people to be the solution – “to become entrepreneurs, employ themselves and employ others”.

Key to this was finding a suitable ambassador – and Chombo was clearly it: a young woman already committed to various causes.

He made her minister of youth and gender.

“I’ve never been more proud to be young,” she told the BBC at the ministry’s headquarters in the capital, Gaborone.

“I’m a young person living in Botswana, passionate about youth development, gender equality, but also so passionate about the development of children.”

The beauty queen did not campaign to be an MP – she is what is called a specially elected member of parliament – and is now one of just six female MPs in the 69-member National Assembly.

Chombo said becoming an MP and then minister came as a complete surprise to her.

“I got appointed by a president who had never met me,” she said.

“Miss World and the journey that I thought I was supposed to pursue as my final destination was only the platform through which I would be seen for this very role.”

It was her crowning as Miss Botswana in 2022 that raised her profile and enabled her to campaign for social change, while trying to inspire other young women.

It also gave her the opportunity to set up the Lesego Chombo Foundation, which focuses on supporting disadvantaged youngsters and their parents in rural areas – and which she is still involved with, its projects funded by corporate companies and others.

“We strive to have a world where we feel seen and heard and represented. I’m very thrilled that I happen to be the very essence of that representation,” she said.

As she prepared for last year’s Miss World pageant, she said: “I really put myself in the zone of service. I really channelled it for this big crown.”

Now in political office, she is aware of the expectations placed on her in a country where approximately 60% of the population is below 35 years.

It also has a high level of unemployment – 28%, which is even higher for young people and women who have limited economic opportunities and battle systemic corruption.

Chombo said this was something she was determined to change: “Currently in Botswana, the rates of unemployment are so high.

“But it’s not just the rate of unemployment, it’s also just the sphere of youth development.

“It’s lacking, and so my desire is to create an ecosystem, an environment, a society, an economy in which youth can thrive.”

Chombo said her plan was to develop a comprehensive system that nurtured youth-led initiatives, strengthened entrepreneurship and ensured young people had a seat at the table when decisions were being made.

With Botswana’s anti-corruption policy undergoing a rigorous review, she said this would ensure that quotas for young entrepreneurs – when state departments and agencies put out tenders for goods and services – were actually reached.

The government has begun a 10-month forensic audit of government spending that will include 30 state-owned enterprises.

Indeed President Boko is intent on cracking down on corruption, seeing this as a way to bolter investor confidence and diversify the economy – something his deputy has been seeking to do on recent trips to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Switzerland.

And a key deal has now been secured with UAE-based CCI Global, a provider of business process outsourcing, to open a hub in Botswana.

While youth development is a central pillar of her work, gender equity also remains close to her heart.

Her short time in office has coincided with a growing outcry over gender-based violence.

According to a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report, over 67% of women in Botswana have experienced abuse, more than double the global average.

“It hurts to know that it could be me next,” she admitted.

A month into her appointment, she was criticised for voting against an opposition motion in parliament to create “peace desks” at police stations and magistrate courts to quickly deal with victims.

At the time she said such provisions already existed within the law and what was needed was more public awareness.

This was followed in January by a police report noting that at least 100 women had been raped and another 10 murdered during the festive season – this caused public outrage with many lashing out at her on social media over the issue.

The minister reiterated – on several occasions, including before parliament in March – that Botswana had many laws and strategies in place and what was important was to ensure these they were actually applied.

But she told the BBC the government would be pushing for the implementation of a Gender-Based Violence Act, aimed at closing legal loopholes that have long hindered justice for survivors.

She said she was also advocating a more holistic approach, involving the ministries of health, education and local government.

“We want curriculums that promote gender equity from a young age,” Chombo said.

“We want to teach children what gender-based violence is and how to prevent it.

“It will boil down to inclusion of teaching gender equity at home, how parents behave around their children, how they model good behaviour.”

She has also been vocal about the need to address issues affecting men, particularly around mental health and positive masculinity, encouraging chiefs “to ensure that our patriarchal culture is not actively perpetuating gender violence”.

“I hear a lot of people say: ‘Why do you speak of women more than men?’

“It’s because as it stands in society, women are mostly prejudiced [against].

“But when we speak of gender equality, we’re saying that it should be applied equally for everyone. But what we strive for is gender equity.”

Chombo, who studied law at the University of Botswana, said she was thankful to her mother and other strong women for inspiring her – saying that women had to work “10 times harder” to succeed.

“[My mother] has managed to create an environment for me to thrive. And growing up, I got to realise that it’s not an easy thing.

“As women, we face so many pressures: ‘A woman cannot do this. A woman can’t do that. A woman can’t be young and in leadership.’ I’m currently facing that.”

She also credited Julia Morley, the CEO of Miss World, for helping her: “She has managed to create a legacy of what we call beauty with a purpose for so many young girls across the world.

“She has just inspired us so deeply to take up social responsibility.”

Chombo is serious about this. The beauty queen-cum-lawyer-cum-minister knows she has made history – but is also aware that her real work has only just begun.

“Impact. Tangible impact. That’s what success would look like to me,” she said.

“I want to look back and see that it is there and it is sustainable. That when I leave, someone else is able to carry it through.”

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A ceasefire between India and Pakistan appears to have held overnight into Sunday, after the two nations accused each other of “violations” just hours after a deal was reached.

Days of cross-border military strikes had preceded the US-brokered deal, marking the worst military confrontation between the two rivals in decades.

US President Donald Trump praised India and Pakistan’s leaders for agreeing the ceasefire in fresh comments on Sunday morning, saying millions of people could have died without it.

This comes after explosions were heard in Indian-administered Kashmir hours after the deal was announced, with both sides accusing each other of violations.

The use of drones, missiles and artillery started when India struck targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, in response to a deadly militant attack in Pahalgam last month. Pakistan denies any involvement.

US President Donald Trump announced the “full and immediate” ceasefire on his Truth Social Platform on Saturday. He said it had been brokered by the US.

Pakistan’s foreign minister later confirmed the agreement had been reached by the two countries, adding that “three dozen countries” were involved in the diplomacy.

