Moments before the explosion, artists, students and athletes were among those gathered at a bustling seaside cafe in Gaza City.

Huddled around tables, customers at al-Baqa Cafeteria were scrolling on their phones, sipping hot drinks, and catching up with friends. At one point, the familiar melody of “Happy Birthday” rang out as a young child celebrated with family.

In a quiet corner of the cafe overlooking the sea, a Hamas operative, dressed in civilian clothing, arrived at his table, sources told the BBC.

It was then, without warning, that a bomb was dropped by Israeli forces and tore through the building, they said.

At the sound of the explosion, people nearby flooded onto the streets and into al-Baqa in a desperate search for survivors.

“The scene was horrific – bodies, blood, screaming everywhere,” one man told the BBC later that day.

“It was total destruction,” said another. “A real massacre happened at al-Baqa Cafeteria. A real massacre that breaks hearts.”

The BBC has reviewed 29 names of people reported killed in the strike on the cafe on Monday. Twenty-six of the deaths were confirmed by multiple sources, including through interviews with family, friends and eyewitness accounts.

At least nine of those killed were women, and several were children or teenagers. They included artists, students, social activists, a female boxer, a footballer and cafe staff.

The conduct of the strike and the scale of civilian casualties have amplified questions over the proportionality of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say are aimed at defeating Hamas and rescuing the hostages still being held by the group.

Family members in Gaza and abroad spoke to the BBC of their shock and devastation at the killings.

“We were talking with each other two days ago. We were sending reels to each other. I can’t believe it,” said a young Palestinian man living in the US whose 21-year-old “bestie” Muna Juda and another close friend, Raghad Alaa Abu Sultan, were both killed in the strike.

The numbers of deaths analysed by the BBC were broadly consistent with figures given by the Hamas-run Civil Defence Agency, a senior local medic and the Palestinian Red Crescent in the days after the strike.

Staff at Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies, said its toll as of Thursday had reached 40 deaths, including people who had succumbed to their injuries, and unidentified bodies.

An official at the hospital said some of the bodies had been “blown to pieces”, and that 72 injured patients were brought there – many having sustained severe burns and significant injuries that required surgery. He said many were students.

In a statement after the strike, the IDF said it had been targeting “terrorists” and that steps were taken to “mitigate the risk of harming civilians using aerial surveillance”.

“The IDF will continue to operate against the Hamas terrorist organization in order to remove any threat posed to Israeli civilians,” it added, before saying the “incident” was “under review”.

The IDF did not directly respond to multiple BBC questions about the target of the strike, or whether it considered the number of civilian casualties to be proportionate.

Al-Baqa Cafeteria was well-known across the Gaza Strip, considered by many to be among the territory’s most scenic and vibrant meeting spots.

Split over two floors and divided into men’s and mixed family sections, it had views out to the Mediterranean Sea and television screens where people could watch football matches. It was a place to gather for coffee, tea and shisha with friends, and was a particular favourite with journalists.

Al-Baqa had remained popular even during the war, especially because of its unusually stable internet connection. The cafe, which had until now survived largely unscathed, also served up a reminder of the life that existed before the bombardments.

A cafe manager told the BBC that there was a strict entry policy. “It was known to our customers that if any person looked like a target, then they were not let inside the cafeteria – this was for our safety and the safety of the people there,” he said.

On the day of the strike, the port area of Gaza City where the cafe is located was not under Israeli evacuation orders, and families of those killed on Monday say they had felt as safe as is possible when heading there.

Staff told the BBC that the strike in the early afternoon – between the Muslim prayers of Zuhr and Asr – was outside of the cafe’s busiest hours.

The strike hit a section of the men’s area where staff said few people were at the time.

BBC Verify showed several experts photos of the crater left in the wake of the explosion and the remaining munition fragments. Most said that they believed it was caused by a bomb, rather than a missile, with a range of size estimates given, at a maximum of 500lb (230kg).

The IDF told the BBC it would not comment on the type of munition used.

A journalist who was in the area at the time of the strike and spoke to eyewitnesses immediately afterwards told the BBC the munition that hit the cafe “was launched from a warplane – not from a drone that would usually target one or two people… It looked like they were very keen on getting their target”. His account was consistent with others we spoke to.

Twenty-seven-year-old Hisham Ayman Mansour, whose deceased father had been a leading figure in Hamas’ military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, was among those in the men’s section by the sea.

His brother was previously killed by Israeli forces, and one social media post mourning his death suggested the brother had taken part in the 7 October 2023 attacks.

A local Hamas source said Hisham was the target of the strike, and described him as a field commander with the group, a “mid-ranking role”.

Tributes posted on social media also referred to him as a “fighter” and “member of the resistance”. His cousin also described him to the BBC as a “fighter” with the proscribed group, but said he thought he was “low-level” and not currently active.

It is unclear what he was doing in the cafe that day, with two sources telling the BBC he was believed to be there for a “money drop”, while another suggested he was there for “coffee and a short respite” and that he had not been involved in “militant activities” during the war.

A photo shared on social media purported to show Hisham at the same spot in the men’s area of the cafe the day before the strike, wearing a cap and sports t-shirt. Photos of his body after the strike in the same outfit were shared by family and friends.

Two members of his family – one of them a child – were also killed.

The IDF would not confirm whether Hisham was the primary target, or one of a number of targets of the strike.

One former senior IDF official told the BBC he understood that “multiple Hamas operatives” were hit at the cafe, but that a so-called battle damage assessment was still ongoing. A source with Israeli intelligence connections pointed towards a social media post naming Hisham as the target.

Sources in Gaza gave the BBC the name of a more senior Hamas commander who was rumoured to have been seated on a nearby table, but posts on social media said he died the following day and did not mention the cafe.

The Hamas source said Hisham was the only person within the group killed at al-Baqa, while the IDF did not respond to questions about the commander.

An anti-Hamas activist told the BBC that “many Hamas people” were injured in the strike, including one who worked with the group but not as a fighter, who lost his leg in the explosion.

Medics could not confirm this account, but said that they dealt with many people with severe injuries, including those arriving with missing limbs or requiring amputations.

Israel does not allow international journalists access to Gaza to report on the war making it difficult to verify information, and Hamas has historically ruled the territory with an iron grip, making speaking out or any dissent dangerous.

Among the bodies and the debris in al-Baqa were traces of the civilian lives lost – a giant pink and white teddy bear, its stuffing partially exposed, a child’s tiny shoe, and playing cards soaked in blood.

A displaced man who was in the area seeing family at the time of the strike was among those who went running into the cafe to try to find survivors.

“Shrapnel was everywhere… there were many injuries,” he told the BBC.

He said when he entered part of the men’s section that he found the bodies of waiters and other workers, and saw as one “took his last breath”.

“It was crazy,” said Saeed Ahel, a regular at the cafe and friend of its managers.

“The waiters were gathered around the bar since it was shady and breezy there. Around [six] of them were killed,” he added, before listing their names. More were injured.

The mother of two young men who worked at the cafe screamed as she followed their bodies while they were carried on a sheet out of the wreckage on Monday.

A distraught man pointed at a dry patch of blood on the floor, where he said bits of brain and skull had been splattered. He had put them in a bag and carried them out.

Meanwhile, the grandmother of 17-year-old Sama Mohammad Abu Namous wept.

The teenager had gone to the cafe that afternoon with her brother, hoping to use the internet connection to study. Relatives said the siblings were walking into the beachside cafe when the bomb hit. Sama was killed, while her brother was rushed to hospital.

“She went to study and they killed her,” she said. “Why did she have to return to her grandmother killed?”

The coach of young female boxer Malak Musleh said he was in shock at the loss of his friend of more than 10 years, having first learned the news of her killing through social media.

“She believed that boxing was not just for boys but that girls should have the right too,” Osama Ayoub said. “Malak was ambitious. She didn’t skip any training day.”

He said he last saw Malak about 10 days before the strike, when he dropped off some aid to her and her father.

“We sat together for nearly an hour. She told me that she was continuing her training with her sister and wished I could train them. I told her unfortunately because my house got demolished I live now in Khan Younis [in southern Gaza], but as soon as I hear that there is a ceasefire I will try to go back to training,” he said.

“She said to make sure to keep a space for them… She had passion in her eyes and her words.”

When Osama saw the Facebook post by Malak’s father announcing her death, he “didn’t believe it”.

“I called him and he confirmed it but I still don’t believe it,” he said over the phone from a displacement camp.

Artist Amina Omar Al-Salmi, better known as Frans, was also at the cafe with a well-known photographer friend.

Since the 35-year-old’s death, one of her pieces depicting a dead woman with her eyes closed and covered in blood, has been shared widely online alongside an image of her after her death, with people noting the striking similarities.

Her sister, now living in Sweden, told the BBC that the last time they spoke, Frans had said that she was sure “something good was going to happen”.

“She was happy and said: ‘We’ll meet soon. You’ll see me at your place.'”

Hamas says it is consulting other Palestinian groups before giving a formal response to the latest proposal for a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal put forward by the US.

President Donald Trump said on Friday morning that he expected to know within 24 hours whether Hamas has agreed to the plan.

He said earlier this week that Israel had accepted the conditions necessary for a 60-day ceasefire, during which the parties would work to end the 20-month war.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military is continuing to bomb targets across the Gaza Strip.

Overnight, at least 15 Palestinians were killed in strikes on two tents housing displaced people in the southern Khan Younis area, the local Nasser hospital said.

Thirteen-year-old Mayar al-Farr’s brother, Mahmoud, was among those killed.

“The ceasefire will come, and I have lost my brother? There should have been a ceasefire long ago before I lost my brother,” she told Reuters news agency at his funeral.

Adlar Mouamar, whose nephew Ashraf was also killed, said: “Our hearts are broken… We want them to end the bloodshed. We want them to stop this war.”

The Israeli military has not yet commented on the strikes, but did say its forces were “operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities”.

In a statement issued early on Friday, Hamas said it was discussing with the leaders of other Palestinian factions the ceasefire proposal that it had received from regional mediators Qatar and Egypt.

Hamas said it would deliver a “final decision” to the mediators once the consultations had ended and then announce it officially.

The proposal is believed to include the staggered release of 10 living Israeli hostages and the bodies of 18 other hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Fifty hostages are still being held in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

One of Hamas’s key demands is the resumption of unrestricted food and medical aid into Gaza, and the proposal reportedly says sufficient quantities would enter the territory immediately with the involvement of the United Nations and Red Cross.

It is said the plan would also include a phased Israeli military withdrawal from parts of Gaza.

Above all, Hamas wants a guarantee that Israeli air and ground operations will not resume after the end of the 60-day ceasefire.

The proposal is believed to say that negotiations on an end to the war and the release of the remaining hostages would begin on day one.

Donald Trump told reporters early on Friday that he expected to know “over the next 24 hours” whether the proposals would be accepted by Hamas.

The hope then would be the resumption of formal, indirect, talks ahead of a planned visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington next week.

In the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, only 60km (40 miles) from Gaza, the families of the remaining hostages and their supporters held a rally outside the US embassy branch office, urging Trump to “make the deal” that would see them all released.

On the nearby beachfront, they laid out a giant banner featuring the US flag and the words “liberty for all”.

Among those who addressed the event was Ruby Chen, the father of Israeli-American Itay Chen. The 19-year-old soldier was killed during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 which triggered the war, and his body was taken back to Gaza as a hostage.

“I urge you Prime Minister Netanyahu to go to the US next week and bring back a deal that brings all the hostages home,” Mr Chen said. “There has to be a final, detailed agreement between Israel and Hamas.”

Keith Siegel, an Israeli American who was released in February during the last ceasefire after 484 days in captivity, also spoke.

“Many of my friends from Kibbutz Kfar Aza remain in captivity,” he said. “Only a comprehensive deal can bring them all home and create a better future for the Middle East.”

The primary concern for most Israelis is the fate of the remaining hostages and what might happen to them if the ceasefire does not happen and Netanyahu orders the Israeli military to step up its air strikes on Gaza.

There are plenty of reasons to hope, for these families, that the two sides can agree to a deal and achieve a lasting peace. But there is also anxiety, after the failure of previous efforts, that it might not happen.

On Thursday, Netanyahu promised to secure the release of all the remaining hostages during a visit to Kibbutz Nir Oz, a community near the Israel-Gaza border where a total of 76 residents were abducted on 7 October 2023.

“I feel a deep commitment, first of all, to ensure the return of all of our hostages, all of them,” he said. “We will bring them all back.”

He did not, however, commit to ending the war. He has insisted that will not happen until the hostages are freed and Hamas’s military and governing capabilities are destroyed.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 57,130 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The US government is to start sending out letters to countries with details of higher US tariff rates that will begin on 1 August, President Donald Trump has said.

Between 10 to 12 letters will go out on Friday, with more over the coming days, the president told reporters.

The import duties will range from “60% or 70% tariffs to 10 to 20% tariffs,” he said, the top end of which is higher than he had previously outlined.

Trump has set a deadline of 9 July for negotiations over import tax rates as countries scramble to reach deals.

He has previously said there would be a baseline tariff of 10% on many economies up to a 50% maximum.

Trump did not say which countries’ goods would face the US taxes, or whether the rates would only apply to certain goods.

“My inclination is to send a letter out and say what tariff they’re going to be paying,” he told reporters on Thursday. “It’s just much easier.”

He added: “We’re going to be sending some letters out, starting probably tomorrow.”

Tariffs are taxes imposed on goods coming into a country, paid by the importer.

Those firms may choose to swallow the higher costs, but ultimately are likely to pass them on to US consumers.

The idea is to have more money flowing into the US government, and also to make foreign goods more expensive, so boosting demand for US-made goods.

