After thousands of pagers and radio devices exploded in two separate incidents in Lebanon – injuring thousands of people and killing at least 37 – details are still being pieced together as to how such an operation was carried out.

Lebanon and Hezbollah, whose members and communication systems were targeted, have blamed Israel – though Israel is yet to comment.

The BBC has followed a trail from Taiwan, to Japan, Hungary, Israel and back to Lebanon.

Here are the unanswered questions.

Some early speculation suggested that the pagers could have been targeted by a complex hack that caused them to explode. But that theory was quickly dismissed by experts.

To cause damage on the scale that they did, it is probable they were rigged with explosives before they entered Hezbollah’s possession, experts say.

Images of the broken remains of the pagers show the logo of a small Taiwanese electronics manufacturer: Gold Apollo.

The BBC visited the company’s offices, situated on a large business park in a nondescript suburb of Taipei.

The company’s founder, Hsu Ching-Kuang, seemed shocked. He denied the business had anything to do with the operation.

“You look at the pictures from Lebanon,” he told reporters outside his firm’s offices. “They don’t have any mark saying Made in Taiwan on them, we did not make those pagers!”

Instead – he pointed to a Hungarian company: BAC Consulting.

Mr Hsu said that three years ago he had licensed Gold Apollo’s trademark to BAC, allowing them to use Gold Apollo’s name on their own pagers.

He said the money transfers from BAC had been “very strange” – and that there had been problems with the payments, which had come from the Middle East.

• Taiwan pager maker stunned by link to Lebanon attacks

The BBC went to the registered office of BAC Consulting, situated in a residential area of the Hungarian capital, Budapest.

The address appeared to be shared by 12 other companies – and no-one in the building could tell us anything about BAC Consulting at all.

Officials in Hungary say the firm, which was first incorporated in 2022, was merely a “trading intermediary with no manufacturing or operational site” in the country.

A brochure for BAC, published on LinkedIn, lists eight organisations it claims to have worked with – including the UK Department for International Development (DfID).

The UK Foreign Office – which has taken on DfID’s responsibilities – told the BBC it was in the process of investigating. But based on initial conversations, it said it did not have any involvement with BAC.

BAC’s website listed one person as its chief executive and founder – Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono.

The BBC made several attempts to contact Ms Bársony-Arcidiacono, but were unable to reach her.

However, she did reportedly speak to NBC News, saying: “I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediate.”

So who is really behind BAC Consulting?

The New York Times has reported that the company was in fact a front for Israeli intelligence.

The newspaper, citing three Israeli officials, said that two other shell companies were created to help hide the identities of the people who were really producing the pagers: Israeli intelligence officers.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify these reports – but we do know that Bulgarian authorities have now begun investigating another company linked to BAC.

Bulgarian broadcaster bTV reported on Thursday that 1.6 million euros ($1.8m; £1.3m) connected to the device attacks in Lebanon passed through Bulgaria and was later sent to Hungary.

• What we know about firm linked to Lebanon pagers

The origins of the radio devices, which exploded in the second wave of attacks, are less clear.

We know that at least some of those that exploded were the IC-V82 model produced by the Japanese company, ICOM.

Those devices were purchased by Hezbollah five months ago, according to a security source speaking to Reuters news agency.

Earlier, a sales executive at the US subsidiary of Icom told the Associated Press news agency that the exploded radio devices in Lebanon appeared to be knockoff products that were not made by the company – adding that it was easy to find counterfeit versions online.

It took the BBC a matter of seconds to find Icom IC-V82s listed for sale in online marketplaces.

ICOM said in a statement it had stopped manufacturing and selling the model almost a decade ago, in October 2014 – and said it had also discontinued production of the batteries needed to operate it.

The company said it does not outsource manufacturing overseas – and all its radios are produced at a factory in Western Japan.

According to Kyodo news agency, Icom director Yoshiki Enomoyo suggested that photos of the damage around the battery compartment of the exploded walkie-talkies suggest they may have been retrofitted with explosives.

• Japan firm says it stopped making walkie-talkies used in Lebanon blasts

Videos show victims reaching into their pockets in the seconds before the devices detonated, causing chaos in streets, shops and homes across the country.

Lebanese authorities have concluded that the devices were detonated by “electronic messages” sent to them, according to a letter by the Lebanese mission to the UN, seen by Reuters news agency.

Citing US officials, the New York Times said that the pagers received messages that appeared to be coming from Hezbollah’s leadership before detonating. The messages instead appeared to trigger the devices, the outlet reported.

We do not yet know what kind of message was sent to the radio devices.

This is the question many in Lebanon are now asking – paranoid that other devices, cameras, phones or laptops could have also been rigged with explosives.

The Lebanese Army has been on the streets of Beirut using a remote-controlled bomb disposal robot to carry out controlled explosions.

BBC crews in Lebanon have been stopped and told not to use their phones or cameras.

“Everyone is just panicking… We don’t know if we can stay next to our laptops, our phones. Everything seems like a danger at this point, and no-one knows what to do,” one woman, Ghida, told a BBC correspondent.

• ‘We don’t know if our phones are safe’: Lebanon on edge after exploding device attacks

There are several theories as to why the devices were triggered to explode this week.

One is that Israel chose this moment to send a devastating message to Hezbollah, following almost a year of escalating cross-border hostilities after Hezbollah fired rockets at or around northern Israel a day after the Hamas attack of 7 October.

The other is that Israel did not intend to put its plan in motion at this moment, but was forced to after fearing the plot was about to be exposed.

According to US outlet Axios, the original plan was for the pager attack to be the opening salvo of an all-out war as a way to try to cripple Hezbollah’s fighters.

But, it says, after Israel learned that Hezbollah had become suspicious, it chose to carry out the attack early.

Popstar Kylie Minogue has announced her biggest world tour in more than a decade, and a sequel to her comeback album Tension.

The 13 tracks on Tension II will be released on 18 October, with the global tour kicking off in her home country Australia in February, before swinging through Asia and the UK.

In a statement, the pop icon said she is “beyond excited” to be “celebrating the Tension era and more” with fans.

“There will be a whole lot of Padaming,” she said, a reference to her viral, Grammy-winning 2023 single Padam Padam.

Twenty dates have been announced so far, but Minogue said more are coming.

The 56-year-old is in the middle of a career renaissance, off the back of Tension and Padam Padam.

In February she picked up her second Grammy – 20 years after her first – and the following month received the Brits’ Global Icon Award.

Since popping up as plucky car mechanic Charlene on soap opera Neighbours in 1986, she’s racked up dozens of hit singles and a trophy cabinet full of awards.