But hours after the announcement, residents – and BBC reporters – in the main Indian-administered Kashmiri cities of Srinagar and Jammu reported hearing explosions and seeing flashes in the sky.

Indian Foreign Secretary Misri accused Pakistan of “repeated violations” of the deal, and said his country’s armed forces would give “an appropriate response”.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Pakistan remained committed to implementing the deal, “notwithstanding the violations being committed by India in some areas”, and said troops on the ground should “exercise restraint”.

Kashmir is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan, but administered only in part by each since they were partitioned following independence from the UK in 1947.

It has been a flashpoint between the two nuclear-armed nations and they have fought two wars over it.

Confirming the ceasefire, India’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar said the two nations had “worked out an understanding on stoppage of firing and military action”.

“India has consistently maintained a firm and uncompromising stance against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. It will continue to do so,” he added.

Later, in an address to the nation, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the ceasefire had been reached “for the benefit of everybody”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said following the announcement that India and Pakistan had agreed to start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site.

He said he and US Vice-President JD Vance had spent 48 hours with senior Indian and Pakistani officials, including their respective Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif.

In a further Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump repeated praise for India and Pakistan’s leaders for understanding it was “time to stop the current aggression”.

“I am proud that the USA was able to help you arrive at this historic and heroic decision,” he added.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he welcomed “all efforts to de-escalate the conflict”.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the UK has been “engaged” in talks for “some days”, with Foreign Secretary David Lammy speaking to both sides.

“I’m pleased to see today that there’s a ceasefire,” Sir Keir said. “The task now is to make sure that that is enduring and is lasting.”

The recent fighting came after two weeks of tension following the killing of 26 tourists in the resort town of Pahalgam.

Survivors of the 22 April attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, which killed 25 Indians and one Nepali national, said the militants had singled out Hindu men.

The Indian defence ministry said its strikes this week were part of a “commitment” to hold “accountable” those responsible for the attack. Pakistan described them as “unprovoked”.

Pakistan said Indian air strikes and cross-border fire since Wednesday had killed 36 people in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, while India’s army reported at least 21 civilians deaths from Pakistani shelling.

Fighting intensified overnight on Friday, with both countries accusing each other of targeting airbases and other military sites.

A vigil has been held in memory of two teenage boys who died after getting into difficulty in the water near Buncrana in County Donegal.

They have been named locally as 16-year-old Emmanuel Familola, originally from Nigeria, and 18-year-old Matt Sibanda, from Zimbabwe.

Hundreds of people attended the special service at St Mary’s Oratory in Buncrana which was led by the Bishop of Derry, Donal McKeown.

He began the service by welcoming Matt and Emmanuel’s family.

Bishop McKeown said there was a “real palpable sense of gloom hanging around everybody today”.

However, he said he was struck by the number of people who turned up for the service.

He said the Buncrana community pulled together in the face of tragedy, which he said showed their strength, but he also highlighted their welcome of people from abroad to the local community.

“They are strong looking inwards and supporting one and another, and strong looking outwards welcoming newcomers and that’s a real blessing on everybody,” he said.

Irish government minister and Donegal TD, Charlie McConalogue, was among those who attended the service and said the news had come as an “absolute shock”.

“The community came out, really really strongly for the prayers service here, to try and provide some support and comfort to their families and friends,” he said.

“We’ve had our share of tragedies over the years in Inishowen and Buncrana and unfortunately it has visited two families here again.”

Mr McConalogue said he would work with the local community and liaise with the families and schools to ensure they received support.

Miriam Killeney lives in Buncrana and attended the service.

She said many in the community are still in shock about the incident.

“It was such a beautiful day and suddenly we got the news, the town has suffered tragedy in the past, so for a lot of people it brought that back up again for them,” she said.

“That is going to be something that will be very important going forward to support the children in the school and the parents.”

The tragedy unfolded on Saturday afternoon after the Irish Coast Guard received a report that there were a number of people in difficulty in the water.

Later that evening, an 18-year-old male’s body was recovered from the water.

A juvenile who was rescued from the water was taken to Letterkenny University Hospital, where he died in the early hours of Sunday morning.

A third teenage boy managed to make it back to shore.

Evelyn McLoughlin principal of Scoil Mhuire in Buncrana, where Emmanuel attended, said there were “no words” that could “fully capture the pain and sorrow that we are feeling”.

“We are truly heartbroken,” she said.

Paying tribute Ms McLoughlin added: “Emmanuel embodied the true ethos of Scoil Mhuire, he was known for his warm personality, gentle humour and thoughtful nature.

“He immersed himself fully in our school community and was highly regarded by staff and students alike.”

She added that the school will provide support for Emmanuel’s brother, who is a student there, “through his unthinkable loss”.

Kevin Cooley, principal of Crana College, where Matt attended, added: “As beautiful as today is, there is a dark cloud of sadness over Buncrana.

“Matt joined Crana College in January 2024, he was welcomed with open arms,” he said.

“He was preparing for his leaving cert at the start of June. He was a determined young man, he was the most respectful young man you could ever meet.

“We share our thoughts and prayers to the families.”

Mr Cooley also thanked the emergency service for their efforts.

Speaking to BBC News NI, local priest Fr Francis Bradley said: “You can only imagine they [the families] are absolutely devastated.

“It’s difficult to witness, but powerful to witness a mother’s love, her feeling of total abandonment.

“Last night, a mother sitting cradling her son, I’ve looked at the Pietà, but to see it brought alive in that way is very moving.

“To hear her call out his name, even though there was no hope, to know all I could do was stand in silence in the hope that there was a good shepherd calling his name.

“Here we do not view them as immigrants or asylum seekers, to us they are parishioners.”

Joe Joyce from Lough Swilly RNLI said when they got the call they immediately launched two lifeboats.

“One of the teenagers managed to make it back ashore,” he told BBC News NI.

A former RNLI crew member, who was on the lough in his own personal boat, assisted the incident.

“He came on scene and and pulled another 16 year old out of the water.

“Around nine, half nine, we were starting to scale down the search as we lost the daylight and the Coast Guard had their drone team up.