Trump’s comments come before a deadline next week that could see steeper duties imposed on goods from a number of countries.

These range from the European Union, which was previously threatened with 20% tariffs later raised to 50%, to Japan, which could face 35% tariffs on its goods.

The UK and US have partly agreed a trade deal, covering UK cars and US beef and bioethanol, but not steel.

The world’s largest economies, China and the US, initially engaged in a tit-for-tat trade war that imposed massive “reciprocal” tariff increases in April.

The US imposed 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, while China put 125% tariffs on some goods.

After negotiations the countries agreed to drop the taxes to 30% and 10% respectively while they negotiate. Last month, the two said they had agreed details over matters such as the export of rare earth materials and the easing of tech restrictions.

Plans for a futuristic city in Senegal dreamt up by the singer Akon have been scrapped and instead he will work on something more realistic, officials say.

“The Akon City project no longer exists,” Serigne Mamadou Mboup, the head of Senegal’s tourism development body, Sapco, told the BBC.

“Fortunately, an agreement has been reached between Sapco and the entrepreneur Alioune Badara Thiam [aka Akon]. What he’s preparing with us is a realistic project, which Sapco will fully support.”

Known for his string of noughties chart hits, Akon – who was born in the US but partly raised in Senegal – announced two ambitious projects in 2018 that were supposed to represent the future of African society.

The first was Akon City – reportedly costed at $6bn (£5bn). It was to run on the second initiative – a brand new cryptocurrency called Akoin.

Initial designs for Akon City, with its boldly curvaceous skyscrapers, were compared by commentators to the awe-inspiring fictional city of Wakanda in Marvel’s Black Panther films and comic books.

But after five years of setbacks, the 800-hectare site in Mbodiène – about 100km (60 miles) south of the capital, Dakar – remains mostly empty. The only structure is an incomplete reception building. There are no roads, no housing, no power grid.

“We were promised jobs and development,” one local resident told the BBC. “Instead, nothing has changed.”

Meanwhile the star’s Akoin cryptocurrency has struggled to repay its investors over the years, with Akon himself conceding: “It wasn’t being managed properly – I take full responsibility for that.”

There had also been questions over whether it would even be legal for Akoin to operate as the primary payment method for would-be residents of Akon City. Senegal uses the CFA franc, which is regulated and issued by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), and like many central banks has expressed opposition to cryptocurrency.

The plans for Akon City had been sweeping.

Phase one alone was to include a hospital, a shopping mall, a school, a police station, a waste centre, and a solar plant – all by the end of 2023.

Sitting on Senegal’s Atlantic Coast, Akon’s high-tech, eco-friendly city was supposed to run entirely on renewable energy.

But despite Akon’s insistence in a 2022 BBC interview that the project was “100,000% moving”, no significant construction followed the initial launch ceremony.

Now the Senegalese government has confirmed what many suspected – the project had stalled beyond recovery. Officials cited a lack of funding and halted construction efforts as key reasons for the decision.

Although Akon City as it was originally imagined has been shelved, the government says it is now working with Akon on a more “realistic” development project for the same site.

The land near Mbodiène remains of high strategic value, especially with the 2026 Youth Olympic Games approaching and increased tourism activity expected.

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French police have waded into shallow waters off a beach south of Boulogne and used knives to slash an inflatable small boat – packed with men, women and children – that was wallowing, dangerously, in the waves.

All those onboard clambered to safety as the boat collapsed in chaotic scenes.

The intervention was highly unusual.

French police usually follow strict rules that bar them from going into the sea in case they put lives at risk.

“Let’s go in,” said one of the gendarmes, pulling off his body armour, and taking out a small knife. His colleagues took their heavy armour off, too, placing equipment in the back of a nearby police car before rushing into the water.

There had been some speculation that this rare incident could be evidence that the French police – under growing pressure to stop a surge of small boat migrant crossings to the UK – are changing their tactics.

But they have made it clear to the BBC that police have not adopted any new tactics in dealing with small boat launches, that the rules forbidding intervention in the water remains in place and officers must continue to prioritise safety on the beaches. They are allowed to intervene, however, if they believe lives are at immediate risk.

Well-placed sources in France have told us that the procedural changes now being considered will almost certainly focus on the use of patrol boats at sea to intercept the “taxi-boats” before they’re fully loaded, rather than on approving more aggressive interventions from police on the beaches.

The UK prime minister’s official spokesman said the images of French police destroying a boat were “a significant moment and we welcome this action”.

“We want to see tougher action taken, that’s precisely the focus of our work, it is the outcome of that close work that you’ve seen,” the spokesman said.

A few metres offshore, the boat itself was clearly in trouble. People were crowded around the outboard motor, which had briefly stalled but was being restarted.

Waves were breaking underneath the boat, causing it to lurch wildly, and there were loud screams from several children who were in danger of being crushed onboard.

Earlier, two large groups of people already wearing orange life jackets had emerged from the nearby dunes and rushed towards the sea.

In all there were probably 80 or 100 people. But when the first “taxi-boat” – used by the smuggling gangs to collect passengers from various points along the French coast – sped past perhaps 100m from the shore, it was clearly full already and did not stop to pick anyone else up.

A few minutes later, a second boat, with almost no passengers, came towards the shore, watched by a French coastguard boat further into the English Channel.

Initially, people were ushered forwards in organised groups, holding hands, and directed by one man who appeared to be leading events.

But as the inflatable boat turned and reversed towards the shore, there was a scrum as dozens of people scrambled to climb aboard in water that was at least waist deep.

At first the gendarmes declined to intervene and stood watching from the shore.

One officer repeated a now-familiar explanation to me – that they were barred from going into the water except to rescue people.

But as the situation became increasingly chaotic, the officers at the scene clearly felt that a line had been crossed, that those on board were now in danger, and that there was a brief opportunity to disable the boat in relative safety and while any smugglers – who might have fought back – were distracted by their attempts to restart the engine.

As a policeman slashed repeatedly at the rubber, there were cries and shouts of anger and frustration from some of those onboard.

A young girl, who had been in the middle of the scrum, squashed at the stern of the boat close to the engine, was plucked to safety as others scrambled on to the nearby sand.

Moments later the boat was dragged ashore by the police as the migrants began collecting items they had dropped on the beach and then headed inland, up the sandy paths through the dunes towards the nearest village and a bus-ride back to the migrant camps further north.

One person has been killed and 26 others were injured after a night of intensive Russian strikes on almost every district in Kyiv, officials say.

A pall of acrid smoke hung over the Ukrainian capital on Friday morning following hours of nightfall punctuated by the staccato of air defence guns, buzz of drones and large explosions. Ukraine said Russia fired a record 539 drones and 11 missiles.

The strikes came hours after a call between US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, after which Trump said he was “disappointed” that Putin was not ready to end the war against Ukraine.

Moscow says the war will continue for as long as it is necessary to reach its objectives.

Russia’s overnight air strikes broke another record, Ukraine’s air force said, with 72 of the 539 drones penetrating air defences – up from a previous record of 537 launched last Saturday night.

Air raid alerts sounded for more than eight hours asseveral waves of attacks struck Kyiv, the “main target of the strikes”, the air force said on the messaging app Telegram.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned one of the most “demonstratively significant and cynical” attacks of the war, describing a “harsh, sleepless night”.

Noting that it came directly after Putin’s call with Trump, Zelensky added in a post on Telegram: “Russia once again demonstrates that it does not intend to end the war”.

He called on international allies – particularly the US – to increase pressure on Moscow and impose greater sanctions.

Footage shared on social media by Ukraine’s state emergency service showed firefighters battling to extinguish fires in Kyiv after Russia’s large-scale overnight attack.

Rescuers also found a dead body while going through the rubble in the Svyatoshynsky district, the head of the Kyiv city military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said.

According to Ukrainian authorities, railway infrastructure was damaged and schools, buildings and cars set ablaze across the capital.

Poland’s Foreign Minister, Radosław Sikorski, said the Polish consulate had also been damaged.

The Russian strikes also hit the regions of Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Chernihiv.

Russia’s defence ministry said the “massive strike” had been launched in response to the “terrorist acts of the Kyiv regime”.

The acting governor of Russia’s southern Rostov region said a woman was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on a village not far from the border on Friday night.

Friday’s attacks were the latest in a string of major Russian air strikes on Ukraine that have intensified in recent weeks as ceasefire talks have largely stalled.

War in Ukraine has been raging for more than three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Following his conversation with Putin on Thursday, Trump said that “no progress” to end the fighting had been made.

“I’m very disappointed with the conversation I had today with President Putin, because I don’t think he’s there, and I’m very disappointed,” Trump said.

“I’m just saying I don’t think he’s looking to stop, and that’s too bad.”

The Kremlin reiterated that it would continue to seek to remove “the root causes of the war in Ukraine”. Putin has sought to return Ukraine to Russia’s sphere of influence and said last week that “the whole of Ukraine is ours”.

Responding to Trump’s comments on Friday, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the BBC that as long as it was not possible to secure Russia’s aims through political-diplomatic means, “we are continuing our Special Military Operation” – Russia’s preferred name for the invasion.

Meanwhile, President Zelensky said he had a “very important and fruitful conversation” with Trump on Friday, regarding the supply of US weapons after Washington decided to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine, including those used for air defences.

“We spoke about opportunities in air defence and agreed that we will work together to strengthen protection of our skies,” he said on X, adding that they discussed “defence industry capabilities and joint production”.

Kyiv has warned that the move to pause some shipments would impede its ability to defend Ukraine against escalating airstrikes and Russian advances on the frontlines.

Speaking to reporters previously, Trump said “we’re giving weapons” and “we haven’t” completely paused the flow of weapons. He blamed former President Joe Biden for “emptying out our whole country giving them weapons, and we have to make sure that we have enough for ourselves”.

On Friday, Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that while he understands Washington’s needs to maintain its own weapon stockpiles, he hopes “for a level of flexibility” to make sure Ukraine also has what it needs.

Meanwhile, a German government spokesperson said they were currently in talks with the US to buy Patriot air defence systems to give to Ukraine.

Former Arsenal footballer Thomas Partey has been charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.

The offences are reported to have taken place between 2021-2022, the Metropolitan Police said.

The charges involve three women, with two counts of rape relating to one woman, three counts of rape in connection to a second woman and one count of sexual assault linked to a third woman.

The Ghanaian international denies the charges and “welcomes the opportunity to finally clear his name”, his lawyer said.

The charges follow an investigation by detectives, which started in February 2022 after police first received a report of rape.

The 32-year-old’s contract with Arsenal ended on Monday after playing with the team since 2020.

BBC News has contacted Arsenal and the Football Association. The Premier League declined to comment.

Det Supt Andy Furphy, who is leading the investigation, said: “Our priority remains providing support to the women who have come forward.

“We would ask anyone who has been impacted by this case, or anyone who has information, to speak with our team. You can contact detectives about this investigation by emailing CIT@met.police.uk”

Mr Partey, of Hertfordshire, is expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 5 August.

In a statement, his lawyer Jenny Wiltshire said: “Thomas Partey denies all the charges against him.

“He has fully cooperated with the police and CPS throughout their three-year investigation.

“He now welcomes the opportunity to finally clear his name.

“Given that there are now ongoing legal proceedings, my client is unable to comment further.”

Mr Partey joined Arsenal for £45.3m from Atletico Madrid in October 2020, made 35 top-flight appearances last season and scored four goals as the London club finished second in the Premier League.

He also played 12 times in the Champions League as the Gunners reached the semi-finals before being knocked out by eventual winners Paris St-Germain.

Overall, he made 130 Premier League appearances for Mikel Arteta’s side, scoring nine goals.

Mr Partey has also made more than 50 appearances for Ghana’s national team, and most recently played at World Cup qualification matches in March.

Two female tourists, including a British pensioner, have been killed by a charging elephant while on safari in Zambia, police have told the BBC.

Easton Taylor, 68, from the UK and 67-year-old Alison Taylor from New Zealand were attacked by a female elephant that was with a calf at the South Luangwa National Park, said local police chief Robertson Mweemba.

The two tourists were trampled to death by the nursing elephant after efforts by tour guides to stop it by firing shots failed. Both women died at the scene, he said.

The British Foreign Office said it was supporting the family of a British woman who had died in Zambia and was liaising with local authorities.

Mr Mweemba said the two women were part of a guided safari group who were walking in the park on Thursday when the elephant charged towards them at high speed.

The two tourists had stayed for four days at the Big Lagoon Camp, about 600 km (370 miles) from the capital, Lusaka, where the attack happened.

“They were moving to other camps when the elephant charged from behind. We are really sorry that we have lost our visitors,” Mr Mweemba said.

“They both died on the spot,” he added.

It is not clear whether the pair were related.

Female elephants are very protective of their calves and Zambian authorities have previously called on tourists to exercise extreme caution while observing wildlife around the country.

“It is very difficult to control the animals and tourists like feeding them,” Mr Mweemba said.

Last year, two American tourists were killed in separate attacks by elephants in the southern African country. Both cases involved elderly tourists who were in a safari vehicle when they were attacked.

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Eight men have been jailed for their roles in trying to smuggle 2.2 tonnes of cocaine, worth more than €157m (£135m).

The drugs were found off the Irish coast on board Panamanian cargo ship, the MV Matthew, in September 2023.

It was the largest cocaine seizure in Irish history.

The men, who were part of international operation, received sentences varying in length from 13 and a half to 20 years. Six of them had been on board the MV Matthew.

The highest jail terms were given to Dutch national Cumali Ozgen, who was jailed for 20 years, and Filipino Harold Estoesta, who was jailed for 18 years.