She’s also performed at the Sydney Olympics, been made an OBE, and starred in several films.

The tour and album has been met with excitement – and some stress.

The concert dates in Newcastle clash with Eurovision which is being held in Switzerland in May.

Meanwhile, her shows in Sydney are happening at the same time as the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade – prompting many of her Australian fans to weigh up a difficult dilemma. Minogue has a large following in the LGBT community.

“What should we do… On a Night Like This?!” one online commenter said.

“One village, two countries” used to be the tagline for Yinjing on China’s south-western edge.

An old tourist sign boasts of a border with Myanmar made of just “bamboo fences, ditches and earth ridges” – a sign of the easy economic relationship Beijing had sought to build with its neighbour.

Now the border the BBC visited is marked by a high, metal fence running through the county of Ruili in Yunnan province. Topped by barbed wire and surveillance cameras in some places, it cuts through rice fields and carves up once-adjoined streets.

China’s tough pandemic lockdowns forced the separation initially. But it has since been cemented by the intractable civil war in Myanmar, triggered by a bloody coup in 2021. The military regime is now fighting for control in large swathes of the country, including Shan State along China’s border, where it has suffered some of its biggest losses.

The crisis at its doorstep – a nearly 2,000km (1,240-mile) border – is becoming costly for China, which has invested millions of dollars in Myanmar for a critical trade corridor.

The ambitious plan aims to connect China’s landlocked south-west to the Indian Ocean via Myanmar. But the corridor has become a battleground between Myanmar rebels and the country’s army.

Beijing has sway over both sides but the ceasefire it brokered in January fell apart. It has now turned to military exercises along the border and stern words. Foreign Minister Wang Yi was the latest diplomat to visit Myanmar’s capital Nay Pyi Taw and is thought to have delivered a warning to the country’s ruler Min Aung Hlaing.

Conflict is not new to impoverished Shan State. Myanmar’s biggest state is a major source of the world’s opium and and methamphetamine, and home to ethnic armies long opposed to centralised rule.

But the vibrant economic zones created by Chinese investment managed to thrive – until the civil war.

A loudspeaker now warns people in Ruili not to get too close to the fence – but that doesn’t stop a Chinese tourist from sticking his arm between the bars of a gate to take a selfie.

Two girls in Disney T-shirts shout through the bars – “hey grandpa, hello, look over here!” – as they lick pink scoops of ice cream. The elderly man shuffling barefoot on the other side barely looks up before he turns away.

“Burmese people live like dogs,” says Li Mianzhen. Her corner stall sells food and drinks from Myanmar – like milk tea – in a small market just steps from the border checkpoint in Ruili city.

Li, who looks to be in her 60s, used to sell Chinese clothes across the border in Muse, a major source of trade with China. But she says almost no-one in her town has enough money any more.

Myanmar’s military junta still controls the town, one of its last remaining holdouts in Shan State. But rebel forces have taken other border crossings and a key trading zone on the road to Muse.

The situation has made people desperate, Li says. She knows of some who have crossed the border to earn as little as 10 yuan – about one pound and not much more than a dollar – so that they can go back to Myanmar and “feed their families”.

The war has severely restricted travel in and out of Myanmar, and most accounts now come from those who have fled or have found ways to move across the borders, such as Li.

Unable to get the work passes that would allow them into China, Li’s family is stuck in Mandalay, as rebel forces edge closer to Myanmar’s second-largest city.

“I feel like I am dying from anxiety,” Li says. “This war has brought us so much misfortune. At what point will all of this end?”

Thirty-one-year-old Zin Aung (name changed) is among those who made it out. He works in an industrial park on the outskirts of Ruili, which produces clothes, electronics and vehicle parts that are shipped across the world.

Workers like him are recruited in large numbers from Myanmar and flown here by Chinese government-backed firms eager for cheap labour. Estimates suggest they earn about 2,400 yuan ($450; £340) a month, which is less than their Chinese colleagues.

“There is nothing for us to do in Myanmar because of the war,” Zin Aung says. “Everything is expensive. Rice, cooking oil. Intensive fighting is going on everywhere. Everyone has to run.”

His parents are too old to run, so he did. He sends home money whenever he can.

The men live and work on the few square kilometres of the government-run compound in Ruili. Zin Aung says it is a sanctuary, compared with what they left behind: “The situation in Myanmar is not good, so we are taking refuge here.”

He also escaped compulsory conscription, which the Myanmar army has been enforcing to make up for defections and battlefield losses.

As the sky turned scarlet one evening, Zin Aung ran barefoot through the cloying mud onto a monsoon-soaked pitch, ready for a different kind of battle – a fiercely fought game of football.

Burmese, Chinese and the local Yunnan dialect mingled as vocal spectators reacted to every pass, kick and shot. The agony over a missed goal was unmistakable. This is a daily affair in their new, temporary home, a release after a 12-hour shift on the assembly line.

Many of the workers are from Lashio, the largest town in Shan State, and Laukkaing, home to junta-backed crime families – Laukkaing fell to rebel forces in January and Lashio was encircled, in a campaign which has changed the course of the war and China’s stake in it.

Both towns lie along China’s prized trade corridor and the Beijing-brokered ceasefire left Lashio in the hands of the junta. But in recent weeks rebel forces have pushed into the town – their biggest victory to date. The military has responded with bombing raids and drone attacks, restricting internet and mobile phone networks.

“The fall of Lashio is one of the most humiliating defeats in the military’s history,” says Richard Horsey, Myanmar adviser to the International Crisis Group.

“The only reason the rebel groups didn’t push into Muse is they likely feared it would upset China,” Mr Horsey says. “Fighting there would have impacted investments China has hoped to restart for months. The regime has lost control of almost all northern Shan state – with the exception of Muse region, which is right next to Ruili.”

Ruili and Muse, both designated as special trade zones, are crucial to the Beijing-funded 1,700km trade route, known as the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor. The route also supports Chinese investments in energy, infrastructure and rare earth mining critical for manufacturing electric vehicles.

But at its heart is a railway line that will connect Kunming – the capital of Yunnan province – to Kyaukphyu, a deep sea port the Chinese are building on Myanmar’s western coast.

The port, along the Bay of Bengal, would give industries in and beyond Ruili access to the Indian Ocean and then global markets. The port is also the starting point for oil and gas pipelines that will transport energy via Myanmar to Yunnan.

But these plans are now in jeopardy.

President Xi Jinping had spent years cultivating ties with his resource-rich neighbour when the country’s elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi was forced from power.