“An object was detected in the water. That object turned out to be a person, an 18-year-old teenager.

“He was recovered by the Coast Guard to the pier in Buncrana, where a doctor on scene pronounced him dead.”

The mayor of Inishowen, Sinn Féin’s Jack Murray, told BBC News NI the community is “devastated.”

“On what was such a happy day, Donegal won the Ulster Championship, the Sun was shining and then that filtered through, the worst news possible that these two young men have lost their lives, it is horrendous,” he said.

Paying tribute to the two teenagers, Murray said they were “of different nationalities from Africa, who were talented young boys”.

“It is just so sad that their lives could be cut short so tragically,” he said.

“This is a community that has been visited by tragedy far too often,” he added.

“I would like to think and hope that their families know that we are all thinking of them.”

100% Redress councillor Joy Beard said people in the area are in “shock.”

“We are absolutely heartbroken,” she said.

Beard added that Buncrana is a “strong community” that will “rally around” the families.

She also paid tribute to the emergency services and coast guard.

Fianna Fáil councillor Foinán Bradley said that the three teenagers involved in the incident “came to Buncrana a number of years ago with their families” and that they had “integrated really well into the community.”

He added they were “known by many people here in Buncrana” and the community was “very, very fond of them”.

He described the community as “numb” following the incident.

“There is a very sombre air over the whole area this morning.”

Families of Israeli hostages taken to Gaza in the 7 October attacks have expressed their increasing concern about the fates of loved ones, as doubts grow about how many are still alive.

One family said the hostages were at risk “every day” they continued to be held captive by Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week there was “uncertainty” over the condition of three of the 24 hostages previously believed to be alive.

He was reacting to US President Donald Trump’s statement on Tuesday that only 21 of those taken in the Hamas-led attacks were still alive.

The BBC spoke to two families – including the brother of a hostage released by Hamas this year – after Israel’s security cabinet approved an expanded offensive in Gaza.

Netanyahu said ministers had decided on a “forceful operation” to destroy Hamas and rescue the hostages, and that Gaza’s 2.1 million population “will be moved, to protect it”.

One family told the BBC they hoped the troops would only be used to help with the aim of freeing the hostages, not for any other reasons.

Liran Berman’s twin brothers Gali and Ziv have been held by Hamas for 19 months after they were kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on 7 October 2023.

About 1,200 people were killed by Hamas-led gunmen that day, while Gali and Ziv were among 251 others who were taken hostage.

More than 52,780 people have been killed in Gaza during the ensuing war, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel cut off all deliveries of aid and other supplies on 2 March and resumed its offensive two weeks later after it broke a two-month ceasefire that saw 33 Israeli and five Thai hostages released in exchange for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Following news of Israel’s plan to expand its military operation in Gaza using thousands more troops unless Hamas agreed a new ceasefire and released the remaining hostages, Liran Berman told BBC News: “I hope that Israel is sending the forces to put pressure on Hamas to sit down.

“When Hamas was feeling threatened, they did the deals. I hope they are not sending the troops to conquer or for revenge.”

Mr Berman said his 27-year-old brothers were “at risk every single day”.

“We know they are alive. The released hostages saw them.”

He said he believed Gali and Ziv had been injured when they were seized but that he worried their mental condition was “not good” after so long in captivity.

With the release of emaciated and frail hostages in February, Mr Berman said he was worried about his brothers’ conditions.

“We need to pressure Hamas and its enablers.”

For 491 days, Or Levy was held by Hamas not knowing whether his wife Einav had survived the 7 October attack on the Nova music festival where he was taken.

She didn’t and for more than a year his three-year-old son Almog was without both his parents. In February, Or, weak and painfully thin, was released by Hamas.

His brother, Michael Levy, told BBC News he was worried about the impact on the hostages if Israel sent more troops into Gaza.

“I’m concerned it will affect the hostages, that the terrorists can decide to do something to them,” he said. “I do believe the army knows what it’s doing and they will make sure the hostages aren’t affected, but it’s always a concern.”

But he said he wanted more pressure applied to get them released.

“There is a crime against humanity and everyone including President Trump needs to do more in order to bring them back.”

He said his brother did not receive enough food while he was held hostage in Hamas’s underground tunnels in Gaza and “didn’t see sunlight”. He said he showered “every two months or so”.

“My brother worries about the fact the rest of the hostages will end up dying in captivity because that was his worst fear about himself and it’s now his worst fear about those he left behind.”

Of the 251 people taken hostage on 7 October – and the four other captives held by Hamas for around a decade before the attacks – 59 now remain in Gaza.

The Israeli government has publicly confirmed the deaths of 35, leaving 24 hostages. There is now uncertainty about the fate of three of them.

All 59 were kidnapped in the 7 October attack apart from one – the soldier Hadar Goldin who was killed in combat in Gaza during a previous war in 2014.

The living hostages are men in their 20s or 30s, apart from Omri Miran who turned 48 in April.

Of the 35 whose bodies Israel has confirmed are being held in Gaza, nearly all are men who were between 19 and 86 years old when they died. Three are women.

Since the spate of releases earlier this year, former hostages have been speaking to the media and others about their time in captivity.

Tal Shoham, 49, released in February after 505 days, told a UN event last month: “There were many times that we received just one pita bread for an entire day… Traumatised by hunger, we collected crumb after crumb.”

Eliya Cohen, 28, who was also held for 505 days, told Israel’s Channel 12 that once a week Hamas gunmen would make him and other hostages take off all their clothes and would tell them: “You you’re not quite there, you’re not thin enough… I’m thinking about cutting the food even more.”

Ilana Gritzewsky was released during another ceasefire in November 2023. Her partner Matan Zangauker is still a hostage.

The 31-year-old told the New York Times in March that as she was kidnapped from her home she was molested by one of the kidnappers.

The article says she believes she was also sexually assaulted in Gaza. “When she came to, she said, she found herself on the floor in a dilapidated building, clearly in Gaza, her shirt up baring her breasts and pants pulled down, with seven gunmen standing over her.”

Ron Krivoi, a sound engineer, was kidnapped from the Nova music festival.