Iranian Soheil Jelveh was jailed on Friday, for 17 and a half years, Ukranian Vitaliy Vlasoi got 16 and a half years in prison, Iranian Saeid Hassani was jailed for 15 years and Ukrainian Mykhailo Gavryk was sentenced to 14 years in jail.

A judge said a significant aggravating factor in the case was that the attempted importation of the drugs was part of the activity of a cartel which has an international reach with unlimited resources.

The drugs were seized following a joint garda (Irish police), customs and Irish Defence Forces operation in September 2023.

In February 2025, four men – Gavryk, Vlasoi, Jelveh and Ozgen – pleaded guilty to having 2.2 tonnes of cocaine for supply on board the ship.

Two other defendants – Hassani and Estoesta – had also pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for sale or supply on board the MV Matthew.

Two other men, who were initially rescued from a trawler which ran aground as it prepared to rendezvous with the MV Matthew mothership, have also been given prison sentences.

Ukrainian national Vitaliy Lapa, 62, with an address at Rudenka, Repina Str in Berdyansk, and UK national Jamie Harbron, 31, of South Avenue, Billingham, County Durham, also pleaded guilty to attempting to possess cocaine for sale or supply in September 2023 in relation to the same shipment.

Vitaliy Lapa was jailed for 14 and a half years and Jamie Harbron was given a prison sentence of 13 and a half years.

Ireland’s non-jury Special Criminal Court had previously been told Ozgen was known as “Jimmy”, and he was “the eyes and ears of the criminal organisation” while he was on board the ship.

The court also heard that he had admitted to gardaí (Irish police) that he loaded crates of drugs onto the ship, and he tried to burn the drugs when the ship was pursued by the Irish Naval vessel, LE William Butler Yeats.

He also said he was promised €50,000 (£43,000) to €100,000 (£86,000) if the planned smuggling operation was successful, but he received nothing.

The drugs were intercepted on the MV Matthew in a major multi-agency operation.

An elite military team of Irish Army Rangers abseiled aboard the vessel after it was pursued by the Irish Navy.

The daring interception was conducted in treacherous weather conditions at sea, as the ship engaged in desperate manoeuvres to try to evade capture.

The MV Matthew had departed from Curacao, off the coast of Venezuela, and sailed across the Atlantic before arriving in Irish territorial waters.

It’s pitch black and we’re crawling along a secret underground tunnel beneath a high street in Hull. We pass rotting beams propped up precariously by stacked breeze blocks. A rusty car jack is helping prevent the shop floor above from falling in.

Through the rubble, we follow a Trading Standards Officer, his torch swinging back and forth in the darkness until it rests on a hidden stash of thousands of illegal cigarettes.

This is just one such surreal experience while investigating the sale of illegal cigarettes in Hull. In one week we repeatedly witnessed counterfeit and smuggled tobacco being sold in high street mini marts – and were threatened by shop workers who grabbed our cameras when we tried to film them.

This is now a familiar story being repeated across Britain. In April, the National Crime Agency (NCA) raided hundreds of high street businesses, many suspected of being supplied by international crime gangs. Trading Standards teams have also found a thriving trade in illicit tobacco.

One leading criminology expert called the networks behind the supply of illegal cigarettes the “golden thread for understanding serious organised crime”, because of its links to people trafficking and, in some cases, illegal immigration.

So, in some ways, these high street shop fronts connect the various domestic problems facing Britain today.

Political researchers claim it’s also damaging trust in police and the government – and turning our high streets into symbols of national decline.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Friday, the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, described the illegal cigarette trade uncovered by the BBC report as “disgraceful”. She said it shows the need to get neighbourhood police “back into the high streets and town centres”.

Alan, a former detective and now a Trading Standards officer, searches for counterfeit and smuggled cigarettes sold under the counter in mini marts, barber shops and takeaways around Hull, which he says have spread across the city at an alarming rate.

Under the floorboards of a mini mart called Ezee Shop, a network of these secret tunnels hide contraband stock. As battered suitcases and black sacks stuffed full of cigarettes are heaved up through the makeshift trap door, a man who we’re told helps out in the shop watches on laughing.

“It’s not something dangerous, it’s only cigarettes,” he says. “Everywhere has it; barber shops, takeaways.” Some shops, he adds, are selling drugs including crack cocaine.

Alan estimates that there are about £20,000 worth of illegal cigarettes in this haul, a tiny proportion of a crime that HMRC says costs the country at least £2.2 billion in lost revenue.

Today’s raid won’t change what’s happening on Hull’s high streets, he says. He has been to some shops at least 20 times and he estimates that there are some 80 shops selling illegal cigarettes in the city.

“We’re losing the war,” he says.

He has been with Trading Standards for many years but didn’t want to be fully identified because he’s worried about the organised crime gangs often supplying these shops.

It’s not long before someone claiming to be Ezee Shop’s owner turns up. Alan says he is a Kurd from Iran. He is furious with us filming his illicit stock being taken away.

Some of the illegal cigarettes sold across Britain are made in this country. Others are produced cheaply in countries like Poland or Belgium. Some are designed to imitate established brands. Illegal cigarettes are sold without the necessary taxes and duties, and many do not conform to safety standards.

Previously the Local Government Association warned that some black market cigarettes contained “human excrement, dead flies and asbestos”.

We went undercover, visiting 12 shops in Hull, some multiple times, to try and buy these cheap cigarettes, and secretly filmed the responses.

The windows of many of these shops are covered with large pictures of fizzy drinks, sweets and vapes, obscuring what’s going on inside.

Nine sold us illegal cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco. Two told us where we could buy cheap packs. We were openly offered a selection of brands with packets costing between £3 and £7 – instead of the average UK price of about £16.

None of the businesses we bought illegal cigarettes from in Hull responded to our request for a comment. But this is not only a Hull problem.

Data shared with the BBC from investigators working for an international tobacco company say that last year they identified more than 600 shops selling illegal packets, with several cities including Bradford, Coventry and Nottingham flagged as hotspots. The BBC is unable to verify these figures.

In Bradford alone, they say they found 49 stores selling fake products in just two days. In the end, they had to stop the test purchases because they didn’t have enough test bags to put the items in.

All of this is a growing problem – but it is also one with specific causes: profits, a lack of resources to enforce the law, a complex criminal supply network and in some cases organised immigration crime.

Professor Georgios Antonopoulos, criminologist at Northumbria University Newcastle, believes money is at the heart of it. “Legal tobacco products in the UK are subject to some of the highest excise taxes in the world,” he says.

Illegal cigarettes are sometimes sold for as little as £3 to £5 per pack – compelling for some customers during a cost of living crisis.

In some cases, the financial penalties issued to criminals may be much lower than the profits they can make.

In the case of Ezee Shop in Hull, the shop owner had been convicted for selling illegal cigarettes in the past and was fined £80, plus costs and a £34 victim surcharge.

Tougher rules introduced in 2023 mean those convicted now can face higher fines of up to £10,000 – but this may still be lower than the value of the stash.

After the raid, we went back to the shop, covertly. Within a few hours it had reopened, restocked – and was selling illegal cigarettes once again.

Leading criminologists tell the BBC that UK authorities are struggling to deal with the problem.

Prof Antonopoulos says teams are “chronically underfunded”. He claims that police prioritise violent crimes and drug trafficking – “which is understandable,” he adds.

Some Trading Standards officers are frustrated with the powers available to them. “The general public don’t understand why they can’t be closed down,” Alan says.

They can use anti-social behaviour legislation to close shops for up to three months – but it can require statements from other businesses and members of the public.

We were told that after some shops shut down, the criminals simply reopen nearby. Alan wants a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy to permanently close law-breaking businesses.

Last year, the previous government provided £100 million across five years to support HMRC and Border Force to tackle the illicit tobacco trade. But since then, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute warned that some broader forms of organised crime – including scammers and rogue traders – could effectively become decriminalised, due to a lack of funding.

As for the suppliers, HMRC says there are so many organised crime groups operating across borders that it is hard to limit the flow of goods into the UK.

In May, Hungarian authorities raided a factory where they found warehouses full of fake cigarettes. And there’s even production in Ukraine, according to legitimate tobacco firms, with authorities there stretched because of the war.

There is also a “significant production” of illicit tobacco here in the UK, says Prof Antonopoulos.

A Trading Standards team in south Wales told us that counterfeit hand-rolling tobacco is often sold cheaply. They claimed that some of it was made using forced labour, controlled by Chinese gangs.

Dave McKelvey, managing director of TM Eye private investigators, which works with tobacco firms to gather evidence on the illicit trade, claims that Fujian-based Chinese triads operate a “vast business” here in the UK.

And trying to track down the people in charge of these criminal enterprises is a challenge.

Trading Standards told the BBC that those named as the company director often have no real involvement in the company. Instead, they may be paid a small sum each month to be listed as the director on official documents.

Later this year, Companies House will receive new powers to better identify business owners.

Authorities are trying to clean up British high streets. Just this year, we joined dozens of raids led by the NCA in barber shops and mini marts, in a month-long operation.

But the former senior detectives who worked with the BBC’s undercover team said they need more time to fully expose the organised crime supplying some of the shop fronts.

Throughout our time with Trading Standards in Hull and in the dozens of raids we’ve been on with police in Shrewsbury and across Greater Manchester, officers claimed that tobacco operations are often staffed by Kurds from Iran and Iraq. Some may not have had the right to work.

In Hull, Alan believes that some people working in the shops he visits may be recruited from asylum seeker hotels. “They’re expendable, if they get caught they just replace them with another.

Rochdale Trading Standards has made similar observations.

Criminology professor Emmeline Taylor argues that these criminal supply chains behind the supply of illegal tobacco are linked to other forms of crime – and the damage can’t be overestimated.

“They’re not just dealing in tobacco,” she says. “It’s firearms, it’s drugs, it’s people trafficking, it’s illegal immigration.”

Yvette Cooper, told us that “criminal gangs” are “trying to abuse our high streets by using shops as a front for organised crime”.

She also accused gangs of “undermining our border and immigration systems by employing illegal workers”.

Of course, there have long been pockets of criminality on the UK high street. But now experts tell us that this illicit trade is harming people’s trust in authority – and, at a basic level, their sense of fairness.

“If you’re a law abiding business following the rules, you’re jeopardising your own livelihood and the viability of your own business,” argues Prof Taylor. “And to me that’s not fair that someone can succeed by not playing by the rules.”

Josh Nicholson, a researcher at the Centre for Social Justice, believes that perceptions of crime are worse than ever. “From research we have done there is a feeling of powerlessness, a lack of respect for authority like the police,” he says.

“Are the police… seen to be tackling low level offences? When they don’t see it tackled, people’s perception is that things are getting a lot worse.”

And people tend to trust the government less when they think access to good shops has declined in their area, says Will Jennings, a political science professor at the University of Southampton, based on studies he has done.

Nick Plumb, a director at the Power to Change charity, says his research shows that declining high streets boosts support for parties that were once considered outside of the political mainstream.

“Reform UK, for example, is doing better in places with declining high streets when compared to the rest of England,” he says. “There’s a sense that … mainstream politics, local authorities have all tried to tackle this issue, and [residents] haven’t seen any change. It’s that sense of ‘the status quo hasn’t solved these things, and therefore we want to try something new’.”

Ultimately, what people see in the places they call home matters.

“People find a sense of local identity in the quality of the streets where they’ve grown up,” adds Mr Nicholson.

“When the quality … dramatically declines, and they feel they can’t even go there – what that does to a sense of community is unquantifiable.”

After the verdicts were delivered in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ trial in New York on Wednesday, emotions boiled over outside court in heated confrontations between fans and protesters who voiced opposing views about the outcome.

Some thought the rap star should have been found guilty on the more serious counts, not just the two lesser charges on which he was convicted.

But they were outnumbered by pro-Diddy influencers and fans who were chanting “free Diddy” and “let him go” and spraying each other in baby oil in celebration.

The jury’s mixed verdicts did not present a clear-cut result – but it was seen as a better-than-expected outcome for the star.

He still faces significant jail time and dozens of civil legal cases, though. His reputation will forever be tarnished by months of ugly allegations and revelations – and the two convictions.

But some observers believe that’s unlikely to stop him trying to mount a comeback.

As a songwriter, rapper, producer and record label impresario, Combs – formerly known as Puff Daddy – was one of the driving forces in hip-hop and R&B in the 1990s.

He launched the careers of Notorious BIG and Mary J Blige, signed acts such as Faith Evans, 112, Mase and Janelle Monae to his Bad Boy Records label, and worked with stars including Mariah Carey, Usher and Busta Rhymes.

He won three Grammy Awards as an artist and scored his biggest pop hit with I’ll Be Missing You, sampling The Police’s Every Breath You Take, in 1997 – his tribute after BIG’s murder.

Combs “was one of the most famous people in hip-hop”, says Los Angeles Times music writer August Brown.

“He was an incredibly important figure in evolving both that genre and the music industry as a whole into a commercial juggernaut.”

Like many at the peak of the music industry, he also threw lavish parties. But sordid details emerged during the legal cases, revealing a darker side.

These so-called “freak offs” were hotel sex encounters which could last for days, involving multiple male escorts, routine violence and copious amounts of drugs and baby oil.

The question for the jury was whether this was a criminal enterprise designed to force two alleged victims into sex against their will or whether, as Combs claimed, the women willingly took part.

The defence argued that these orgies were “kinky” but consensual – and that organising them was not criminal.

In the end, the jury agreed and he was found not guilty of the most serious charge of racketeering conspiracy, as well as two charges of sex trafficking.

“The jury was just unpersuaded that what amounted to an extremely baroque and violent and drug-stoked sex life on Diddy’s behalf amounted to a criminal organisation on the racketeering charge, or trafficking in the way that we understand it now,” Mr Brown told the BBC World Service.