Mr Xi refused to condemn the coup and continued to sell the army weapons. But he also did not recognise Min Aung Hlaing as head of state, nor has he invited him to China.

Three years on, the war has killed thousands and displaced millions, but no end is in sight.

Forced to fight on new fronts, the army has since lost between half and two-thirds of Myanmar to a splintered opposition.

Beijing is at an impasse. It “doesn’t like this situation” and sees Myanmar’s military ruler Min Aung Hlaing as “incompetent”, Mr Horsey says. “They are pushing for elections, not because they necessarily want a return to democratic rule, but more because they think this is a way back.”

Myanmar’s regime suspects Beijing of playing both sides – keeping up the appearance of supporting the junta while continuing to maintain a relationship with ethnic armies in Shan State.

Analysts note that many of the rebel groups are using Chinese weapons. The latest battles are also a resurgence of last year’s campaign launched by three ethnic groups which called themselves the Brotherhood Alliance. It is thought that the alliance would not have made its move without Beijing’s tacit approval.

Its gains on the battlefield spelled the end for notorious mafia families whose scam centres had trapped thousands of Chinese workers. Long frustrated over the increasing lawlessness along its border, Beijing welcomed their downfall – and the tens of thousands of suspects who were handed over by the rebel forces.

For Beijing the worst-case scenario is the civil war dragging on for years. But it would also fear a collapse of the military regime, which might herald further chaos.

How China will react to either scenario is not yet clear – what is also unclear is what more Beijing can do beyond pressuring both sides to agree to peace talks.

That predicament is evident in Ruili with its miles of shuttered shops. A city that once benefited from its location along the border is now feeling the fallout from its proximity to Myanmar.

Battered by some of China’s strictest lockdowns, businesses here took another hit when cross-border traffic and trade did not revive.

They also rely on labour from the other side, which has stopped, according to several agents who help Burmese workers find jobs. They say China has tightened its restrictions on hiring workers from across the border, and has also sent back hundreds who were said to be working illegally.

The owner of a small factory, who did not want to be identified, told the BBC that the deportations meant “his business isn’t going anywhere… and there’s nothing I can change”.

The square next to the checkpoint is full of young workers, including mothers with their babies, waiting in the shade. They lay out their paperwork to make sure they have what they need to secure a job. The successful ones are given a pass which allows them to work for up to a week, or come and go between the two countries, like Li.

“I hope some good people can tell all sides to stop fighting,” Li says. “If there is no-one in the world speaking up for us, it is really tragic.”

She says she is often assured by those around her that fighting won’t break out too close to China. But she is unconvinced: “No-one can predict the future.”

For now, Ruili is a safer option for her and Zin Aung. They understand that their future is in Chinese hands, as do the Chinese.

“Your country is at war,” a Chinese tourist tells a Myanmar jade seller he is haggling with at the market. “You just take what I give you.”

The killing of a Japanese schoolboy in the Chinese city of Shenzhen has sparked worry among Japanese expats living in China, with top firms warning their workers to be vigilant.

Toshiba and Toyota have told their staff to take precautions against any possible violence, while Panasonic is offering its employees free flights home.

Japanese authorities have repeated their condemnation of the killing while urging the Chinese government to ensure the safety of their citizens.

The stabbing of the 10-year-old boy on Wednesday was the third high-profile attack on foreigners in China in recent months.

In a statement issued to the BBC, electronics giant Panasonic said it would “prioritise the safety and health of employees” in mainland China in the wake of the latest attack.

Panasonic is allowing employees and their families to temporarily return to Japan at company expense, and is offering a counselling service as well.

Toshiba, which has around 100 employees in China, has urged its workers “to be cautious of their safety”.

The world’s biggest car manufacturer Toyota, meanwhile, told the BBC it was “supporting Japanese expatriates” by providing them with any information they might need on the situation.

Japan’s ambassador to Beijing has also urged the Chinese government to “do its utmost” to ensure the safety of its citizens.

Meanwhile on Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the attack “extremely despicable” and said Tokyo had “strongly urged” Beijing for an explanation “as soon as possible”.

Some Japanese schools in China have contacted parents, putting them on high alert in the wake of the stabbing.

The Guangzhou Japanese School cancelled some activities and warned against speaking Japanese loudly in public.

Some members of the Japanese expatriate community in China have told the BBC they are worried about their children’s safety.

One man, a 53-year-old businessman who has lived in Shenzhen for nearly a decade, said he would be sending his daughter back overseas to university earlier than usual.

“We always considered Shenzhen a safe place to live as it’s relatively open to foreigners, but now we are all more cautious about our safety,” he said.

“Many Japanese people are deeply concerned, and numerous relatives and friends have reached out to check on my safety.”

Chinese officials in Shenzhen said they were “deeply saddened” by the incident and had started installing security cameras near the school by Thursday morning.

“We will continue to take effective measures to protect the life, property, safety and legal rights of everyone in Shenzhen, including foreigners,” they were quoted as saying in the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily on Friday.

An editorial in the state-affiliated newspaper lambasted the suspected killer, saying “this violent behaviour does not represent the quality of ordinary Chinese people”.

On Friday, locals began laying flowers at the gate of the Japanese school in Shenzhen.

“It is really sad. It shouldn’t be like that,” a Shenzhen local told Singaporean news outlet The Straits Times.

Another, a retired teacher, said: “This child, no matter which country he is from, is the hope of a family, and of a nation.”

As Shenzhen reels from the killing, more details have emerged from various news reports and official sources.

The incident happened at around 08:00 local time (00:00 GMT) on Wednesday outside the boy’s school, the Shenzhen Japanese School.

The boy – who Chinese police named only as Shen – was stabbed in the abdomen. He later died from his injuries in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The assailant, a 44-year-old man surnamed Zhong, was arrested on the spot.

He had a criminal record, having been arrested for “damaging public infrastructure” in 2015 and “interfering with public order” in 2019, according to state-controlled media in Shenzhen.

An eyewitness said the suspect did not attempt to conceal his face when carrying out the attack.

“He didn’t run away, but just stood there and was apprehended by the local police guarding the school,” the witness told Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

Chinese authorities have not revealed the exact motive, but have repeatedly called the stabbing an “isolated incident”, as they did for two previous incidents this year.

In June, a man targeted a Japanese mother and her child in the eastern city of Suzhou. That attack was also near a Japanese school and led to the death of a Chinese national who had tried to protect the mother and son.

It prompted the Japanese government to request about $2.5m (£1.9m) to hire security guards for school buses in China.