Last month, The Times of Israel quoted a Channel 12 interview in which he described the tunnels.

“We were inside a very, very small cage… and we had to lie down and rest in it – you couldn’t stand. No height, no toilets, no food. We were five people.”

Donald Trump has ordered the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to add at least 20,000 officers to enforce his deportation policies.

The US president’s directive was issued on Friday and forms part of his administration’s plan to incentivise undocumented immigrants to self-deport.

In a video, Trump said he was making it “as easy as possible” for them to leave the US.

The federal government will fund flights out of the US for undocumented people who choose to leave voluntarily and provide an “exit bonus”, the executive order stated.

The president’s call to increase staff comes as his administration pursues multiple pathways to force undocumented immigrants to leave the US.

His order on Friday did not specify how the increase in staffing at the DHS would be funded.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the sub-agency that primarily deals with illegal immigration, currently has more than 21,000 employees.

Of those, it has 6,100 deportation officers and more than 750 enforcement removal assistants, according to the agency’s website.

Trump has long called for local and state law enforcement, as well as the National Guard, to assist with border enforcement.

The order calls on the DHS to supplement its current efforts “by deputising and contracting with state and local law enforcement officers, former federal officers, officers and personnel within other federal agencies”.

Trump has called for individuals to self-deport, using a government app known as CPB Home. This week, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced $1,000 (£751) bonuses and paid travel for people who leave the US voluntarily.

Other deportation methods have been challenged or blocked federal courts, including Trump’s use of the 18th Century Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants his administration accuses of gang activity.

Earlier this month, US District Judge Fernando Rodriguez, a Trump appointee in Texas, found that the administration’s use of the act was “unlawful.” A second federal judge in New York later reached the same conclusion.

Trump dubbed his self-deportation initiative as “Project Homecoming”.

He said: “Illegal aliens who stay in America face punishments, including significant jail time, enormous financial penalties confiscation of all property garnishment of all wages, imprisonment, and incarceration and sudden deportation, in a place, and manner, solely of our discretion.”

A “large-scale air and ground search” is continuing for a British hiker who has been missing for a week in New Zealand.

More than 40 staff and volunteers are hunting for Eli Sweeting, who is originally from Bristol. The 25-year-old was reported missing on May 4 after failing to return from a solo hike up Mitre Peak, a steep mountain in Milford Sound area of Fiordland National Park on the country’s South Island.

New Zealand Police has said they “remain positive” despite the challenging terrain, which means at times they can only progress 250 metres (0.1miles) an hour.

Helicopters, dogs and locals have been assisting with the hunt, and some of his family have also flown out to help.

In a fundraising post, his sister Serena Sweeting described her brother as one of the “kindest, most compassionate people”.

“We just want him home safe,” she said.

The search party has been focusing on a route heading down the mountain after spotting a light there, but the dense area makes it hard for infrared cameras to detect any signs of movement.

The operation was briefly halted on Wednesday and Thursday due to weather warnings, but resumed again on Friday and Saturday.

Police confirmed this weekend there was “large-scale air and ground search effort planned for the coming days”.

The area where Mr Sweeting has hiking has incredibly steep rough terrain, but police said they remained hopeful as Mr Sweeting is an “experienced hiker”.

The police spokesperson added: “While the [man] has not yet been located, police remain positive as the search remains ongoing.

“A Land Search and Rescue team stayed near Mitre Peak overnight to continue the search early this morning.”

The White House is in discussions with the royal family of Qatar to possibly receive a luxury jumbo jet, intended for use as a presidential plane on Air Force One.

In a statement, Qatar denied that the plane would be a gift, but said the transfer of an aircraft for “temporary use” was under discussion between the two countries.

According to CBS News, the BBC’s news partner in America, the plane would be donated to Trump’s presidential library at the end of his term.

The news comes as Trump is set to visit Qatar this week as part of the first major foreign trip of his second term.

Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar’s Media Attaché to the US, said negotiations were ongoing between Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense.

“The matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made.”

Sources told CBS News that the plane will not be ready for use right away as it will need to retrofitted and cleared by security officials.

The potential value of the plane and its handling is sure to raise legal and ethical questions among critics.

On Sunday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “any gift given by a foreign government is always accepted in full compliance with all applicable laws. President Trump’s Administration is committed to full transparency”.

The White House’s current fleet includes two Boeing 747-200B planes customised for presidential use with special communications equipment and features like a stateroom, office and conference room, according to the US Air Force. The planes have been in use since 1990 and 1991.

Air Force One planes usually carry over to other administrations. According to the National Archives, only the Reagan presidential library has an Air Force One jet, and it flew seven presidents before being donated.

Qatar is said to be offering a version of a Boeing 747-8, a much newer model that ABC News reports has been upgraded into a “flying palace”.

Boeing had been contracted to provide the White House with newer planes, but Trump complained earlier this year that the company was behind schedule. His administration had initially negotiated with Boeing for two specialised 747-8 planes during his first administration.

The plane maker said the aircraft would not be available until 2027 or 2028.

“No, I’m not happy with Boeing. It takes them a long time to do, you know, Air Force One, we gave that contract out a long time ago,” Trump said in February.

“We may buy a plane or get a plane, or something.”

Trump had a positive diplomatic relationship with Qatar during his first term, which included an announcement in 2019 that the country would make a large purchase of American airplanes.

Qatar has also previously given private jets as gifts to other countries, such as a luxury plane given to Turkey in 2018.

Amber Heard has announced the arrival of twins in an Instagram post shared on Mother’s Day in the United States.

The American actor revealed that she had welcomed daughter Agnes and son Ocean and was “elated beyond words” to celebrate the “completion” of her family.

Heard, 39, welcomed her first daughter, Oonagh, in 2021.

Under a picture of three pairs of feet, Heard wrote: “Becoming a mother by myself and on my own terms despite my own fertility challenges has been the most humbling experience of my life.”

The actor said she had chosen motherhood “responsibly and thoughtfully” and “couldn’t possibly burst with more joy”.

She described her family as one she had “strived to build for years”.

“To all the moms, wherever you are today and however you got here, my dream family and I are celebrating with you,” she added.