“This isn’t to say that it wasn’t possible, but they just didn’t think it rose to ‘beyond a shadow of a doubt’.”

Combs was, however, convicted on two counts of transporting two former girlfriends, including singer Cassie, to participate in sex acts and prostitution.

He will face up to 10 years in jail for each charge when he’s sentenced in October. But the sentences are likely to be lower than the maximum and to run simultaneously, with the year he will have already spent in jail to be deducted. So it’s quite possible he could be free in several years.

His supporters will be waiting – but most people will be unwilling to accept a comeback, Mr Brown says.

“I cannot imagine any kind of redemption arc as far as him [remaining] as an artist or a music mogul in light of this.

“I think the public will remember him as an important figure whose name is now permanently associated with this very-difficult-to-process range of charges, even if he’s not been convicted on the worst of it.”

Alvin Blanco, content director of Hiphopwired.com, agrees that Combs is too tarnished to make a successful comeback. “He’s definitely going to try, but I think the damage is just too irreparable at this point.”

Mark Anthony Neal, professor of African American Studies at Duke University in North Carolina, also believes there’s “no doubt” the revelations have tarnished Combs’ legacy as the man who helped take hip-hop “from the ghettos to the mainstream of America to the global mainstream”.

However, his influence on music had diminished even before the allegations, says Jem Aswad, executive editor of music at Variety.

“He doesn’t really have much of a music career any more, and he hasn’t for about 15 years,” Mr Aswad told BBC News.

“It’s not that he was unpopular, although he wasn’t enormously popular recently – he just moved on to other businesses. He got into beverages, he got into apparel, he got into lots of other businesses.

“Anything he did in music over the last 15 years was almost just for fun. I think he’s released two, maybe three albums in that time period, and they just did OK, and frankly they just were OK.”

His stock was still pretty high, though. His last LP, The Love Album: Off The Grid, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2024. The previous year, he was named a Global Icon at the MTV Awards.

And he wouldn’t be the first star to retain support despite facing allegations.

Michael Jackson was cleared of child abuse in court in 2005 but persuasive claims about him have persisted, and many people still wrestle with how to reconcile those with the brilliance of the King of Pop’s catalogue.

R&B star R. Kelly was jailed for 30 years in 2022 for racketeering and sex trafficking. He still has five million monthly listeners on Spotify at the last count.

Some in hip-hop may be willing to work with Combs. Kanye West last week released a song called Diddy Free – although Kanye himself is ostracised by large parts of the industry for making antisemitic and Nazi statements.

Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty, host of the BBC’s Diddy on Trial podcast, has seen the support outside court and suggests there may be a way back.

“We’ll see what happens with his career after this,” she told the BBC’s Newscast.

“I feel like he will be able to reclaim a top spot in hip-hop just because of the sheer amount of support we’ve seen online and here at the courthouse from his fans, and from people who feel he was being unjustly targeted by the federal government.

“He won’t be the first musician to be a convicted criminal who carries on having a music career, especially in hip-hop.”

For many, the details of the case will be hard to shake from the memory, though.

Angela Star, one of the content creators outside court on Wednesday, told BBC News that “his image is tainted, and when you think of Diddy now, you think of…” before finishing her point by holding up a bottle of baby oil.

US President Donald Trump’s budget mega-bill is set to become law after it passed a final vote in the House of Representatives.

The president is now poised to sign the bill into law during a ceremony on Friday.

Its advancement has not been easy. The legislation has stoked disputes among lawmakers from Trump’s own Republican Party, who control both chambers of Congress, over social programmes and spending levels.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill could add $3.3tn to federal deficits over the next 10 years and leave millions without health coverage – a forecast that the White House disputes.

During a vote in the US Senate earlier this week, Vice-President JD Vance was forced to cast the tie-breaking vote in order to pass the bill.

The legislation’s prospects in the House appeared precarious, however Republican rebels eventually got on board to support it following hours of wrangling on Thursday.

Here is a look at some of the key items and hotly-debated issues in the bill.

During his first term, Trump had signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which lowered taxes for corporations and for individuals across most income brackets.

Trump had touted the law as one that would stimulate economic growth, but experts have argued that it has benefited wealthy Americans the most.

Key provisions of that law are set to expire in December, but the sprawling budget bill currently before lawmakers aims to make those tax cuts permanent. It also increases standard deductions by $1,000 (£736) for individuals and $2,000 for married couples until 2028.

To help finance tax cuts elsewhere, Republicans have added additional restrictions to Medicaid, the healthcare programme relied upon by millions of disabled and low-income Americans.

One of the changes is a new work requirement for childless adults without disabilities. Another change to Medicaid is shifting re-enrolment from once a year to every six months, and adding income and residency verifications.

There are also lower provider taxes – which states use to help fund their share of Medicaid costs – from 6% to 3.5% by 2032.

Complaints from some Republicans in states that draw funding from these taxes, especially for rural hospitals, led the Senate to delay the cuts and add a $50bn rural hospital fund.

The Senate bill also proposes tightening eligibility requirements so that able-bodied adults with children aged 15 and over would need to work or volunteer at least 80 hours a month.

The Senate Medicaid work requirement is said to be the strictest ever proposed by Republicans, raising the odds that large numbers of Americans could lose medical coverage as they will not keep up with the new paperwork.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that nearly 12 million Americans could lose their health coverage by the end of the next decade as a result of these changes.

On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to eliminate taxes on Social Security income – monthly payments to Americans of retirement age and people with disabilities.

The House bill fell short of delivering on that promise, but it did temporarily increase the standard deduction of up to $4,000 for individuals 65 and over. That deduction would be in place from 2025-28.

Senate Republicans approved an extension of Social Security tax breaks and an increase that would grant a $6,000 tax deduction for older Americans who earn no more than $75,000 a year.

The bill increases the deduction limit for state and local taxes (Salt).

There is currently a $10,000 cap on how much taxpayers can deduct from the amount they owe in federal taxes. That expires this year.

The Senate’s approved bill raises it from $10,000 to $40,000 – but after five years, it would return to $10,000.

Salt taxes were a big sticking point in the House, especially Republican holdouts in some Democratic-controlled urban areas. The House’s version of the spending bill did not include a five-year limit, so the Senate’s changes could pose a problem for some House Republicans.

Reforms have also been added to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), which is used by over 40 million low-income Americans.

The Senate bill requires states to contribute more to the programme, which is currently fully funded by the federal government.

The government would continue to fully fund the benefits for states that have an error payment rate below 6%, but states with higher error rates would be on the hook for anywhere from 5% to 15% of the programme’s costs.

The change would start in 2028.

The Senate bill also adds work requirements for able-bodied Snap enrollees who do not have dependents.

The US military will receive a budget increase of $150bn under the bill.

The money will be used to bolster the armed forces’ shipbuilding capacity, as well as to fund Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defence project.

• Can Trump build a ‘Golden Dome’ over US?

It will also significantly increase funding for immigration enforcement by allocating $100bn to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency central to the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration in the US.

The additional funding, which will run until 2029, will be used to nearly double migrant detention capacity in the US and hire more enforcement personnel.

Prior to the bill, the existing annual budget for ICE was about $8bn. The funding boost now makes ICE the largest federal law enforcement agency, according to the non-profit Brennan Center for Justice.

The “no tax on tips” provision in the budget bill would mark a win for one of Trump’s promises during the campaign.

The Senate bill being considered by the House would allow individuals to deduct a certain amount of tip wages and overtime from their taxes. However, they propose gradually phasing out those benefits based on annual income, starting at $150,000 for individuals and $300,000 for joint filers.

It would expire in 2028.

The Senate legislation would also permanently increase a child tax credit to $2,200 – which is $300 less than what House lawmakers had eyed. The House version required both parents have a Social Security number, but the Senate OK’d a requirement of only one parent.

The upper chamber’s bill also proposes raising the debt ceiling by $5tn – more than the $4tn approved by the House last month. The debt ceiling is the limit on the amount of money the US government can borrow to pay its bills.

Lifting the debt limit allows the government to pay for programmes already approved by Congress.

One of the most notable divisions between House and Senate Republicans is the Senate’s proposal for clean energy tax breaks.

Although both call for an end to the Biden-era federal clean energy tax credits, Senate Republicans approved phasing them out more slowly.

For instance, the Senate has extended the runway for businesses that build wind and solar farms to still benefit from the tax credits. However, both the House and Senate version seek to deny the credits to companies whose supply chains may have ties to a “foreign entity of concern”, such as China.

Companies that begin construction this year could qualify for the full tax break. That drops to 60% if they begin construction in 2026 and 20% if they begin in 2027. The credit would disappear in 2028.

The House version of the bill sought to end the tax breaks for those companies almost immediately.

Now that the bill has passed the House, its next stop is the president’s desk to be officially signed into law.

The White House says President Trump will sign it at a ceremony on 4 July at 17:00 EDT (22:00 BTS).

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reacted to the bill’s passing with a one word message on social media. “VICTORY!” she said, alongside an American flag image.

When the gunfire started outside her home in the Damascus suburb of Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, Lama al-Hassanieh grabbed her phone and locked herself in her bathroom.

For hours, she cowered in fear as fighters dressed in military-style uniforms and desert camouflage roamed the streets of the neighbourhood. A heavy machine gun was mounted on a military vehicle just beneath her balcony window.

“Jihad against Druze” and “we are going to kill you, Druze,” the men were shouting.

She did not know who the men were – extremists, government security forces, or someone else entirely – but the message was clear: as a Druze, she was not safe.

The Druze – a community with its own unique practices and beliefs, whose faith began as an off-shoot of Shia Islam – have historically occupied a precarious position in Syria’s political order.

Under former President Bashar al-Assad, many Druze maintained a quiet loyalty to the state, hoping that alignment with it would protect them from the sectarian bloodshed that consumed other parts of Syria during the 13-year-long civil war.

Many Druze took to the streets during the uprising, especially in the latter years. But, seeking to portray himself as defending Syria’s minorities against Islamist extremism, Assad avoided using the kind of iron first against Druze protesters which he did in other cities that revolted against his rule.

They operated their own militia which defended their areas against attacks by Sunni Muslim extremist groups who considered Druze heretics, while they were left alone by pro-Assad forces.

But with Assad toppled by Sunni Islamist-led rebels who have formed the interim government, that unspoken pact has frayed, and Druze are now worried about being isolated and targeted in post-war Syria.

Recent attacks on Druze communities by Islamist militias loosely affiliated with the government in Damascus have fuelled growing distrust towards the state.

It started in late April with a leaked audio recording that allegedly featured a Druze religious leader insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Although the leader denied it was his voice, and Syria’s interior ministry later confirmed the recording was fake, the damage had been done.

A video of a student at the University of Homs, in central Syria, went viral, with him calling on Muslims to take revenge immediately against Druze, sparking sectarian violence in communities across the country.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said at least 137 people – 17 civilians, 89 Druze fighters and 32 members of the security forces – were killed in several days of fighting in Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, the southern Damascus suburb of Jaramana, and in an ambush on the Suweida-Damascus highway.

The Syrian government said the security forces’ operation in Ashrafiyat Sahnaya was carried out to restore security and stability, and that it was in response to attacks on its own personnel where 16 of them were killed.

Lama Zahereddine, a pharmacy student at Damascus University, was just weeks away from completing her degree when the violence reached her village. What began as distant shelling turned into a direct assault – gunfire, mortars, and chaos tearing through her neighbourhood.

Her uncle arrived in a small bus, urging the women and children to flee under fire while the men stayed behind with nothing more than light arms. “The attackers had heavy machine guns and mortars,” Lama recalled. “Our men had nothing to match that.”

The violence did not stop at her village. At Lama’s university, dorm rooms were stormed and students were beaten with chains.

In one case, a student was stabbed after simply being asked if he was Druze.

“They [the instigators] told us we left our universities by choice,” she said. “But how could I stay? I was five classes and one graduation project away from my degree. Why would I abandon that if it wasn’t serious?”

Like many Druze, Lama’s fear is not just of physical attacks – it is of what she sees as a state that has failed to offer protection.

“The government says these were unaffiliated outlaws. Fine. But when are they going to be held accountable?” she asked.

Her trust was further shaken by classmates who mocked her plight, including one who replied with a laughing emoji to her post about fleeing her village.

“You never know how people really see you,” she said quietly. “I don’t know who to trust anymore.”

While no-one is sure who the attackers pledged their allegiance to, one thing is clear: many Druze are worried that Syria is drifting toward an intolerant Sunni-dominated order with little space for religious minorities like themselves.

“We don’t feel safe with these people,” Hadi Abou Hassoun told the BBC.

He was one of the Druze men from Suweida called in to protect Ashrafiyat Sahnaya on the day Lama was hiding in her bathroom.

His convoy was ambushed by armed groups using mortars and drones. Hadi was shot in the back, piercing his lung and breaking several ribs.

It’s a far cry from the inclusive Syria he had in mind under new leadership.

“Their ideology is religious, not based on law or the state. And when someone acts out of religious or sectarian hate, they don’t represent us,” Hadi said.

“What represents us is the law and the state. The law is what protects everyone…I want protection from the law.”

The Syrian government has repeatedly stressed the sovereignty and unity of all Syrian territories and denominations of Syrian society, including the Druze.

Though clashes and attacks have since subsided, faith in the government’s ability to protect minorities has diminished.

During the days of the fighting, Israel carried out air strikes around the Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, claiming it was targeting “operatives” attacking Druze to protect the minority group.

It also struck an area near the Syrian presidential palace, saying that it would “not allow the deployment of forces south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community”. Israel itself has a large number of Druze citizens in the country and living in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

Back in Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, Lama al-Hassanieh said the atmosphere had shifted – it was “calmer, but cautious”.