Earlier in June, four American teachers were stabbed in the northern city of Jilin.

Eyes are now on the Chinese authorities and how they will assure Japanese communities that they are safe in China, while ensuring this does not turn into a major diplomatic crisis.

Ties between the two countries have long been acrimonious. For decades the two sides have clashed on a number of issues, ranging from historical grievances to territorial disputes.

Some have pointed out that the stabbing happened on the anniversary of the notorious Mukden Incident, when Japan faked an explosion to justify its invasion of Manchuria in 1931, triggering a 14-year war with China.

A former Japanese diplomat said Wednesday’s attack in Shenzhen was the “result of long years of anti-Japan education” in Chinese schools.

While diplomatic relations may often be strained, economic cooperation has always had a parallel steady existence, according to Japanese diplomats who have spoken to the BBC.

But the fact the attack took place in the cosmopolitan tech hub of Shenzhen may make both sides nervous.

Top Japanese firms in China warning their staff may raise questions about their presence there and what that might mean for economic relations between Tokyo and Beijing.

India has dismissed a news report claiming the government failed to prevent European buyers from transferring Indian-made artillery shells to Ukraine.

In a story published on Thursday, Reuters alleged that artillery shells sold by Indian arms makers had been diverted by European customers to Ukraine.

The report alleged that the transfer of ammunition has been ongoing for more than a year, with Delhi taking no action to stop it despite repeated protests from Moscow.

India’s foreign ministry has called the report “speculative” and “misleading”.

The report “implies violations by India, where none exist, and hence, is inaccurate and mischievous”, Randhir Jaiswal, the ministry’s spokesperson wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Mr Jaiswal added that India has an “impeccable track record compliance with international obligations” on non-proliferation of arms and has its own robust export rules.

Moscow is yet to react to the report or Delhi’s statement.

Indian arms export regulations restrict the use of weapons to the designated buyer, and any unauthorised transfers could jeopardise future sales. In May, India had announced further tightening of export rules, mandating that buyers ensure the arms are not sent to third countries.

Ukraine, which is battling a renewed offensive from Russia, reportedly grapples with a shortage of artillery ammunition.

Citing unnamed Indian and European government and defence industry officials along with customs data, the Reuters report said that India produced a small amount of the ammunition being used by Ukraine – which is estimated to be under 1% of the total arms imported by Kyiv since the war began in 2021.

Italy and the Czech Republic are among the European countries sending Indian ammunitions to Ukraine, it added.

The report said Moscow had raised the issue with Delhi on at least two occasions, including during a meeting between the foreign ministers of both countries in July.

India has refrained from directly criticising Russia over the war, which has drawn the annoyance of Western powers.

• Ukraine: Why India is not criticising Russia over invasion
• Diplomatic tightrope for Modi as he visits Kyiv after Moscow

Delhi, however, has often spoken about the importance of respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations. It has continuously pushed for diplomacy and dialogue to end the war.

India and Russia have traditionally shared warm relations, and Moscow remains an important trade and defence partner for Delhi despite Western sanctions on Russia.

Last year, Russia was India’s biggest oil supplier. In the defence sector, it continues to be India’s biggest ally, supplying more than 60% of Delhi’s needs.

In July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first bilateral trip to Russia after being elected to his third term, where he referred to President Vladimir Putin as a “dear friend”.

But Modi’s Russia visit invited the ire of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said he was “disappointed to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow”.

Weeks later, Modi visited Ukraine and held talks with Zelensky, which analysts said was in line with India’s famed non-alignment approach to geopolitics.

Police in southern Pakistan have shot dead a doctor accused of blasphemy, drawing condemnation from human rights groups.

Dr Shahnawaz Kanbhar was killed “just by chance” in shootout with officers who did not know it was him, according to a local police chief in Sindh province Niaz Khoso

Dr Kanbhar had gone into hiding on Tuesday after being accused of insulting Islam’s prophet Muhammad and sharing blasphemous content on social media.

He is the second blasphemy suspect in Pakistan to be shot dead in the space of a week.

According to a police report, officers in the city of Mirpur Khas had tried to stop two men riding on a motorcycle on Wednesday, in order to search their vehicle.

Instead of complying, the report says, one of the men opened fire. A gun battle ensued, in which Dr Kanbhar was killed.

It was only after the shootout that officers learned that the man they had shot was Dr Kanbhar, according to Khoso, the local police chief. The second person on the motorcycle escaped.

Another police official, Khas Asad Chaudhry, told BBC Urdu that Dr Kanbhar was accidentally shot by his companion on the motorcycle.

However, a relative of Dr Kanbhar has told BBC Urdu that he was killed in a “fake encounter” – something which local police deny.

The Interior Minister for Sindh province Zia-ul-Hasan Linjar has ordered an independent inquiry into Dr Kanbhar’s death.

The killing of Dr Kanbhar comes a week after an officer opened fire inside a police station in the south-western city of Quetta, fatally wounding another suspect who was being held on accusations of blasphemy.

The deaths have drawn strong condemnation from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), which said it was “gravely concerned by the alleged extrajudicial killing of two people accused of blasphemy.”

“This pattern of violence in cases of blasphemy, in which law enforcement personnel are allegedly involved, is an alarming trend,” it said in a statement issued on Friday.

Dr Kanbhar was shot dead a day after Islamists in nearby Umerkot staged a protest demanding his arrest and burned down his clinic.

His relatives told BBC Urdu that they had to travel for miles to bury his body, after having been blocked by local people and officials.

The incident in Sindh province comes a week after an officer opened fire inside a police station in the south-western city of Quetta, fatally wounding another suspect held on accusations of blasphemy.

The man had been arrested last Wednesday after officers rescued him from an enraged mob that claimed he had insulted Muhammad.

However, the man’s family and tribe said they forgave the officer and that the man had hurt the sentiments of Muslims by insulting Muhammad, according to local media reports.

Though killings of blasphemy suspects by mobs are common, such killings by police are rare in Pakistan.

Accusations, or even simply rumours, of blasphemy spark rioting and rampage by mobs that can escalate into killings.

Under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can be sentenced to death – though authorities have yet to carry out a death sentence for blasphemy.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in attacks on blasphemy suspects in recent years.

In June, a mob broke into a police station in the north-western town of Madyan, snatched a detainee who was a tourist, and then killed him over allegations that he had desecrated Islam’s holy book.

More than 70,000 people fighting in Russia’s military have now died in Ukraine, according to data analysed by the BBC.

And for the first time, volunteers – civilians who joined the armed forces after the start of the war – now make up the highest number of people killed on the battlefield since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.