When Heard announced the birth of her first daughter in 2021, she spoke about her desire for it to be “normalised to not want a ring in order to have a crib”.

“I now appreciate how radical it is for us as women to think about one of the most fundamental parts of our destinies in this way,” she wrote on Instagram at the time.

Heard is best known for her films The Rum Diary, Drive Angry, Zombieland and Aquaman.

She was married to actor Johnny Depp from 2015 to 2016.

After their marriage ended, the pair accused each other of domestic abuse and engaged in two lengthy and high-profile defamation cases.

In the Depp v. News Group Newspapers (NGN) trial in 2020, Depp lost his UK libel case against the Sun newpaper after Heard gave evidence to back claims in the newspaper that he was a “wife-beater”.

In the widely publicised Depp v. Heard trial in the US, Heard was found liable for defaming Depp.

For six weeks in 2022, a court in the US state of Virginia heard details of the couple’s volatile relationship.

Depp sued his ex-wife for defamation over an opinion article she wrote for the Washington Post that alleged she was a domestic abuse victim, although it did not mention him by name. Heard counter-sued.

Jurors awarded Depp – who denied abusing Heard – $15m (£12m) in compensatory and punitive damages.

Heard won one of three counter-claims against Depp and was awarded $2m in compensatory damages.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he is ready to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin “personally” in Istanbul on Thursday for talks over ending the war.

His post came shortly after Donald Trump demanded Ukraine agree to Putin’s offer of direct talks between the two countries in Turkey.

“There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally,” Zelensky wrote.

He had earlier said his country was open to talks with Russia but only after a ceasefire was in place.

Western powers called for a 30-day pause in fighting to begin on Monday after European leaders spearheading the so-called “coalition of the willing” met in Kyiv on Saturday.

Putin’s offer of direct talks followed that intervention.

On Sunday Trump then posted on social media that Ukraine should agree to this “immediately” and it would provide clarity on whether there was a way to end the war.

“At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible, and if it is not, European leaders, and the US, will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly” he said, adding: “Have the meeting, now!”

In his post on X, Zelensky said he hoped Russia would agree to the ceasefire before the talks.

“We await a full and lasting ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy,” he said.

In a late-night address on Saturday, Putin invited Ukraine to take part in “serious negotiations” over the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Putin said he could “not rule out” the possibility that the talks could result in Russia and Ukraine agreeing “a new truce” – but did not address the calls for a 30-day ceasefire directly.

The Russian leader said: “This would be the first step towards a long-term, lasting peace, rather than a prologue to more armed hostilities after the Ukrainian armed forces get new armaments and personnel, after feverish trench-digging and the establishment of new command posts.”

Moscow has previously said that before Russia could consider a ceasefire, the West must first halt its military aid to Ukraine.

On Saturday, the Ukrainian president played host in Kyiv to UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Friedrich Merz and Poland’s Donald Tusk, who later called Trump to discuss their plan.

Sir Keir later told the BBC the US president was “absolutely clear” that their suggestion of an immediate ceasefire was a “demand that must be met”.

Appearing at a news conference with Zelensky, they warned that “new and massive” sanctions would be imposed on Russia’s energy and banking sectors should Putin not agree to the unconditional 30-day ceasefire “in the air, at sea and on land”.

Russia and Ukraine last held direct negotiations in March 2022 in Istanbul, shortly after Moscow launched its invasion.

More than three years later, both sides have agreed, in principle, to resume negotiations. But talks and a deal are very different things. Both sides seemingly retain their red lines, which are as far apart as ever.

Hamas says it will release Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander as a part of efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

The 21-year-old soldier is the last living hostage with US nationality being held in the territory.

It comes after a senior Hamas official told the BBC that the Palestinian armed group was holding direct negotiations with a US administration official in Qatar. The official said talks had been ongoing for several days and were focused on securing a truce and facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid.

The Israeli prime minister’s office said it had been informed by the US of the Hamas intention to release Alexander.

A senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC that Hamas’s announcement was intended as a goodwill gesture before President Donald Trump arrives in the Middle East on Tuesday.

He said another meeting between Hamas and the mediators was scheduled for early Monday morning to finalise the process of Edan’s release, which would require a temporary halt to Israeli military activity and a suspension of aerial operations during the handover.

Born in Tel Aviv but raised in New Jersey, Alexander was serving in an elite infantry unit on the border with Gaza when he was captured by Hamas militants during the 7 October attack.

Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s 2023 attack, 59 remain in the enclave, up to 24 of whom are believed to be alive. Five of the hostages in Gaza are believed to be US citizens and Alexander was thought to be the only one still alive.

In its statement, Hamas said the release was part of efforts to achieve a ceasefire and allow food, medicine and other supplies into Gaza – which has been under a complete blockade by Israel for 70 days. The group said it wanted to reach a final agreement to end the war.

The Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement that it had been informed by the US of the Hamas intention to release Alexander “as a gesture towards the Americans” and that the move was expected to lead to negotiations on further hostages.

Israel’s policy was that negotiations would be conducted “under fire, based on the commitment to achieve all of the objectives of the war”, it added.

The Families and Missing Families Forum campaign group said Alexander’s release “must mark the beginning of a comprehensive agreement that will secure the freedom of all remaining hostages”.

They said President Trump had “given the families of all the hostages hope” and urged Netanyahu to now “bring everyone back”.

Hamas has in the past said it will only agree to a deal that includes the end of the war, something that has been repeatedly rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The talks between Hamas and the US are taking place amid multiple reports suggesting growing frustration in the Trump administration with Netanyahu’s position. The prime minister is also under pressure at home, with many accusing him of prolonging the war for political purposes.

President Donald Trump arrives in the Middle East on Tuesday, and Israel has vowed to expand its military offensive against Hamas if no deal is reached by the end of his visit.

Israeli officials have said the plans for their expanded offensive include seizing all of the territory indefinitely, forcibly displacing Palestinians to the south, and taking over aid distribution with private companies despite protests from the UN and its humanitarian partners.