She sees neighbours again, but wariness lingers.

“Trust has been broken. There are people in the town now who don’t belong, who came during the war. It’s hard to know who’s who anymore.”

Trust in the government remains thin.

“They say they’re working toward protecting all Syrians. But where are the real steps? Where is the justice?” Lama asked.

“I don’t want to be called a minority. We are Syrians. All we ask for is the same rights – and for those who attacked us to be held accountable.”

A state-of-the-art British fighter jet stuck at an airport in India for nearly three weeks now has sparked curiosity and raised questions about how such a modern aircraft could get stranded for days in a foreign country.

The F-35B landed at Thiruvananthapuram airport in the southern state of Kerala on 14 June.

The aircraft was diverted there after it ran into bad weather during a sortie in the Indian ocean and was unable to return to HMS Prince of Wales, the Royal Navy’s flagship carrier.

It landed safely but it has since developed a technical snag and is unable to return to the carrier.

Since the jet’s landing, engineers from HMS Prince of Wales have assessed the aircraft, but the visiting teams have been unable to fix it so far.

On Thursday, the British High Commission said in a statement to the BBC: “The UK has accepted an offer to move the aircraft to the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul facility at the airport. It will be moved to the hangar once UK engineering teams arrive with specialist equipment, thereby ensuring there is minimal disruption to scheduled maintenance of other aircraft.

“The aircraft will return to active service once repairs and safety checks have been completed,” it added. “Ground teams continue to work closely with Indian authorities to ensure safety and security precautions are observed.”

Authorities at Thiruvananthapuram airport told the BBC they were expecting technicians from the UK to arrive on Saturday.

The $110m (£80m) jet is being guarded around the clock by six officers from the RAF.

Dr Sameer Patil, director of the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology at the Observer Research Foundation in Mumbai, told the BBC the Royal Navy had only two options: “They can repair it and make it fly-worthy or they can fly it out in a bigger cargo plane such as a C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft.”

The case of the stranded jet has also been raised in the House of Commons.

On Monday, opposition Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty asked the government to clarify what was being done to secure it and return it to operational service, the UK Defence Journal reported.

“What steps are the government taking to recover the plane, how much longer will that take, and how will the government ensure the security of protected technologies on the jet while it is in the hangar and out of view?” he was quoted as saying.

The British armed forces minister, Luke Pollard, confirmed the aircraft remained under close UK control.

“We continue to work with our Indian friends who provided first-class support when the F-35B was unable to return to the carrier,” he said. “I am certain that the security of the jet is in good hands because Royal Air Force crew are with it at all times.”

F-35Bs are highly advanced stealth jets, built by Lockheed Martin, and are prized for their short take-off and vertical landing capability.

So images of the “lonely F-35B”, parked on the tarmac and soaked by the Kerala monsoon rains, have spawned memes on social media.

One viral post joked that the jet had been put up for sale at an online site at a hugely competitive price of $4m. The listing claimed the jet included features like “automatic parking, brand-new tyres, a new battery and an automatic gun to destroy traffic violators”.

One user on X said the jet deserved Indian citizenship as it had been in the country long enough, while another suggested that India should start charging rent and that the Kohinoor diamond would be the most appropriate payment.

On Wednesday, Kerala government’s tourism department also joined in the fun with a post on X that said “Kerala, the destination you’ll never want to leave.”

The post included an AI-generated photograph of an F-35B standing on the runway with coconut palm trees in the background. The text suggested that, like most visitors to the state described in tourism brochures as “God’s own country” for its scenic beauty, the jet too was finding it hard to leave.

Dr Patil says that each passing day that the jet remains stranded, “it adversely affects the image of the F-35Bs and the Royal Navy”.

“The jokes and memes and rumours and conspiracy theories are affecting the image and credibility of the British Royal Navy. The longer the jet stays stranded, the more disinformation will come out.”

The engineering issues “seem of a much more serious nature” than it was originally thought, he says.

But most militaries, he adds, prepare for “a worst-case scenario” – and it is one since a jet is stranded on foreign soil.

“Most militaries would have a standard operating procedure [SOP] on how to respond when something like this happens. So does the Royal Navy not have an SOP?”

The optics of this, he says, are really bad.

“If such a thing had happened in enemy territory, would they have taken this much time? This makes for very bad PR for a professional navy.”

The Namibian government has announced a temporary ban on state funerals amid criticism over the rising costs of these burials.

Only President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has the power to exempt funerals from the moratorium, the government said.

Minister of Information and Communication Technology Emma Theofelus made the announcement following a Cabinet meeting earlier this week.

She said the moratorium would last until April 2026, while a review committee looks into the “criteria and processes associated with bestowing official funerals”.

Ms Theofelus told the BBC that a committee consisting of “no more than seven members” would be established to lead the review.

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The government has not said whether the decision was related to mounting criticism of the increasing costs of the numerous state funerals as reported by local media.

The BBC has asked the presidency for comment.

The Windhoek Observer, a privately owned publication, said calls for the moratorium had been made as far back as 2021 when the rising cost of official burials came under scrutiny, especially at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It quoted Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare, who earlier this year revealed that official funerals had cost the government 38.4m Namibian dollars ($2.2m; £1.6m) in the 2024/2025 financial year.

By comparison, only 2.1m Namibian dollars was spent on 23 funerals during the 2022/2023 financial year, according to the news site.

The Observer said the state had spent 30m Namibian dollars just to transport the body of founding President Sam Nujoma around the country ahead of his state funeral in February this year.

Nujoma, who died at the age of 95, led the long fight for independence from South Africa after helping found Namibia’s liberation movement, the South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo), in the 1960s.

After independence, Nujoma became president in 1990 and led the country until 2005.

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An American teenager has been detained on an Antarctic island, creating a major delay in his attempt to fly his small plane to every continent that is being followed online by more than a million people.

Chilean authorities stopped Ethan Guo, 19, after he submitted a false flight plan, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

His deviation from that plan in the air had “activated alert protocols”, Chile’s General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics said in a statement.

Mr Guo was taken into custody after landing on King George Island, home to a number of international research stations and their staff, where July temperatures typically stay well below freezing.

Mr Guo’s small Cessna 182 aircraft took off from the city of Punta Arenas, near the southernmost point of Chile, and flew to the island off the Atlantic coast, which is claimed by Chile. It is named after the UK’s King George III.

He was detained at Teniente R. Marsh airport.

Mr Guo had allegedly submitted a plan to fly over Punta Arenas, but not beyond that, according to regional prosecutor Cristian Cristoso Rifo, as cited by CBS.

He has been charged for violating two articles of the country’s aeronautical code, including one that could lead to short-term imprisonment.

In the statement, Chile’s General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics said Mr Guo had also allegedly violated the Antarctic Treaty, which regulates international relations with respect to the uninhabited continent.

Mr Guo posted an update on X on Wednesday, saying: “I’m alive everyone, I’ll make an update soon.”

Ethan Guo has flown his Cessna aircraft to all the other six continents in his journey spanning more than 140 days, according to his social media feed.

He is hoping to become the first pilot to complete solo flights across all seven continents in the Cessna aircraft, and simultaneously aims to raise $1m (£ 731,000) for cancer research at the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

A joint funeral has been held for two major crime figures more than a month after they were shot dead in a Spanish bar.

Eddie Lyons Jnr and Ross Monaghan were gunned down in a beachfront bar in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol on 31 May.

Both men had spent the evening watching the Champions League final before they were targeted, just before midnight, by a lone gunman.

Michael Riley, 44, from Liverpool, has been accused by Spanish police of the murders with a full extradition hearing scheduled for later this year.

On Friday hundreds of mourners gathered to pay their respects to Lyons Jnr, 46, and Monaghan, 43, at Bishopbriggs Crematorium in East Dunbartonshire.

Both men were linked to the Lyons crime group, which is based in the west of Scotland.

It has been engaged in a violent feud with the Daniel family and their associates which dates back more than two decades.

Lyons Jnr survived a previous attempt on his life 18 years ago when he was ambushed by Daniel clan enforcer Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll in Bellshill, Lanarkshire.

It followed an incident which was widely credited with taking the rivalry with the Daniel family to another level.

In November 2006 Carroll allegedly used a 4×4 and a tow rope to topple the headstone of Eddie Jnr’s brother, Garry, who was only eight when he died of leukaemia in 1991.

The following month two men in a blue Mazda pulled up outside a garage in Lambhill, in the north of Glasgow.

Raymond Anderson and James McDonald put on old man face masks, then walked into Applerow Motors and opened fire.

The owner, David Lyons, took cover but his 21-year-old nephew Michael – Eddie Jnr’s cousin – was shot dead.

Eddie’s brother, Steven, was injured along with his associate Robert Pickett.

The feud claimed a further victim on 13 January 2010 when Carroll was shot dead outside an Asda in Robroyston, Glasgow, which was busy with lunchtime shoppers.

Mongahan was arrested over the murder in August 2010 but he was acquitted in May 2012 after a judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to convict him.

Less than five years later he was shot in the shoulder outside a Glasgow primary school after dropping his child off.

The gunman was pushing a child’s buggy when he opened fire on Muirdykes Road near St George’s Primary, Penilee.

Two associates of the Daniel group were both cleared of the attack at a trial but were later convicted for other organised crime offences.

Monaghan is believed to have moved to Spain soon after the school shooting.

It was reported that he owned the Costa del Sol bar, bearing his name, where he and Lyons Jnr were killed.

It has since reopened under a new name.

The double murder follows a wave of gangland violence in Scotland since March.

It has resulted in a series of assaults, shootings and firebombings against individuals linked to the Daniel group in the east and west of the country.

Detectives working on Operation Portaledge, set up in response to the violence, have so far made 50 arrests.

Police Scotland has maintained it has no evidence the double murder is linked to the feud, despite conflicting claims by a senior Spanish officer.

Chief Supt Pedro Agudo Novo last month confirmed Lyons and Monaghan were killed within seconds of each other by a lone gunman who fled the scene on foot.

According to the officer, the suspect’s gun jammed after he killed Lyons Jnr with a single shot outside the bar.

He then pursued Monaghan inside and fired two more shots which proved fatal.

Chief Supt Agudo Novo last month highlighted the “professionalism” of the shootings and the suspect’s “perfectly planned” escape from Spain.

He also alleged that the killer was a member of the Daniel crime group.

BBC Scotland News understands that investigators in Spain and in Scotland were surprised by Chief Supt Agudo Novo’s public statement.

The position of Scottish detectives is that there is “no current evidence” linking the shootings to the Daniel group.

In response to Chief Supt Novo’s comments, Police Scotland repeated the carefully-worded statement they issued three days after the murders.

And last week Chief Constable Jo Farrell said the force “wasn’t aware” of any evidence the murders were linked to the feud, or had been planned from Scotland.

Michael Riley, of Huyton, was arrested on an international arrest warrant in the Liverpool area on 13 June in connection with the shootings.

On 20 June, Mr Riley appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London.

Asked by the court clerk if he wished to give his consent to be extradited back to Spain, he replied: “No, I do not.”

Mr Riley, who was remanded in custody, will return to court in October for an extradition hearing.

More than 40 people have been injured after a huge explosion at a Rome petrol station caused widespread damage.

Reports say emergency services were already at the scene in the Prenestino neighbourhood on Friday after a tanker truck hit a pipe while manoeuvring, causing a gas leak and smaller initial blast at around 08:00 local time (07:00 BST).

Shortly afterwards, a second, larger explosion rocked the area after a fire broke out, injuring 45 people including police officers, according to police.

Footage of the blast shows a giant fireball and thick black smoke filling the sky, with the explosion reportedly heard across the city, rattling nearby windows and buildings.

Rome’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri visited the charred remains of the petrol station and an adjacent sports centre.

He told local news outlets the explosions had caused “enormous damage” and had injured residents and at least 21 emergency service workers including police and firefighters.

Two men are in a life-threatening condition after suffering major burns – including a man who had reportedly been pulled by rescue teams from a burning car.

Photographs and footage from the scene showed widespread devastation after the blast, including burnt out vehicles and buildings.

Emergency services are continuing to work at the scene.

The mayor added that shortly after the initial explosion, people from nearby buildings, including a sports centre had been evacuated by emergency teams, avoiding what could have been a “much more serious tragedy”.

One eyewitness, Massimo Bartoletti told local news outlet Roma Repubblica: “I saw the first explosion with the classic fireball. Shortly after came the second one which was hellish.”

“A fiery mushroom formed in the sky. It made the whole area shake. It looked like hell, everything was flying in the sky,” he added.

Balzani Fabio, head of a nearby sports centre that was destroyed in the blast said the first fire happened at around 07:30 local time (06:30 BST).

“If it had happened at 08:30 or later it would have been a massacre, a catastrophe,” he told AFP.

He added that around 60 children were due to be at the site for a summer camp, with around 120 people booked to use the swimming pool that morning.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is said to be closely monitoring the situation.

In a post on X she wrote: “I express my closeness to all those who are injured — including law enforcement officers, firefighters and health workers — and I extend my heartfelt thanks to those involved in the rescue and safety operations”.

A former security contractor for Gaza’s controversial new Israel- and US-backed aid distribution sites has told the BBC that he witnessed colleagues opening fire several times on hungry Palestinians who had posed no threat, including with machine guns.

On one occasion, he said, a guard had opened fire from a watchtower with a machine gun because a group of women, children and elderly people were moving too slowly away from the site.

When asked to respond the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said the allegations were categorically false.

They referred us to a statement saying that no civilians ever came under fire at the GHF distribution sites.