Every day, the names of those killed in Ukraine, their obituaries and photographs from their funerals are published across Russia in the media and on social networks.

BBC Russian and the independent website Mediazona have collated these names, along with names from other open sources, including official reports.

We checked that the information had been shared by authorities or relatives of the deceased – and that they had been identified as dying in the war.

New graves in cemeteries have also helped provide the names of soldiers killed in Ukraine – these are usually marked by flags and wreaths sent by the defence ministry.

We have identified the names of 70,112 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, but the actual number is believed to be considerably higher. Some families do not share details of their relatives’ deaths publicly – and our analysis does not include names we were unable to check, or the deaths of militia in Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

Among them, 13,781 were volunteers – about 20% – and fatalities among volunteers now exceed other categories. Former prisoners, who joined up in return for pardons for their crimes, were previously the highest but they now account for 19% of all confirmed deaths. Mobilised soldiers – citizens called up to fight – account for 13%.

Since October last year, weekly fatalities of volunteers have not dipped below 100 – and, in some weeks, we have recorded more than 310 volunteer deaths.

As for Ukraine – it rarely comments on the scale of its deaths on the battlefield. In February, its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, but estimates based on US intelligence suggest greater losses.

The story of Rinat Khusniyarov is typical of many of the volunteer soldiers who died. He was from Ufa in Bashkortostan and had been working two jobs to make ends meet – at a tram depot and a plywood factory. He was 62 years old when he signed his contract with the Russian army in November last year.

He survived less than three months of fighting and was killed on 27 February. His obituary, in a local online memorial website, simply called him “a hardworking, decent man”.

According to the data we analysed, most of the men signing up come from small towns in parts of Russia where stable, well-paid work is hard to find.

Most appear to have joined up willingly, although some in the republic of Chechnya have told human rights activists and lawyers of coercion and threats.

Some of the volunteers have said they did not understand the contracts they were signing had no end date, and have since approached pro-Kremlin journalists to, unsuccessfully, ask them for help ending their service.

Salaries in the military can be five to seven times higher than average wages in less affluent parts of the country, plus soldiers get social benefits, including free childcare and tax breaks. One-off payments for people who sign up have also repeatedly risen in value in many parts of Russia.

Most of the volunteers dying at the front are aged between 42 and 50. They number 4,100 men in our list of more than 13,000 volunteers. The oldest volunteer killed was 71 years old – a total of 250 volunteers above the age of 60 have died in the war.

Soldiers have told the BBC that rising casualties among volunteers are, in part, down to their deployment to the most operationally challenging areas on the front line, notably in the Donetsk region in the east, where they form the backbone of reinforcements for depleted units, Russian soldiers told the BBC.

Russia’s “meat grinder” strategy continues unabated, according to Russian soldiers we have spoken to. The term has been used to describe the way Moscow sends waves of soldiers forward relentlessly to try to wear down Ukrainian forces and expose their locations to Russian artillery. Drone footage shared online shows Russian forces attacking Ukrainian positions with little or no equipment or support from artillery or military vehicles.

Sometimes, hundreds of men have been killed on a single day. In recent weeks, the Russian military have made desperate, but unsuccessful, attempts to seize the eastern Ukrainian towns of Chasiv Yar and Pokrovsk with such tactics.

An official study by the primary military medical directorate of the Russian defence ministry says that 39% of soldiers’ deaths are a result of limb injuries and that mortality rates would be significantly improved if first aid and subsequent medical care were better.

The Russian government’s actions suggests it is keen to avoid forcing people to fight through a new, official wave of mobilisation – instead, it is ramping up calls for service volunteers, along with the incentives to do so.

Remarks by regional officials in local parliaments suggest they have been tasked from the top with trying to recruit people from their local districts. They advertise on job vacancy websites, contact men who have debt and bailiff problems, and conduct recruitment campaigns in higher education establishments.

Since 2022, convicted prisoners have also been encouraged to join up in return for their release, but now a new policy means people facing criminal prosecution can accept a deal to go to war instead of facing trial in court. In return, their cases are frozen and potentially dropped altogether.

A small number of the volunteers killed have been from other countries. We have identified the names of 272 such men, many of whom were from Central Asia – 47 from Uzbekistan, 51 from Tajikistan, and 26 from Kyrgyzstan.

Last year saw reports of Russia recruiting people in Cuba, Iraq, Yemen and Serbia. Foreigners already living in Russia without valid work permits or visas, who agree to “work for the state”, are promised they will not be deported and are offered a simplified route to citizenship if they survive the war. Many have later complained that they did not understand the paperwork – as with Russian citizens, they have turned to the media for help.

The governments of India and Nepal have called on Moscow to stop sending their citizens to Ukraine and repatriate the bodies of the dead. So far, the calls have not been acted upon.

Many new recruits who have joined the military have criticised the training they have received. A man who signed a contract with the Russian army in November last year told the BBC he had been promised two weeks of training at a shooting range before deployment to the front.

“In reality, people were just thrown out onto the parade ground, and dished out some gear,” he said, adding the equipment was poorly made.

“We were loaded on to trains, then trucks, and sent to the front. About half of us were thrown into battle straight from the road. As a result, some people went from the recruitment office to the front line in just a week,” he said.

Samuel Cranny-Evans, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute in the UK says: “Basic understanding of things like camouflage and concealment or how to move quietly at night, how to move without creating a profile for yourself during the day,” should be taught as basic infantry skills.

Another soldier also told the BBC that equipment is a problem, saying it “varies, but most often it’s some random set of uniforms, standard boots that wear out within a day, and a kit bag with a label showing it was made in the mid-20th Century”.

“A random bulletproof vest and a cheap helmet. It’s impossible to fight in this. If you want to survive, you have to buy your own equipment.”

Israel’s military has launched an investigation after its soldiers were filmed throwing the bodies of three dead Palestinians off a rooftop during a raid in the occupied West Bank.

Footage of the incident, filmed in the northern town of Qabatiya, near Jenin, then appears to show an Israeli military bulldozer picking up and removing the bodies.

The images have sparked widespread outrage. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Friday that it was “a serious incident” that did not “conform” to its values and what was expected of its forces.

Local Palestinian officials say at least seven people were killed by Israeli forces in Qabatiya on Thursday.

Under international law, soldiers are obliged to ensure that bodies, including those of enemy fighters, are treated with respect.

The IDF said it carried out a counterterrorism operation in Qabatiya, during which four militants were killed in an “exchange of fire” and three others were killed after a drone strike on a car.