Israel has already blocked the entry of all food, medication and other humanitarian supplies into Gaza for 70 days and renewed its aerial bombardment and other military operations there in mid-March, which have since killed 2,720 Palestinians according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Since the beginning of the year, according to the UN, about 10,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children have been identified. Food prices have rocketed by as much as 1,400%.

The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which saw about 1,200 people killed and more than 250 taken hostage. Some 59 are still held captive, up to 24 of whom are believed to be alive.

Israel’s military campaign has killed 52,829 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

When Charlie Hopkins thinks back to the three years he spent in one of America’s most famous prisons, he remembers the “deathly quiet” the most.

In 1955, Hopkins was sent to Alcatraz – a famed prison on an isolated island off the coast of San Francisco – after causing trouble at other prisons to serve a 17-year sentence for kidnapping and robbery.

Falling asleep at night in his cell on the remote island, he said, the only sound was the whistle of ships passing.

“That’s a lonely sound,” Hopkins said. “It reminds you of Hank Williams singing that song, ‘I’m so lonesome I could cry.'”

Now 93 and living in Florida, Hopkins said the San Francisco National Archives informed him that he is likely the last surviving former Alcatraz inmate. Another former inmate, William Baker, appeared to be alive as of last year.

In an interview with the BBC this week, Hopkins described life at Alcatraz – which formed the setting for the 1996 film The Rock – where he made friends with gangsters and once helped plan an unsuccessful escape.

Although it closed decades ago, US President Donald Trump recently claimed that he wants to re-open it as a federal prison.

When Hopkins was transferred to the high-security prison in 1955, from an Atlanta facility, he remembers it being clean, but barren. And there were few distractions – no radio at the time, and few books, he said.

“There was nothing to do,” he said. “You could walk back and forth in your cell or do push-ups.”

Hopkins kept busy part of the time with his job cleaning Alcatraz, sweeping the floors and buffing them “until they shined”, he said.

He was sent to prison in 1952 in Jacksonville, Florida, for his role in a series of robberies and kidnappings. He was part of a group that took hostages to get through roadblocks and steal cars, he said.

• The men who broke out of Alcatraz with a spoon

At Alcatraz, Hopkins had some infamous neighbours. The facility housed many violent criminals over its 30 years – Al Capone; Robert Stroud, a murderer known as the “Birdman of Alcatraz”; and crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger – making it the subject of a host of films and television shows.

A 22-acre island, 1.25 miles (2km) off San Francisco and surrounded by freezing waters with strong currents, Alcatraz was originally a naval defence fort. It was rebuilt in the early 20th century as a military prison. The US Justice Department took it over in the 1930s, transforming the facility into a federal prison to address rampant organised crime at the time.

Even in the high-security prison, Hopkins said he still managed to get into trouble and spent many days in the facility’s “D Block” – solitary confinement where inmates who misbehaved were held and rarely let out of their cells.

His longest stint there – six months – came after he tried to help several other prisoners, including notorious bank robber Forrest Tucker, escape Alcatraz, Hopkins said. He helped steal hacksaw blades from the prison’s electric shop to cut the prison bars in the basement kitchen.

The plan didn’t work – prison guards discovered the blades in other inmates’ cells, Hopkins said. “A few days after they locked them up, they locked me up,” he said.

But that did not stop one of the inmates.

In 1956, when Tucker was taken to a hospital for a kidney operation, he stabbed his ankle with a pencil so prison guards would have to remove his leg irons, Tucker told the New Yorker. Then, as he was taken to get an X-ray, he overpowered hospital orderlies and ran away, he said.

He was captured in a hospital gown in a cornfield hours later.

As more prisoners attempted to escape Alcatraz over the years, officials ramped up security, Hopkins said.

“When I left there in 1958, the security was so tight you couldn’t breathe,” he said.

All told, there were 14 separate attempts over the years involving 36 inmates, according to the National Park Service.

One of the most famous involved Frank Morris, and brothers Clarence and John Anglin, who escaped in June 1962 by placing papier-mâché heads in their beds and breaking out through ventilation ducts. They were never found, but the FBI concluded that they drowned in the cold waters surrounding the island.

A year later, the prison shut down after the government determined it would be more cost-effective to build new prisons than to keep the remote island facility in operation.

Now it’s a publicly run museum visited by millions each year that generates about $60m (£45m) a year in revenue for park partners.

The building is decrepit, with peeling paint, rusted pipes, and crumbling toilets in each cramped cell. Construction on the main prison facility began in 1907, and more than a century of exposure to the elements has rendered the place all but uninhabitable.

Trump said this week, however, that he wants his government to re-open and expand the island prison for the country’s “most ruthless and violent offenders”.

Alcatraz “represents something very strong, very powerful” – law and order, Trump said.

But experts and historians said Trump’s proposal to re-establish the prison is far-fetched, as it would cost billions to repair and bring up to date with other federal facilities.

Hopkins agrees. “It would be so expensive,” he said.

“Back then, the sewage system went into the ocean,” he added. “They’d have to come up with another way of handling that.”

Hopkins left Alcatraz five years before it closed down for good. He had been transferred to a prison in Springfield, Missouri and given psychiatric medication that improved his behaviour and helped him heal psychological issues, he said.

But the avid Trump supporter said he does not believe the president’s proposal is serious.

“He don’t really want to open that place,” Hopkins said, adding that Trump was trying to “get a point across to the public” about punishing criminals and those who enter the US illegally.

Hopkins was released in 1963, working first at a truck stop before taking on other jobs. He went back to his home state of Florida, where now he has a daughter and grandson.

After several decades reflecting on his crimes and life in Alcatraz, he wrote a 1,000-page memoir, with nearly half of the book detailing his troubled behaviour, he said.

“You wouldn’t believe the trouble I caused them when I was there,” he said. “I can see now, looking back, that I had problems.”

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has banned chess until further notice due to fears the game is a source of gambling.

Officials said the game has been prohibited indefinitely until its compatibility with Islamic law can be determined.

Chess is the latest sport to be restricted by the Taliban. Women are essentially barred from participating in sport at all.

Since seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban has steadily imposed laws and regulations that reflect its austere vision of Islamic law.