The GHF began its operations in Gaza at the end of May, distributing limited aid from several sites in southern and central Gaza. That followed an 11-week total blockade of Gaza by Israel during which no food entered the territory.

The system has been widely criticised for forcing vast numbers of people to walk through active combat zones to a handful of sites. Since the GHF started up, Israeli forces have killed more than 400 Palestinians trying to retrieve food aid from its sites, the UN and local doctors say. Israel says the new distribution system stops aid going to Hamas.

Continuing his description of the incident at one of the GHF sites – in which he said guards fired on a group of Palestinians – the former contractor said: “As that happened, another contractor on location, standing on the berm overlooking the exit, opened up with 15 to 20 shots of repetitive weapons fire at the crowd.

“A Palestinian man dropped to the ground motionless. And then the other contractor who was standing there was like, ‘damn, I think you got one’. And then they laughed about it.”

The contractor, who spoke to us on condition of anonymity, said GHF managers had brushed off his report as a coincidence, suggesting that the Palestinian man could have “tripped” or been “tired and passed out”.

The GHF claimed the man who made these allegations is a “disgruntled former contractor” who they had terminated for misconduct, which he denies. He showed us evidence that he left the post on good terms.

The man we spoke to, who said he had worked at all four of the GHF distribution sites, described a culture of impunity with few rules or controls.

He said contractors were given no clear rules of engagement or standard operating procedures, and were told by one team leader: “if you feel threatened, shoot – shoot to kill and ask questions later”.

The culture in the company, he said, felt like “we’re going into Gaza so it’s no rules. Do what you want.”

“If a Palestinian is walking away from the site and not demonstrating any hostile intent, and we’re shooting warning shots at them regardless, we are wrong, we are criminally negligent,” he told me.

He told us that each site had CCTV monitoring the activity in the area, and GHF insistence that no one there had been hurt or shot at was “an absolute bare-faced lie”.

GHF said that gunfire heard in footage shared with the BBC was coming from Israeli forces.

Team leaders referred to Gazans as “zombie hordes”, the former contractor said, “insinuating that these people have no value.”

The man also said Palestinians were coming to harm in other ways at GHF sites, for example by being hit by debris from stun grenades, being sprayed with mace or being pushed by the crowds into razor wire.

He said he had witnessed several occasions in which Palestinians appeared to have been seriously hurt, including one man who had a full can of pepper spray in his face, and a woman who he said was hit with the metal part of a stun grenade, improperly fired into a crowd.

“This metal piece hit her directly in the head and she dropped to the ground, not moving,” he said. “I don’t know if she was dead. I know for a fact she was unconscious and completely limp.”

Earlier this week more than 170 charities and other NGOs called for the GHF to be shut down. The organisations, including Oxfam and Save the Children, say Israeli forces and armed groups “routinely” open fire on Palestinians seeking aid.

Israel denies its soldiers deliberately shoot at aid recipients and says the GHF’s system provides direct assistance to people who need it, bypassing Hamas interference.

The GHF says it had delivered more than 52 million meals in five weeks and that other organisations “stand by helplessly as their aid is looted”.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 57,130 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Pop star Katy Perry and actor Orlando Bloom have officially confirmed they have split, US media outlets say, six years after getting engaged.

The couple have been romantically linked since 2016 and have a four-year-old daughter.

In a joint statement issued to US media outlets, representatives for the couple said the pair “have been shifting their relationship over the past many months to focus on co-parenting”.

“They will continue to be seen together as a family, as their shared priority is – and always will be – raising their daughter with love, stability and mutual respect.”

The statement was being released due to the “abundance of recent interest and conversation” surrounding their relationship, it added.

The pop star, 40, and the 48-year-old actor split in 2017 but got back together shortly afterwards. They got engaged on Valentine’s Day in 2019.

A year later Perry revealed she was pregnant in the music video for her single Never Worn White.

Their daughter Daisy Dove was born later that year, with Unicef announcing the news on its Instagram account. Both Perry and Bloom are goodwill ambassadors for the United Nations agency that helps children.

The couple’s split follows a tough year for Perry. Her most recent album, 143, and its lead single Woman’s World, were not as well received as her previous music.

The singer is currently on tour, but ticket sales have reportedly been slower than earlier in her career.

Perry and a group of other female celebrities also faced backlash after their Blue Origin space trip in April, a reaction which Perry said left her feeling “battered and bruised”.

The US singer, who was previously married to Russell Brand, shot to fame in 2008 with the single I Kissed A Girl, which reached number one in the UK.

Her hits since then have included Roar, California Gurls, Firework and Never Really Over.

Bloom was previously married to Australian model Miranda Kerr, and they have a son, 14-year-old Flynn.

The British actor has starred in Pirates Of The Caribbean, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

Russia has become the first country to formally recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan, sparking outrage from opposition figures.

The decision marks a major milestone for the Taliban almost four years after they swept into Kabul and took power.

Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said he hoped it would serve as an example to other countries, which have been reluctant to recognise a regime which implements a version of Sharia law along with severe restrictions on women and girls.

Others have decried the move, with former Afghan politician Fawzia Koofi saying “any move by any country to normalise relations with the Taliban will not bring peace it will legitimise impunity”.

Koofi went on to warn “such steps risk endangering not just the people of Afghanistan, but global security”.

Meanwhile, the Afghan Women’s Political Participation Network said it legitimised “a regime that is authoritarian, anti-women, and actively dismantling basic civil rights”.

The Taliban government has previously said it respects women’s rights in accordance with their interpretation of Afghan culture and Islamic law.

But since 2021, girls over the age of 12 have been prevented from getting an education, and women from many jobs. There have also been restrictions on how far a woman can travel without a male chaperone, and decrees on them raising their voices in public.

Foreign Minister Muttaqi said Moscow’s recognition, which came on Thursday, was “a new phase of positive relations, mutual respect, and constructive engagement”, describing the decision as “courageous”.

Russia’s foreign ministry said it saw the potential for “commercial and economic” co-operation in “energy, transportation, agriculture and infrastructure”, and that it would continue to help Kabul to fight against the threats of terrorism and drug trafficking.

Russia was one of very few countries that did not close down their embassy in Afghanistan in 2021 – as the Taliban swept across Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US troop.

The country was also the first to sign an international economic deal with the Taliban in 2022, where they agreed to supply oil, gas and wheat to Afghanistan.

The Taliban was removed from Russia’s list of terrorist organisations in April this year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also referred to the Taliban as an “ally” in fighting terrorism in July last year. Taliban representatives had visited Moscow for talks as early as 2018.

However, the two countries have a complex history. The Soviet Union – which included Russia – invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and fought a nine-year war that cost them 15,000 personnel.

Their decision to install a Soviet-backed government in Kabul turned the Soviets into an international pariah, and eventually led to their withdrawal in February 1989.

In its statement, the Afghan Women’s Political Participation Network noted it had not forgotten “Russia’s role in the destruction of Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion”.

“Today, its political interference and direct support for the Taliban represent a continuation of those same destructive strategies, now under the banner of diplomacy,” it said.

Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta, a former Afghan national security adviser under the predceding Western-backed government, described Russia’s decision as “regrettable”, adding: “This is just the beginning; in the absence of widespread resistance, others will follow Russia.”

Strict sanctions were placed on Afghanistan in 2021 by the United Nations Security Council, most notably the freezing of approximately $9bn (£6.6bn) in assets.

The UN has said the rules impacting women amount to “gender apartheid”, while also reporting public floggings and brutal attacks on former government officials.

While the Taliban government is widely not recognised by other countries, Germany’s interior minister wants to work with Afghanistan to resume deportations of convicted Afghan criminals.

Germany initially stopped deportations following the Taliban’s return to power.

Alexander Dobrindt on Thursday said he wants to make “agreements directly with Afghanistan to enable deportations”.

On Friday, a UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman said it was “not appropriate” to return people to Afghanistan on the account of the Taliban “documenting continuing human rights violations”.

Most countries closed their embassies after 2021. However, China, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Pakistan all have designated ambassadors to Kabul.

Former Arsenal footballer Thomas Partey has been charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.

The offences are reported to have taken place between 2021-2022, the Metropolitan Police said.

The charges involve three women, with two counts of rape relating to one woman, three counts of rape in connection to a second woman and one count of sexual assault linked to a third woman.

The Ghanaian international denies the charges and “welcomes the opportunity to finally clear his name”, his lawyer said.

The charges follow an investigation by detectives, which started in February 2022 after police first received a report of rape.

The 32-year-old’s contract with Arsenal ended on Monday after playing with the team since 2020.

BBC News has contacted Arsenal and the Football Association. The Premier League declined to comment.

Det Supt Andy Furphy, who is leading the investigation, said: “Our priority remains providing support to the women who have come forward.

“We would ask anyone who has been impacted by this case, or anyone who has information, to speak with our team. You can contact detectives about this investigation by emailing CIT@met.police.uk”

Mr Partey, of Hertfordshire, is expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 5 August.

In a statement, his lawyer Jenny Wiltshire said: “Thomas Partey denies all the charges against him.

“He has fully cooperated with the police and CPS throughout their three-year investigation.

“He now welcomes the opportunity to finally clear his name.

“Given that there are now ongoing legal proceedings, my client is unable to comment further.”

Mr Partey joined Arsenal for £45.3m from Atletico Madrid in October 2020, made 35 top-flight appearances last season and scored four goals as the London club finished second in the Premier League.

He also played 12 times in the Champions League as the Gunners reached the semi-finals before being knocked out by eventual winners Paris St-Germain.

Overall, he made 130 Premier League appearances for Mikel Arteta’s side, scoring nine goals.

Mr Partey has also made more than 50 appearances for Ghana’s national team, and most recently played at World Cup qualification matches in March.

French police have waded into shallow waters off a beach south of Boulogne and used knives to slash an inflatable small boat – packed with men, women and children – that was wallowing, dangerously, in the waves.

All those onboard clambered to safety as the boat collapsed in chaotic scenes.

The intervention was highly unusual.

French police usually follow strict rules that bar them from going into the sea in case they put lives at risk.

“Let’s go in,” said one of the gendarmes, pulling off his body armour, and taking out a small knife. His colleagues took their heavy armour off, too, placing equipment in the back of a nearby police car before rushing into the water.

There had been some speculation that this rare incident could be evidence that the French police – under growing pressure to stop a surge of small boat migrant crossings to the UK – are changing their tactics.

But they have made it clear to the BBC that police have not adopted any new tactics in dealing with small boat launches, that the rules forbidding intervention in the water remains in place and officers must continue to prioritise safety on the beaches. They are allowed to intervene, however, if they believe lives are at immediate risk.

Well-placed sources in France have told us that the procedural changes now being considered will almost certainly focus on the use of patrol boats at sea to intercept the “taxi-boats” before they’re fully loaded, rather than on approving more aggressive interventions from police on the beaches.

The UK prime minister’s official spokesman said the images of French police destroying a boat were “a significant moment and we welcome this action”.

“We want to see tougher action taken, that’s precisely the focus of our work, it is the outcome of that close work that you’ve seen,” the spokesman said.

A few metres offshore, the boat itself was clearly in trouble. People were crowded around the outboard motor, which had briefly stalled but was being restarted.

Waves were breaking underneath the boat, causing it to lurch wildly, and there were loud screams from several children who were in danger of being crushed onboard.

Earlier, two large groups of people already wearing orange life jackets had emerged from the nearby dunes and rushed towards the sea.

In all there were probably 80 or 100 people. But when the first “taxi-boat” – used by the smuggling gangs to collect passengers from various points along the French coast – sped past perhaps 100m from the shore, it was clearly full already and did not stop to pick anyone else up.

A few minutes later, a second boat, with almost no passengers, came towards the shore, watched by a French coastguard boat further into the English Channel.

Initially, people were ushered forwards in organised groups, holding hands, and directed by one man who appeared to be leading events.

But as the inflatable boat turned and reversed towards the shore, there was a scrum as dozens of people scrambled to climb aboard in water that was at least waist deep.

At first the gendarmes declined to intervene and stood watching from the shore.

One officer repeated a now-familiar explanation to me – that they were barred from going into the water except to rescue people.

But as the situation became increasingly chaotic, the officers at the scene clearly felt that a line had been crossed, that those on board were now in danger, and that there was a brief opportunity to disable the boat in relative safety and while any smugglers – who might have fought back – were distracted by their attempts to restart the engine.

As a policeman slashed repeatedly at the rubber, there were cries and shouts of anger and frustration from some of those onboard.

A young girl, who had been in the middle of the scrum, squashed at the stern of the boat close to the engine, was plucked to safety as others scrambled on to the nearby sand.

Moments later the boat was dragged ashore by the police as the migrants began collecting items they had dropped on the beach and then headed inland, up the sandy paths through the dunes towards the nearest village and a bus-ride back to the migrant camps further north.

Moments before the explosion, artists, students and athletes were among those gathered at a bustling seaside cafe in Gaza City.

Huddled around tables, customers at al-Baqa Cafeteria were scrolling on their phones, sipping hot drinks, and catching up with friends. At one point, the familiar melody of “Happy Birthday” rang out as a young child celebrated with family.

In a quiet corner of the cafe overlooking the sea, a Hamas operative, dressed in civilian clothing, arrived at his table, sources told the BBC.

It was then, without warning, that a bomb was dropped by Israeli forces and tore through the building, they said.

At the sound of the explosion, people nearby flooded onto the streets and into al-Baqa in a desperate search for survivors.

“The scene was horrific – bodies, blood, screaming everywhere,” one man told the BBC later that day.

“It was total destruction,” said another. “A real massacre happened at al-Baqa Cafeteria. A real massacre that breaks hearts.”

The BBC has reviewed 29 names of people reported killed in the strike on the cafe on Monday. Twenty-six of the deaths were confirmed by multiple sources, including through interviews with family, friends and eyewitness accounts.