A journalist in Qabatiya told the BBC that on Thursday morning Israeli troops had surrounded a building in town.

He described how four men who were in the house then escaped to the roof and were shot by snipers.

Fighting continued in the town and when it had subsided, he then said he saw Israeli troops go up to the roof and drop the bodies down over the side, where they were then loaded onto a bulldozer.

Asked about the incident shown in the footage, the IDF said: “This is a serious incident that does not conform with [our] values and the expectations from IDF soldiers. The incident is under review.”

The military said that one of those killed in Qabatiya was Shadi Zakarneh, who it identified as being “responsible for directing and carrying out attacks in the northern West Bank area”.

It said he was “the head of the terrorist organisation” in Qabatiya but did not specify which group he belonged to.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, in the West Bank, described the incident on X, formerly known as Twitter, as a “crime” which exposed the “brutality” of the Israeli army.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby described the footage as “deeply disturbing”.

“If it’s proven to be authentic, it clearly would depict abhorrent and egregious behaviour by professional soldiers,” he told reporters.

There has been a spike in violence in the West Bank since Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October and the ensuing war in Gaza.

More than 690 Palestinians have been killed there since then, the Palestinian health ministry says, as Israeli forces have intensified their nearly daily search and arrest raids.

Israel says it is trying to stem Palestinian attacks in the West Bank and Israel, in which at least 33 Israelis have been killed.

In Gaza, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israeli military action, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Mohamed Al Fayed, the former owner of Harrods, “was a monster” enabled by a system that “pervaded” the London store, a lawyer for his accusers has said.

The late Harrods owner was described as a “sexual predator” who assaulted staff and threatened them over a 25-year-period, barristers representing dozens of women told a press conference in London on Friday.

Dean Armstrong KC said it was time Harrods “took responsibility” after allegations against Fayed – including rape – were made in a BBC investigation this week.

Harrods has said it is “utterly appalled” by the allegations and has condemned his actions “in the strongest terms”.

At the press conference around 20 survivors sat at the front, at times nodding in agreement, and often shaking their heads as they listened intently to what was at times grim and disturbing details of allegations against Fayed.

Some women were too afraid to come to the event.

But Natacha spoke out about her time working for Fayed when she was 19. She said she was speaking out now for the sake of her own daughters and nieces.

She described Fayed as “clever and manipulative” and someone who “preyed on the most vulnerable”.

Natacha said Fayed subjected her to a forced kiss, made her sit on his lap so he could “explore” her body, and on one occasion forced himself on her in his private apartment.

He threatened her, saying he knew where she and her family lived and that she would “never work in London again” if she spoke out about what had happened to her.

The press conference heard how many women who worked for him were subjected to intrusive medical tests, including full cervical smears and having their ovaries checked.

They were either not told the results of those tests or suffered what was described as “degrading and humiliating comments” by Fayed about the test results.

Natacha told reporters she believed the medical examinations were used to evaluate their sexual “purity”.

• Five things we learned from the news conference
• It feels good to change Fayed’s legacy, says survivor
• Mohamed Al Fayed accused of multiple rapes by staff
• More women tell BBC they were sexually assaulted by ex-Harrods boss
• Watch: Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods

The news conference was told about claims of extensive surveillance within Harrods and of phone lines being bugged.

Mr Armstrong characterised Fayed’s behaviour as “systematic abuse”.

On Harrods he said: “They have full culpability for the abuse these women suffered.”

He added: “It is time that they took responsibility, and it is time that they set matters right.”

Victims still suffer nightmares, depression and anxiety, reporters were told.

In response to the BBC investigation, Harrods acknowledged that while it was owned by Fayed, “as a business we failed our employees who were his victims and for this we sincerely apologise”.

“The Harrods of today is a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010, it is one that seeks to put the welfare of our employees at the heart of everything we do.”

The department store’s new owners have a compensation scheme for ex-employees who say they were attacked by Fayed, which is separate to the legal action being taken by some accusers.

Harrods has already reached financial settlements with the majority of people who have approached them since 2023, and has had new inquiries this week.

Harrods is accepting vicarious liability for the actions of Fayed, and there are no non-disclosure agreements attached to the settlements.

It said: “Since new information came to light in 2023 about historic allegations of sexual abuse by Al Fayed, it has been our priority to settle claims in the quickest way possible, avoiding lengthy legal proceedings for the women involved.”

It said that while it could not undo the past it wanted to ensure such behaviour never happened again.

However, during the news conference, Mr Armstrong said it was “simply not true” for Harrods to say that it was unaware of the allegations until 2023.

US lawyer Gloria Allred, who has acted in several high-profile sexual abuse cases, said: “Underneath Harrods’ glitz and glamour was a toxic, unsafe and abusive environment.”

“Something was rotten at the core of Harrods,” she added. “It is not enough for Harrods to say that they are sorry.”

Speaking to BBC News after the conference, Ms Allred said it is “overdue” for Harrods to “step up”.

“Now we want deeds, not just words,” she said.

At the press conference, the lawyers were also asked if they were aware of any allegations against Fayed in relation to his other business interests at Fulham FC and the Ritz Paris hotel.

Barrister Maria Mulla said they are representing women who were employed at the Ritz but not anyone related to Fulham.

Fulham FC said in a statement: “We are deeply troubled and concerned to learn of the disturbing reports following yesterday’s documentary. We have sincere empathy for the women who have shared their experiences.

“We are in the process of establishing whether anyone at the club is, or has been, affected.”

The BBC has asked the Ritz Paris hotel – which Fayed bought in 1979 – if it has ever paid any compensation to employees or former employees over sexual assault or rape allegations.

The hotel did not answer whether or not it had paid any compensation, but issued a statement which says it “strongly condemns any form of behaviour that does not align with the values of the establishment”.

During the news conference, when the legal team representing some accusers were asked why they were not launching proceedings against Fayed’s estate, they said they were not ruling anything out.

Mr Armstrong said they were in the process of taking on “many more” clients than the 37 they are already representing.

Since the BBC investigation was published, more women have come forward to accuse Fayed of assaulting them.

Speaking after the press conference, Mr Armstrong said around 100 women have contacted his team since the BBC documentary aired.

That includes a woman the BBC is calling Melanie, who said she was sexually assaulted by Fayed at his Park Lane flat.

There, she said he pressured her into agreeing to visit again, before “he put his hands on my breast and said some pretty disgusting things”.

Former staff have told the BBC that he would regularly tour the sales floors looking for young female assistants to promote to working in his office.

America’s Three Mile Island energy plant, the site of the worst nuclear accident in US history, is preparing to reopen as Microsoft looks for ways to satisfy its growing energy needs.