On Sunday, Atal Mashwani, the spokesman of the Taliban government’s sports directorate, said chess in Islamic sharia law is “considered a means of gambling”.

“There are religious considerations regarding the sport of chess,” he told AFP news agency.

“Until these considerations are addressed, the sport of chess is suspended in Afghanistan.”

• How the Taliban stormed across Afghanistan in 10 days
• The Taliban’s broken promises

One cafe owner in Kabul, who has hosted informal chess competitions in recent years, said he would respect the decision but it would hurt his business.

“Young people don’t have a lot of activities these days, so many came here everyday,” Azizullah Gulzada said.

“They would have a cup of tea and challenge their friends to a game of chess.”

He also noted that chess is played in other Muslim-majority countries.

Last year, the authorities banned free fighting such as mixed martial arts (MMA) in professional competition, saying it was too “violent” and “problematic with respect to sharia”.

“It was found that the sport is problematic with respect to Sharia and it has many aspects which are contradictory to the teachings of Islam,” a Taliban spokesperson said last August.

MMA competitions were effectively outlawed in 2021 when the Taliban introduced legislation prohibiting “face-punching”.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says that the US and China have made “substantial progress” on de-escalating the trade war as high-level talks wrapped in Geneva, Switzerland.

Bessent and China’s vice-premier He Lifeng have been engaged in secretive closed-door discussions all weekend, in the first meeting since US President Donald Trump levied steep tariffs against China in January.

The treasury secretary did not elaborate on what had been agreed to, but said details would be announced on Monday and that Trump had been updated.

On Saturday Trump praised the talks for engendering a “total reset” on the relationship between the two countries.

In a social media post, the US president described the talks as being “very good” and said change had been “negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner”.

“We want to see, for the good of both China and the U.S., an opening up of China to American business. GREAT PROGRESS MADE!!!” Trump added.

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng also praised the “important progress” from the talk, and told reporters in Geneva that the meetings had been substantive, Reuters reported.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, inspector general of the World Trade Organisation, called the talks “a significant step forward.”

“I urge both nations to build on this momentum by continuing to develop practical solutions that mitigate tensions, restore predictability, and strengthen confidence in the multilateral trading system,” she said in a statement.

An escalating trade war between Washington and Beijing has seen the US president hit Chinese imports to the US with tariffs of 145%. China retaliated with levies of 125% on some US goods.

On Friday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Washington would not lower tariffs unilaterally, and China would need to make its own concessions.

Both sides issued various other warnings ahead of the meeting, with Beijing saying the US must ease tariffs while Bessent stressed that the focus was on “de-escalation” and this was not a “big trade deal”.

Chinese state media reported that Beijing had decided to engage with the US after fully considering global expectations, the country’s interests and appeals from American businesses.

Last month, the BBC found that Chinese exporters were struggling with the US’s tariffs – one company, Sorbo Technology, reported that half of its products were normally sold to the US and were now sat in boxes in a warehouse in China.

Meanwhile, the US economy was found to have shrank in the first three months of the year – contracting at an annual rate of 0.3% – as firms raced to get goods into the country.

The trade war between China and the US intensified last month after President Trump announced a universal baseline tariff on all imports to the United States, on what he called “Liberation Day”.

Around 60 trading partners, which the White House described as the “worst offenders”, were subjected to higher rates than others. The list included China and the European Union.

Trump said this was payback for years worth of unfair trade policies for the US.

He also separately announced a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium coming into the US, and a further 25% tariff on all cars and car parts.

It was announced last week that the US and UK had agreed a deal, in which the 25% will be cut to 10% for a maximum of 100,000 UK cars – matching the number of cars the UK exported last year.

Cars are the UK’s biggest export to the US, worth about £9bn last year.

Ofcom has launched investigations into two pornographic websites it believes may be falling foul of the UK’s newly introduced child safety rules.

The regulator said Itai Tech Ltd – which operates a so-called “nudifying” site – and Score Internet Group LLC had failed to detail how they were preventing children from accessing their platforms.

Ofcom announced in January that, in order to comply with the Online Safety Act, all websites on which pornographic material could be found must introduce “robust” age-checking techniques from July.

It said the two services it was investigating did not appear to have any effective age checking mechanisms.

Firms found to be in breach of the Act face huge fines.

The regulator said on Friday that many services publishing their own porn content had, as required, provided details of “highly effective age assurance methods” they were planning to implement.

• What the Online Safety Act is – and how to keep children safe online

They added that this “reassuringly” included some of the largest services that fall under the rules.

It said a small number of services had also blocked UK users entirely to prevent children accessing them.

Itai Tech Ltd and Score Internet Group LLC did not respond to its request for information or show they had plans to introduce age checks, it added.

The “nudifying” technology that one of the company’s platforms features involves the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create the impression of having removed a person’s clothing in an image or video.

The Children’s Commissioner recently called on the government to introduce a total ban on such AI apps that could be used to create sexually explicit images of children.

Under the Online Safety Act, platforms that publish their own pornographic content were required to take steps to implement age checks from January.

These can include requiring UK users to provide photo ID or running credit card checks.

But all websites where a user might encounter pornographic material are also required to demonstrate the robustness of the measures they are taking to verify the age of users.

These could even apply to some social media platforms, Ofcom told the BBC in January.

The rules are expected to change the way many UK adults will use or encounter some digital services, such as porn sites.

“As age checks start to roll out in the coming months, adults will start to notice a difference in how they access certain online services,” said Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s chief executive, in January.

In April, Discord said it would start testing face-scanning as a way to verify some users’ ages in the UK and Australia.

Experts said it marked “the start of a bigger shift” for platforms as lawmakers worldwide look to impose strict internet safety rules.

Critics suggest such measures risk pushing young people to “darker corners” of the internet where there are smaller, less regulated sites hosting more violent or explicit material.

In a dramatic turn of events, US President Donald Trump took to social media on Saturday to announce that India and Pakistan – after four tense days of cross-border clashes – had agreed to a “full and immediate ceasefire”.