At least nine of those killed were women, and several were children or teenagers. They included artists, students, social activists, a female boxer, a footballer and cafe staff.

The conduct of the strike and the scale of civilian casualties have amplified questions over the proportionality of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say are aimed at defeating Hamas and rescuing the hostages still being held by the group.

Family members in Gaza and abroad spoke to the BBC of their shock and devastation at the killings.

“We were talking with each other two days ago. We were sending reels to each other. I can’t believe it,” said a young Palestinian man living in the US whose 21-year-old “bestie” Muna Juda and another close friend, Raghad Alaa Abu Sultan, were both killed in the strike.

The numbers of deaths analysed by the BBC were broadly consistent with figures given by the Hamas-run Civil Defence Agency, a senior local medic and the Palestinian Red Crescent in the days after the strike.

Staff at Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies, said its toll as of Thursday had reached 40 deaths, including people who had succumbed to their injuries, and unidentified bodies.

An official at the hospital said some of the bodies had been “blown to pieces”, and that 72 injured patients were brought there – many having sustained severe burns and significant injuries that required surgery. He said many were students.

In a statement after the strike, the IDF said it had been targeting “terrorists” and that steps were taken to “mitigate the risk of harming civilians using aerial surveillance”.

“The IDF will continue to operate against the Hamas terrorist organization in order to remove any threat posed to Israeli civilians,” it added, before saying the “incident” was “under review”.

The IDF did not directly respond to multiple BBC questions about the target of the strike, or whether it considered the number of civilian casualties to be proportionate.

Al-Baqa Cafeteria was well-known across the Gaza Strip, considered by many to be among the territory’s most scenic and vibrant meeting spots.

Split over two floors and divided into men’s and mixed family sections, it had views out to the Mediterranean Sea and television screens where people could watch football matches. It was a place to gather for coffee, tea and shisha with friends, and was a particular favourite with journalists.

Al-Baqa had remained popular even during the war, especially because of its unusually stable internet connection. The cafe, which had until now survived largely unscathed, also served up a reminder of the life that existed before the bombardments.

A cafe manager told the BBC that there was a strict entry policy. “It was known to our customers that if any person looked like a target, then they were not let inside the cafeteria – this was for our safety and the safety of the people there,” he said.

On the day of the strike, the port area of Gaza City where the cafe is located was not under Israeli evacuation orders, and families of those killed on Monday say they had felt as safe as is possible when heading there.

Staff told the BBC that the strike in the early afternoon – between the Muslim prayers of Zuhr and Asr – was outside of the cafe’s busiest hours.

The strike hit a section of the men’s area where staff said few people were at the time.

BBC Verify showed several experts photos of the crater left in the wake of the explosion and the remaining munition fragments. Most said that they believed it was caused by a bomb, rather than a missile, with a range of size estimates given, at a maximum of 500lb (230kg).

The IDF told the BBC it would not comment on the type of munition used.

A journalist who was in the area at the time of the strike and spoke to eyewitnesses immediately afterwards told the BBC the munition that hit the cafe “was launched from a warplane – not from a drone that would usually target one or two people… It looked like they were very keen on getting their target”. His account was consistent with others we spoke to.

Twenty-seven-year-old Hisham Ayman Mansour, whose deceased father had been a leading figure in Hamas’ military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, was among those in the men’s section by the sea.

His brother was previously killed by Israeli forces, and one social media post mourning his death suggested the brother had taken part in the 7 October 2023 attacks.

A local Hamas source said Hisham was the target of the strike, and described him as a field commander with the group, a “mid-ranking role”.

Tributes posted on social media also referred to him as a “fighter” and “member of the resistance”. His cousin also described him to the BBC as a “fighter” with the proscribed group, but said he thought he was “low-level” and not currently active.

It is unclear what he was doing in the cafe that day, with two sources telling the BBC he was believed to be there for a “money drop”, while another suggested he was there for “coffee and a short respite” and that he had not been involved in “militant activities” during the war.

A photo shared on social media purported to show Hisham at the same spot in the men’s area of the cafe the day before the strike, wearing a cap and sports t-shirt. Photos of his body after the strike in the same outfit were shared by family and friends.

Two members of his family – one of them a child – were also killed.

The IDF would not confirm whether Hisham was the primary target, or one of a number of targets of the strike.

One former senior IDF official told the BBC he understood that “multiple Hamas operatives” were hit at the cafe, but that a so-called battle damage assessment was still ongoing. A source with Israeli intelligence connections pointed towards a social media post naming Hisham as the target.

Sources in Gaza gave the BBC the name of a more senior Hamas commander who was rumoured to have been seated on a nearby table, but posts on social media said he died the following day and did not mention the cafe.

The Hamas source said Hisham was the only person within the group killed at al-Baqa, while the IDF did not respond to questions about the commander.

An anti-Hamas activist told the BBC that “many Hamas people” were injured in the strike, including one who worked with the group but not as a fighter, who lost his leg in the explosion.

Medics could not confirm this account, but said that they dealt with many people with severe injuries, including those arriving with missing limbs or requiring amputations.

Israel does not allow international journalists access to Gaza to report on the war making it difficult to verify information, and Hamas has historically ruled the territory with an iron grip, making speaking out or any dissent dangerous.

Among the bodies and the debris in al-Baqa were traces of the civilian lives lost – a giant pink and white teddy bear, its stuffing partially exposed, a child’s tiny shoe, and playing cards soaked in blood.

A displaced man who was in the area seeing family at the time of the strike was among those who went running into the cafe to try to find survivors.

“Shrapnel was everywhere… there were many injuries,” he told the BBC.

He said when he entered part of the men’s section that he found the bodies of waiters and other workers, and saw as one “took his last breath”.

“It was crazy,” said Saeed Ahel, a regular at the cafe and friend of its managers.

“The waiters were gathered around the bar since it was shady and breezy there. Around [six] of them were killed,” he added, before listing their names. More were injured.

The mother of two young men who worked at the cafe screamed as she followed their bodies while they were carried on a sheet out of the wreckage on Monday.

A distraught man pointed at a dry patch of blood on the floor, where he said bits of brain and skull had been splattered. He had put them in a bag and carried them out.

Meanwhile, the grandmother of 17-year-old Sama Mohammad Abu Namous wept.

The teenager had gone to the cafe that afternoon with her brother, hoping to use the internet connection to study. Relatives said the siblings were walking into the beachside cafe when the bomb hit. Sama was killed, while her brother was rushed to hospital.

“She went to study and they killed her,” she said. “Why did she have to return to her grandmother killed?”

The coach of young female boxer Malak Musleh said he was in shock at the loss of his friend of more than 10 years, having first learned the news of her killing through social media.

“She believed that boxing was not just for boys but that girls should have the right too,” Osama Ayoub said. “Malak was ambitious. She didn’t skip any training day.”

He said he last saw Malak about 10 days before the strike, when he dropped off some aid to her and her father.

“We sat together for nearly an hour. She told me that she was continuing her training with her sister and wished I could train them. I told her unfortunately because my house got demolished I live now in Khan Younis [in southern Gaza], but as soon as I hear that there is a ceasefire I will try to go back to training,” he said.

“She said to make sure to keep a space for them… She had passion in her eyes and her words.”

When Osama saw the Facebook post by Malak’s father announcing her death, he “didn’t believe it”.

“I called him and he confirmed it but I still don’t believe it,” he said over the phone from a displacement camp.

Artist Amina Omar Al-Salmi, better known as Frans, was also at the cafe with a well-known photographer friend.

Since the 35-year-old’s death, one of her pieces depicting a dead woman with her eyes closed and covered in blood, has been shared widely online alongside an image of her after her death, with people noting the striking similarities.

Her sister, now living in Sweden, told the BBC that the last time they spoke, Frans had said that she was sure “something good was going to happen”.

“She was happy and said: ‘We’ll meet soon. You’ll see me at your place.'”

One person has been killed and 26 others were injured after a night of intensive Russian strikes on almost every district in Kyiv, officials say.

A pall of acrid smoke hung over the Ukrainian capital on Friday morning following hours of nightfall punctuated by the staccato of air defence guns, buzz of drones and large explosions. Ukraine said Russia fired a record 539 drones and 11 missiles.

The strikes came hours after a call between US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, after which Trump said he was “disappointed” that Putin was not ready to end the war against Ukraine.

Moscow says the war will continue for as long as it is necessary to reach its objectives.

Russia’s overnight air strikes broke another record, Ukraine’s air force said, with 72 of the 539 drones penetrating air defences – up from a previous record of 537 launched last Saturday night.

Air raid alerts sounded for more than eight hours asseveral waves of attacks struck Kyiv, the “main target of the strikes”, the air force said on the messaging app Telegram.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned one of the most “demonstratively significant and cynical” attacks of the war, describing a “harsh, sleepless night”.

Noting that it came directly after Putin’s call with Trump, Zelensky added in a post on Telegram: “Russia once again demonstrates that it does not intend to end the war”.

He called on international allies – particularly the US – to increase pressure on Moscow and impose greater sanctions.

Footage shared on social media by Ukraine’s state emergency service showed firefighters battling to extinguish fires in Kyiv after Russia’s large-scale overnight attack.

Rescuers also found a dead body while going through the rubble in the Svyatoshynsky district, the head of the Kyiv city military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said.

According to Ukrainian authorities, railway infrastructure was damaged and schools, buildings and cars set ablaze across the capital.

Poland’s Foreign Minister, Radosław Sikorski, said the Polish consulate had also been damaged.

The Russian strikes also hit the regions of Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Chernihiv.

Russia’s defence ministry said the “massive strike” had been launched in response to the “terrorist acts of the Kyiv regime”.

The acting governor of Russia’s southern Rostov region said a woman was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on a village not far from the border on Friday night.

Friday’s attacks were the latest in a string of major Russian air strikes on Ukraine that have intensified in recent weeks as ceasefire talks have largely stalled.

War in Ukraine has been raging for more than three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Following his conversation with Putin on Thursday, Trump said that “no progress” to end the fighting had been made.

“I’m very disappointed with the conversation I had today with President Putin, because I don’t think he’s there, and I’m very disappointed,” Trump said.

“I’m just saying I don’t think he’s looking to stop, and that’s too bad.”

The Kremlin reiterated that it would continue to seek to remove “the root causes of the war in Ukraine”. Putin has sought to return Ukraine to Russia’s sphere of influence and said last week that “the whole of Ukraine is ours”.

Responding to Trump’s comments on Friday, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the BBC that as long as it was not possible to secure Russia’s aims through political-diplomatic means, “we are continuing our Special Military Operation” – Russia’s preferred name for the invasion.

Meanwhile, President Zelensky said he had a “very important and fruitful conversation” with Trump on Friday, regarding the supply of US weapons after Washington decided to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine, including those used for air defences.

“We spoke about opportunities in air defence and agreed that we will work together to strengthen protection of our skies,” he said on X, adding that they discussed “defence industry capabilities and joint production”.

Kyiv has warned that the move to pause some shipments would impede its ability to defend Ukraine against escalating airstrikes and Russian advances on the frontlines.

Speaking to reporters previously, Trump said “we’re giving weapons” and “we haven’t” completely paused the flow of weapons. He blamed former President Joe Biden for “emptying out our whole country giving them weapons, and we have to make sure that we have enough for ourselves”.

On Friday, Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that while he understands Washington’s needs to maintain its own weapon stockpiles, he hopes “for a level of flexibility” to make sure Ukraine also has what it needs.

Meanwhile, a German government spokesperson said they were currently in talks with the US to buy Patriot air defence systems to give to Ukraine.

Plans for a futuristic city in Senegal dreamt up by the singer Akon have been scrapped and instead he will work on something more realistic, officials say.

“The Akon City project no longer exists,” Serigne Mamadou Mboup, the head of Senegal’s tourism development body, Sapco, told the BBC.

“Fortunately, an agreement has been reached between Sapco and the entrepreneur Alioune Badara Thiam [aka Akon]. What he’s preparing with us is a realistic project, which Sapco will fully support.”

Known for his string of noughties chart hits, Akon – who was born in the US but partly raised in Senegal – announced two ambitious projects in 2018 that were supposed to represent the future of African society.

The first was Akon City – reportedly costed at $6bn (£5bn). It was to run on the second initiative – a brand new cryptocurrency called Akoin.

Initial designs for Akon City, with its boldly curvaceous skyscrapers, were compared by commentators to the awe-inspiring fictional city of Wakanda in Marvel’s Black Panther films and comic books.

But after five years of setbacks, the 800-hectare site in Mbodiène – about 100km (60 miles) south of the capital, Dakar – remains mostly empty. The only structure is an incomplete reception building. There are no roads, no housing, no power grid.

“We were promised jobs and development,” one local resident told the BBC. “Instead, nothing has changed.”

Meanwhile the star’s Akoin cryptocurrency has struggled to repay its investors over the years, with Akon himself conceding: “It wasn’t being managed properly – I take full responsibility for that.”

There had also been questions over whether it would even be legal for Akoin to operate as the primary payment method for would-be residents of Akon City. Senegal uses the CFA franc, which is regulated and issued by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), and like many central banks has expressed opposition to cryptocurrency.

The plans for Akon City had been sweeping.

Phase one alone was to include a hospital, a shopping mall, a school, a police station, a waste centre, and a solar plant – all by the end of 2023.

Sitting on Senegal’s Atlantic Coast, Akon’s high-tech, eco-friendly city was supposed to run entirely on renewable energy.

But despite Akon’s insistence in a 2022 BBC interview that the project was “100,000% moving”, no significant construction followed the initial launch ceremony.