The tech giant said it had signed a 20-year deal to purchase power from the Pennsylvania plant, which would reopen in 2028 after improvements.

The agreement is intended to provide the company with a clean source of energy as power-hungry data centres for artificial intelligence (AI) expand.

The plan will now go to regulators for approval.

The owner of the plant, Constellation Energy, said the reactor it planned to restart was next to, but “fully independent” of, the unit that had been involved in the 1979 accident.

It caused no injuries or deaths but provoked widespread fear and mistrust among the US public, discouraging the development of nuclear power in the US for decades.

However, there is renewed interest in nuclear as concerns about climate change grow – and companies need more energy due to advances in artificial intelligence.

Constellation chief executive Joe Dominguez told analysts on Friday that the deal was a “powerful symbol of the rebirth of nuclear power as a clean and reliable energy resource”.

“Before it was prematurely shuttered due to poor economics, this plant was among the safest and most reliable nuclear plants on the grid, and we look forward to bringing it back with a new name and a renewed mission,” he said in a statement announcing the deal.

He said nuclear plants were the “only energy sources” that could consistently deliver an “abundance” of carbon-free energy.

Microsoft also called it a “milestone” in its efforts to “help decarbonize the grid”.

On 28 March, 1979, a combination of mechanical failure and human error led to a partial meltdown at the nuclear power plant in central Pennsylvania.

The accident occurred at about 04:00 in the Three Mile Island plant’s second unit.

The plant’s Unit 1 – which would reopen under the Microsoft deal – continued to generate power until closing in 2019.

Its owner at the time, Exelon, which spun out Constellation as an independent business in 2022, said the low cost of natural gas extraction had made nuclear-generated electricity unprofitable.

Constellation said it would invest $1.6bn (£1.2bn) to upgrade the facility, which it would seek approval to operate until at least 2054.

Reopening the plant would create 3,400 direct and indirect jobs and add more than 800 megawatts of carbon-free electricity to the grid, generating billions of dollars in taxes and other economic activity, according to a study by The Brattle Group cited by Constellation.

Local media reported earlier this month that word of its possible revival had drawn some protesters.

Microsoft is not the only tech company that is turning to nuclear power as its energy needs expand.

Earlier this year, Amazon also signed a deal which involves purchasing nuclear energy to power a data centre. Those plans are now under scrutiny by regulators.

A Lebanese surgeon has described how the sheer volume of severe wounds from two days of exploding device attacks forced him to act “robotic” just to be able to keep working.

Surgeon Elias Jaradeh said he treated women and children but most of the patients he saw were young men. The surgeon said a large proportion were “severely injured” and many had lost the sight in both eyes.

The dead and injured in Lebanon include fighters from Hezbollah – the Iranian backed armed group which has been trading cross-border fire with Israel for months and is classed as a terrorist organisation by the UK and the US.

But members of their families have also been killed or wounded, along with innocent bystanders. Elias Jaradeh described the wounded he treated as looking “mostly civilian”.

The bomb attacks – which killed 37 people including two children – have been widely blamed on Israel, which has not claimed responsibility.

Dr Jaradeh, who is also an MP for the Change parliamentary bloc, was working at a specialist eye and ear hospital where some of the most severely wounded people were sent. He said it had taken a toll on the medical teams, himself included.

“And, yes, it’s very hard,” the surgeon said. “You have to dissociate yourself. More or less, you are robotic. This is the way you have to behave, but inside, you are deeply injured. You are seeing the nation injured.”

Surgeons like Dr Jaradeh worked for almost 24 hours continuously on the wounded, many of whom have lost their eyesight or the use of their hands, the country’s health minister told the BBC.

Eye specialist Prof Elias Warrak told BBC Arabic that in one night he extracted more damaged eyes than he had previously in his entire career.

“It was very hard,” he said. “Most of the patients were young men in their twenties and in some cases I had to remove both eyes. In my whole life I had not seen scenes similar to what I saw yesterday.”

Health Minister Firass Abiad told the BBC the victims’ injuries would prove life-changing.

“This is something that unfortunately will require a lot of rehabilitation,” he said.

About 3,200 people were injured, most of them in Tuesday’s attack which saw thousands of pagers detonated.

Wednesday’s attack, which detonated two-way radio devices, wounded about 450 people but was responsible for 25 deaths, twice as many as in Tuesday’s blasts.

Abiad told the BBC the attacks constituted a war crime.

“The whole world could see that these attacks occurred in markets,” he said.

“These were not people who were at the battleground fighting. They were in civilian areas with their families.”

Witnesses described seeing people with severe wounds to their faces and hands after the attacks.

Journalist Sally Abou al-Joud says she saw patients “covered in blood” at hospitals, where ambulances were arriving “one after the other within the minute”. Most injuries she saw were “in the faces and the eyes”.

“We’re talking about hands injured, severely injured fingers torn, I’ve heard some doctors say we need to perform amputation surgeries to remove hands… they need to perform surgeries for eyes to remove them,” she said.

One woman told BBC Arabic on Thursday that what they had seen was a “massacre in every sense of the world”.

“Young men were walking in the street with injuries to their hands, waist and eyes… they were unable to see anything,” she said.

In the aftermath of Tuesday’s blasts, writer and politician Tracy Chamoun said she saw one man with his eye blown out and another “had half of his face ripped off”. She had been driving in southern Beirut – a Hezbollah stronghold – at the time.

Many Lebanese in Beirut say the device attacks have reignited their trauma from the Beirut port explosion four years ago.

At least 200 people were killed and 5,000 injured when thousands of tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely at a warehouse in the port blew up, sending a mushroom cloud into the air and a supersonic blastwave tearing through the city.

“We remembered such painful scenes… it is something truly terrifying,” one woman told BBC Arabic. “A state of confusion, discomfort and anxiety is dominating all Lebanon… what happened to us four years ago is being repeated now.”

In the aftermath of the exploding pagers and radio devices the Lebanese army has been destroying suspicious devices with controlled detonations, while walkie-talkies and pagers have now been banned onboard all flights operating at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri Airport – the only operational commercial airport in Lebanon.

More than 90 of those injured are now in Iran receiving further treatment, according to Tehran’s embassy in Lebanon.

That includes Iran’s ambassador, Mojtaba Amani, whose condition has been described as “very good” by the embassy in its statement.

Officials didn’t elaborate on how serious the injuries suffered by the other transferees were.

Abiad said the “weaponisation of technology” was something very serious, he said, not only for Lebanon but also for the rest of the world, and for other conflicts.