Behind the scenes, US mediators, alongside diplomatic backchannels and regional players, proved critical in pulling the nuclear-armed rivals back from the brink, experts say.

However, hours after a ceasefire deal, India and Pakistan were trading accusations of fresh violations – underscoring its fragility.

India accused Pakistan of “repeated violations” while Pakistan insisted it remained committed to the ceasefire, with its forces showing “responsibility and restraint.”

Before Trump’s ceasefire announcement, India and Pakistan were spiralling towards what many feared could become a full-blown conflict.

After a deadly militant attack killed 26 tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir last month, India launched air strikes inside Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir – triggering days of aerial clashes, artillery duels and, by Saturday morning, accusations from both sides of missile strikes on each other’s airbases.

The rhetoric escalated sharply, with each country claiming to have inflicted heavy damage while foiling the other’s attacks.

• Why India and Pakistan fight over Kashmir
• Drone war opens a new chapter in India-Pakistan conflict

Tanvi Madan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, says US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s call to Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir on 9 May “might have been the crucial point”.

“There’s still much we don’t know about the roles of various international actors, but it’s clear over the past three days that at least three countries were working to de-escalate – the US, of course, but also the UK and Saudi Arabia,” she says.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told Pakistani media that “three dozen countries” were involved in the diplomacy – including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the US.

“One question is whether, if this call had come earlier – right after the initial Indian strikes, when Pakistan was already claiming some Indian losses and an off-ramp was available – it might have prevented further escalation,” Ms Madan says.

This isn’t the first time US mediation has helped defuse an India–Pakistan crisis.

In his memoir, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo claimed he was woken up to speak with an unnamed “Indian counterpart”, who feared Pakistan was preparing nuclear weapons during the 2019 standoff.

Former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria later wrote that Pompeo overstated both the risk of nuclear escalation and the US role in calming the conflict.

But diplomats say there is little doubt the US played an important role in defusing the crisis this time.

“The US was the most prominent external player. Last time, Pompeo claimed they averted nuclear war. While they’ll likely exaggerate, they may have played the primary diplomatic role, perhaps amplifying Delhi’s positions in Islamabad,” Mr Bisaria told the BBC on Saturday.

Yet at the outset, the US appeared strikingly standoffish.

As tensions flared, US Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday that the US was not going to get involved in a war that’s “fundamentally none of our business”.

“We can’t control these countries though. Fundamentally, India has its gripes with Pakistan… America can’t tell the Indians to lay down their arms. We can’t tell the Pakistanis to lay down their arms. And so we’re going to continue to pursue this thing through diplomatic channels, ” he said in a television interview.

Meanwhile, President Trump said earlier this week: “I know both [leaders of India and Pakistan] very well, and I want to see them work it out… I want to see them stop, and hopefully they can stop now”.

Ejaz Haider, a Lahore-based defence analyst, told the BBC this appeared to be the only difference from previous occasions.

“The American role was a continuation of past patterns, but with one key difference – this time, they initially stayed hands-off, watching the crisis unfold instead of jumping in right away. Only when they saw how it was playing out did they step in to manage it,” Mr Haider told the BBC.

Experts in Pakistan say as the escalation cycle deepened, Pakistan sent “dual signals”, retaliating militarily while announcing a National Command Authority (NCA) meeting – a clear reminder of the nuclear overhang.

The NCA controls and takes operational decisions regarding Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.

This was around the time US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stepped in.

“The US was indispensable. This outcome would not have occurred without Secretary Rubio’s efforts,” Ashley J Tellis, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the BBC.

What also helped was Washington’s deepening ties with Delhi.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal rapport with Trump, plus the US’s broader strategic and economic stakes, gave the US administration diplomatic leverage to push both nuclear-armed rivals towards de-escalation.

Indian diplomats see three key peace tracks that happened this time, much like after Pulwama–Balakot in 2019:

• US and UK pressure
• Saudi mediation, with the Saudi junior foreign minister visiting both capitals
• The direct India-Pakistan channel between the two national security advisors (NSAs)

Despite shifting global priorities and a hands-off posture at first, the US ultimately stepped in as the indispensable mediator between South Asia’s nuclear rivals.

Whether overstated by its own officials or underacknowledged by Delhi and Islamabad, experts believe the US’s role as crisis manager remains as vital – and as complicated – as ever.

Doubts do, however, linger over the ceasefire’s durability after Saturday’s events, with some Indian media reporting it was essentially brokered by senior military officials of the two countries – not the US.

“This ceasefire is bound to be a fragile one. It came about very quickly, amid sky-high tensions. India appears to have interpreted it differently than did the US and Pakistan,” Michael Kugelman, a foreign policy analyst, told the BBC.

“Also, since it was put together so hastily, the accord may lack the proper guarantees and assurances one would need at such a tense moment.”

A “large-scale air and ground search” is continuing for a British hiker who has been missing for a week in New Zealand.

More than 40 staff and volunteers are hunting for Eli Sweeting, who is originally from Bristol. The 25-year-old was reported missing on May 4 after failing to return from a solo hike up Mitre Peak, a steep mountain in Milford Sound area of Fiordland National Park on the country’s South Island.

New Zealand Police has said they “remain positive” despite the challenging terrain, which means at times they can only progress 250 metres (0.1miles) an hour.

Helicopters, dogs and locals have been assisting with the hunt, and some of his family have also flown out to help.

In a fundraising post, his sister Serena Sweeting described her brother as one of the “kindest, most compassionate people”.

“We just want him home safe,” she said.

The search party has been focusing on a route heading down the mountain after spotting a light there, but the dense area makes it hard for infrared cameras to detect any signs of movement.

The operation was briefly halted on Wednesday and Thursday due to weather warnings, but resumed again on Friday and Saturday.

Police confirmed this weekend there was “large-scale air and ground search effort planned for the coming days”.

The area where Mr Sweeting has hiking has incredibly steep rough terrain, but police said they remained hopeful as Mr Sweeting is an “experienced hiker”.

The police spokesperson added: “While the [man] has not yet been located, police remain positive as the search remains ongoing.

“A Land Search and Rescue team stayed near Mitre Peak overnight to continue the search early this morning.”