Now the Senegalese government has confirmed what many suspected – the project had stalled beyond recovery. Officials cited a lack of funding and halted construction efforts as key reasons for the decision.

Although Akon City as it was originally imagined has been shelved, the government says it is now working with Akon on a more “realistic” development project for the same site.

The land near Mbodiène remains of high strategic value, especially with the 2026 Youth Olympic Games approaching and increased tourism activity expected.

• Akon’s Wakanda, grazing goats and a crumbling crypto dream
• Born in France but searching for a future in Africa
• US basketball training for Senegal cancelled after visas rejected
• Senegal starts producing oil as president promises benefits

Two female tourists, including a British pensioner, have been killed by a charging elephant while on safari in Zambia, police have told the BBC.

Easton Taylor, 68, from the UK and 67-year-old Alison Taylor from New Zealand were attacked by a female elephant that was with a calf at the South Luangwa National Park, said local police chief Robertson Mweemba.

The two tourists were trampled to death by the nursing elephant after efforts by tour guides to stop it by firing shots failed. Both women died at the scene, he said.

The British Foreign Office said it was supporting the family of a British woman who had died in Zambia and was liaising with local authorities.

Mr Mweemba said the two women were part of a guided safari group who were walking in the park on Thursday when the elephant charged towards them at high speed.

The two tourists had stayed for four days at the Big Lagoon Camp, about 600 km (370 miles) from the capital, Lusaka, where the attack happened.

“They were moving to other camps when the elephant charged from behind. We are really sorry that we have lost our visitors,” Mr Mweemba said.

“They both died on the spot,” he added.

It is not clear whether the pair were related.

Female elephants are very protective of their calves and Zambian authorities have previously called on tourists to exercise extreme caution while observing wildlife around the country.

“It is very difficult to control the animals and tourists like feeding them,” Mr Mweemba said.

Last year, two American tourists were killed in separate attacks by elephants in the southern African country. Both cases involved elderly tourists who were in a safari vehicle when they were attacked.

• Akon’s futuristic $6bn city project in Senegal abandoned, BBC told
• ‘I’m afraid that elephants will kill me’
• Elephant corridors – where locals take care to cross
• Zimbabwe’s dilemma over deadly elephant attacks

A state-of-the-art British fighter jet stuck at an airport in India for nearly three weeks now has sparked curiosity and raised questions about how such a modern aircraft could get stranded for days in a foreign country.

The F-35B landed at Thiruvananthapuram airport in the southern state of Kerala on 14 June.

The aircraft was diverted there after it ran into bad weather during a sortie in the Indian ocean and was unable to return to HMS Prince of Wales, the Royal Navy’s flagship carrier.

It landed safely but it has since developed a technical snag and is unable to return to the carrier.

Since the jet’s landing, engineers from HMS Prince of Wales have assessed the aircraft, but the visiting teams have been unable to fix it so far.

On Thursday, the British High Commission said in a statement to the BBC: “The UK has accepted an offer to move the aircraft to the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul facility at the airport. It will be moved to the hangar once UK engineering teams arrive with specialist equipment, thereby ensuring there is minimal disruption to scheduled maintenance of other aircraft.

“The aircraft will return to active service once repairs and safety checks have been completed,” it added. “Ground teams continue to work closely with Indian authorities to ensure safety and security precautions are observed.”

Authorities at Thiruvananthapuram airport told the BBC they were expecting technicians from the UK to arrive on Saturday.

The $110m (£80m) jet is being guarded around the clock by six officers from the RAF.

Dr Sameer Patil, director of the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology at the Observer Research Foundation in Mumbai, told the BBC the Royal Navy had only two options: “They can repair it and make it fly-worthy or they can fly it out in a bigger cargo plane such as a C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft.”

The case of the stranded jet has also been raised in the House of Commons.

On Monday, opposition Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty asked the government to clarify what was being done to secure it and return it to operational service, the UK Defence Journal reported.

“What steps are the government taking to recover the plane, how much longer will that take, and how will the government ensure the security of protected technologies on the jet while it is in the hangar and out of view?” he was quoted as saying.

The British armed forces minister, Luke Pollard, confirmed the aircraft remained under close UK control.

“We continue to work with our Indian friends who provided first-class support when the F-35B was unable to return to the carrier,” he said. “I am certain that the security of the jet is in good hands because Royal Air Force crew are with it at all times.”

F-35Bs are highly advanced stealth jets, built by Lockheed Martin, and are prized for their short take-off and vertical landing capability.

So images of the “lonely F-35B”, parked on the tarmac and soaked by the Kerala monsoon rains, have spawned memes on social media.

One viral post joked that the jet had been put up for sale at an online site at a hugely competitive price of $4m. The listing claimed the jet included features like “automatic parking, brand-new tyres, a new battery and an automatic gun to destroy traffic violators”.

One user on X said the jet deserved Indian citizenship as it had been in the country long enough, while another suggested that India should start charging rent and that the Kohinoor diamond would be the most appropriate payment.

On Wednesday, Kerala government’s tourism department also joined in the fun with a post on X that said “Kerala, the destination you’ll never want to leave.”

The post included an AI-generated photograph of an F-35B standing on the runway with coconut palm trees in the background. The text suggested that, like most visitors to the state described in tourism brochures as “God’s own country” for its scenic beauty, the jet too was finding it hard to leave.

Dr Patil says that each passing day that the jet remains stranded, “it adversely affects the image of the F-35Bs and the Royal Navy”.

“The jokes and memes and rumours and conspiracy theories are affecting the image and credibility of the British Royal Navy. The longer the jet stays stranded, the more disinformation will come out.”

The engineering issues “seem of a much more serious nature” than it was originally thought, he says.

But most militaries, he adds, prepare for “a worst-case scenario” – and it is one since a jet is stranded on foreign soil.

“Most militaries would have a standard operating procedure [SOP] on how to respond when something like this happens. So does the Royal Navy not have an SOP?”

The optics of this, he says, are really bad.

“If such a thing had happened in enemy territory, would they have taken this much time? This makes for very bad PR for a professional navy.”

A brawl filmed at Manchester Airport last summer followed an attack on a member of the public at Starbucks, a jury has heard.

Brothers Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, and Muhammad Amaad, 26, are said to have used a “high level of violence” in assaulting three police officers in Terminal 2 on 23 July last year.

Police were at the airport responding to an earlier incident at the Starbucks cafe where Mr Amaaz headbutted a man and punched him, Liverpool Crown Court heard. Both brothers, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny the allegations.

Opening the prosecution case on Friday, Paul Greaney KC said police later traced the brothers at the terminal’s car park payment area.

Three officers, PC Zachary Marsden and PC Ellie Cook – both armed – and PC Lydia Ward, unarmed, approached the defendants, he said.

Mr Greaney went on: “The officers attempted to move Mohammed Fahir Amaaz away from a payment machine in order to arrest him, but he resisted, and his brother Muhammad Amaad intervened.”

He said they both assaulted PC Marsden.

“In the moments that followed, the first defendant also assaulted PC Cook and then PC Ward too, breaking her nose,” Mr Greaney said.

“The defendants used a high level of violence.”

Mr Amaaz is alleged to have assaulted PC Marsden and PC Ward, causing them actual bodily harm.

He is also accused of the assault of PC Cook and the earlier assault of Abdulkareem Ismaeil at Starbucks.

Mr Amaad, 26, is alleged to have assaulted PC Marsden, causing actual bodily harm.

Mr Greaney said the defendants had travelled to the airport with their young nephew to collect their mother who was due to arrive back on a flight from Qatar.

He said it was clear that “something happened” involving Abdulkareem Ismaeil, who was on the same flight as the pair’s mother, that “made [her] unhappy”.

She pointed out Mr Ismaeil, who was in Starbucks with his family, to her sons as they were walking through the terminal.

“At just after 8.20pm, the defendants entered Starbucks and confronted Abdulkareem Ismaei,” Mr Greaney said.

“During that confrontation, Mohammed Fahir Amaaz delivered a headbutt to the face of Abdulkareem Ismaeil and punched him, then attempted to deliver other blows, all in front of a number of children.

“The prosecution case is that this was obviously unlawful conduct.”

Mr Greaney told jurors the prosecution’s position was this was “not a complicated case” as the events were captured on CCTV.

“So you will not have to depend only on the recollections of witnesses. You will also be able to see with your own eyes what happened,” he said.

Mr Greaney said the defendants would say “that at all stages they were acting in lawful self-defence or in defence of the other”.

“Our prediction is that you will readily conclude that the defendants were not acting in lawful self-defence and that their conduct was unlawful,” he added.

Budget airline Ryanair is planning to increase its “personal bag” size by 20% as the EU brings in a new standard.

Passengers will be allowed to take an item such as a handbag or laptop bag measuring up to 40cm x 30cm x 20cm in the cabin without paying an extra fee. It should weigh less than 10kg, and fit “under the seat in front you.”

The new size represents a 20% increase in volume from the current maximum dimensions.

This will mean that Ryanair accepts free bags one third bigger than the new EU minimum size limit.

Ryanair said the new free bag size would come into effect in the coming weeks as its bag size measuring devices were adjusted to the new standard.

Its current maximum bag size is 40cm x 25cm x 20cm, which already has a greater volume than the new European standard of 40cm x 30cm x 15cm.

Ryanair declined to say why it was giving passengers a larger carry-on bag allowance.

The size is still less generous than rival budget airline Easyjet, which allows a free underseat bag of 45cm x 36cm x 20cm (including wheels and handles) weighing up to 10kg.

Wizz Air allows one cabin bag as big as Ryanair’s new limits – 40cm x 30cm x 20cm, with the same weight limit of 10kg.

BA has a slightly smaller limit for an under-seat laptop bag or handbag of 40cm x 30cm x 15cm, but passengers are allowed to take a larger cabin bag as well free of charge, subject to a maximum weight of 23kg.

The EU has been working with airlines to agree a minimum free bag size, so that frequent travellers can purchase one piece of luggage and be confident it would be accepted by multiple airlines.

The rule applies to airlines based in the EU – which includes Easyjet, Ryanair and Wizz Air – but airlines are of course free to accept larger bags if they choose.

Confusion about the different minimum sizes has caused problems for passengers, who have sometimes been faced with unexpected extra fees when airlines said their bags didn’t match the specified dimensions.

Last month the transport committee of the European parliament voted to give passengers the right to an extra piece of free hand luggage weighing up to 7kg. The proposed rule would still have to be passed by the wider European parliament.

Passengers should confirm baggage rules with their airlines directly.

An American teenager has been detained on an Antarctic island, creating a major delay in his attempt to fly his small plane to every continent that is being followed online by more than a million people.

Chilean authorities stopped Ethan Guo, 19, after he submitted a false flight plan, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

His deviation from that plan in the air had “activated alert protocols”, Chile’s General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics said in a statement.

Mr Guo was taken into custody after landing on King George Island, home to a number of international research stations and their staff, where July temperatures typically stay well below freezing.

Mr Guo’s small Cessna 182 aircraft took off from the city of Punta Arenas, near the southernmost point of Chile, and flew to the island off the Atlantic coast, which is claimed by Chile. It is named after the UK’s King George III.

He was detained at Teniente R. Marsh airport.

Mr Guo had allegedly submitted a plan to fly over Punta Arenas, but not beyond that, according to regional prosecutor Cristian Cristoso Rifo, as cited by CBS.

He has been charged for violating two articles of the country’s aeronautical code, including one that could lead to short-term imprisonment.

In the statement, Chile’s General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics said Mr Guo had also allegedly violated the Antarctic Treaty, which regulates international relations with respect to the uninhabited continent.

Mr Guo posted an update on X on Wednesday, saying: “I’m alive everyone, I’ll make an update soon.”

Ethan Guo has flown his Cessna aircraft to all the other six continents in his journey spanning more than 140 days, according to his social media feed.

He is hoping to become the first pilot to complete solo flights across all seven continents in the Cessna aircraft, and simultaneously aims to raise $1m (£ 731,000) for cancer research at the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Former Arsenal footballer Thomas Partey has been charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.

The offences are reported to have taken place between 2021-2022, the Metropolitan Police said.

The charges involve three women, with two counts of rape relating to one woman, three counts of rape in connection to a second woman and one count of sexual assault linked to a third woman.

The Ghanaian international denies the charges and “welcomes the opportunity to finally clear his name”, his lawyer said.

The charges follow an investigation by detectives, which started in February 2022 after police first received a report of rape.

The 32-year-old’s contract with Arsenal ended on Monday after playing with the team since 2020.

BBC News has contacted Arsenal and the Football Association. The Premier League declined to comment.

Det Supt Andy Furphy, who is leading the investigation, said: “Our priority remains providing support to the women who have come forward.

“We would ask anyone who has been impacted by this case, or anyone who has information, to speak with our team. You can contact detectives about this investigation by emailing CIT@met.police.uk”

Mr Partey, of Hertfordshire, is expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 5 August.

In a statement, his lawyer Jenny Wiltshire said: “Thomas Partey denies all the charges against him.

“He has fully cooperated with the police and CPS throughout their three-year investigation.

“He now welcomes the opportunity to finally clear his name.

“Given that there are now ongoing legal proceedings, my client is unable to comment further.”

Mr Partey joined Arsenal for £45.3m from Atletico Madrid in October 2020, made 35 top-flight appearances last season and scored four goals as the London club finished second in the Premier League.

He also played 12 times in the Champions League as the Gunners reached the semi-finals before being knocked out by eventual winners Paris St-Germain.

Overall, he made 130 Premier League appearances for Mikel Arteta’s side, scoring nine goals.

Mr Partey has also made more than 50 appearances for Ghana’s national team, and most recently played at World Cup qualification matches in March.