“Now we have to think twice before using technology,” he said.

On Thursday Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah described the device attacks as a “massacre” and a “declaration of war” as Israel carried out air strikes on southern Lebanon and jets flew over the capital at low altitude, creating a deafening noise.

The Shia Muslim organisation is a major political presence and controls the most powerful armed force in Lebanon.

It has been trading near-daily cross border fire with Israel since Israel began its retaliation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the Palestinian group attacked southern Israel last October. Hezbollah says it is acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Israel has said it is changing its military focus to its border with Lebanon, with the aim of returning tens of thousands of displaced residents to their homes. Hezbollah has previously said it would stop firing if there is a ceasefire in Gaza.

Both Dr Jaradeh and Health Minister Abiad are pessimistic about the chances of peace any time soon. Dr Jaradeh described the escalation in Lebanon as a “rebound effect”.

“I think whatever happens, it doesn’t matter how you end up the world, but if you don’t reach a peace, permanent peace process, that protecting everyone and giving the right to everyone, so we are preparing to another war,” he said.

Abiad said Lebanon needed to prepare for the “worst-case scenario”.

“The two attacks in the last day, show that their intent (Israel) is not towards a diplomatic solution,” he said.

“What I know is the position of my government is clear. From day one, we believe that Lebanon does not want war.”

The Taiwanese government has said none of the components in thousands of pagers used by the armed group Hezbollah that exploded in Lebanon earlier this week were made on the island.

Fragments of the pagers that blew up had labels which pointed to Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo. But the firm denied making the devices used in the attack.

The Lebanese government says 12 people, including two children, were killed and nearly 3,000 injured in the explosions on Tuesday.

The incident, along with another attack involving exploding walkie-talkies, was blamed on Israel and marked a major escalation in the conflict between the two sides.

“The components for Hezbollah’s pagers were not produced by us,” Taiwan’s economy minister Kuo Jyh-huei told reporters on Friday.

He added that a judicial investigation is already under way.

“I want to unearth the truth, because Taiwan has never exported this particular pager model,” Taiwan foreign minister, Lin Chia-lung said.

Earlier this week, Gold Apollo boss Hsu Ching-Kuang denied his business had anything to do with the attacks.

He said he licensed his trade mark to a company in Hungary called BAC Consulting to use the Gold Apollo name on their own pagers.

The BBC’s attempts to contact BAC have so far been unsuccessful. Its CEO Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono told the US news outlet NBC that she knew nothing and denied her company made the pagers.

The Hungarian government has said BAC had “no manufacturing or operational site” in the country.

But a New York Times report said that BAC was a shell company that acted as a front for Israel, citing Israeli intelligence officers.

In another round of blasts on Wednesday, exploding walkie-talkies killed 20 people and injured at least 450, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

Japanese handheld radio manufacturer Icom has distanced itself from the walkie-talkies that bear its logo, saying it discontinued production of the devices a decade ago.

Iran-backed Hezbollah has blamed Israel for what it called “this criminal aggression” and vowed that it would get “just retribution”.

The Israeli military has declined to comment.

The two sides have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the Gaza conflict erupted last October.

The difficulty in identifying the makers of the devices has highlighted how complicated the global electronics supply chain has become.

Just as crowds had gathered to mourn some of those killed in Tuesday’s wave of pager-bomb attacks, an explosion sparked chaos in Dahiyeh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut.

In the surrounding area there was bedlam as the sound of the explosion echoed through the streets. The chants stopped. Those gathered looked at each other, some incredulous.

As reports spread that this was part of a second wave of explosions now targeting walkie-talkies, no electronic equipment was considered safe.

In Dahiyeh, Hezbollah supporters stopped our team several times, demanding we did not use our phones or our camera.

One of our producers received a message from a friend, who said she had changed her Lebanese SIM card to an international number, concerned that her phone could explode, too.

Many people here, and across the country, are inevitably wondering what will come next. Some even say they do not know if it is safe to walk next to other people, and are changing their plans.

“Everyone is just panicking… We don’t know if we can stay next to our laptops, our phones. Everything seems like a danger at this point, and no one knows what to do,” one woman, Ghida, said.

The confusion was made worse by rumours that spread on social media. One of them suggested that even solar panels were blowing up. “A state of panic overwhelmed people,” another woman said. “And frankly, this situation is very frightening”.

Wednesday’s attack, which killed 25 people, came as the country was still shocked and angered by what happened the day before, when thousands of pagers exploded in a synchronised attack, after users received a message they believed had come from Hezbollah.

The devices detonated as people were in shops, or with their families at home, killing 12, including an eight-year-old girl who went to pick up the pager for her father, and an 11-year-old boy. Around 2,800 others were wounded, with hundreds needing surgery.

Treating some of the injured, Dr Elias Warrak said at least 60% of the people he had seen after Tuesday’s blasts had lost at least one eye, with many also losing a finger or a whole hand. He described it as “the worst day of [his] life as a physician”.

“I believe the number of casualties and the type of damage that has been done is humongous,” he said. “Unfortunately, we were not able to save a lot of eyes, and unfortunately the damage is not limited to the eyes – some of them have damage in the brain in addition to any facial damage.”

The attacks are a humiliation for the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, and a possible indication that its entire communication network may have been infiltrated by Israel, the worst security breach in the group’s history.

Reports suggest a shipment of pagers may have been rigged with explosives, before being detonated remotely. Hezbollah had distributed the devices amid concerns that smartphones were being used by the Israeli military and intelligence agencies to track down and kill its members. It was still not clear how Wednesday’s attacks might have been carried out.

“The pain is huge, physical and in the heart. But this is something we are used to, and we will continue with our resistance,” said a young man in Dahiyeh. A woman said: “This will make us stronger, whoever has lost an eye will fight with the other eye and we are all standing together.”

Hezbollah has vowed to respond, blaming Israel for the attacks. As usual, Israel has not commented. Fears are, again, rising that the current violence between the two rivals, which has led to the displacement of tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the border, could escalate into an all-out war.

Hezbollah says its attacks on Israel, which started almost a year ago, are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, and that they will only stop with a ceasefire, an elusive possibility for now.

Hours after the latest explosions, the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said his country was “at the start of a new phase in the war”, as the 98th division of the Israeli army relocated from Gaza to the north of Israel.

Up until now, Hezbollah has indicated that it is not interested in another major war with Israel, as Lebanon struggles to recover from a years-long economic crisis. Many here say a conflict is not in the country’s interests. A damaged Hezbollah is not in Iran’s interests either, as the group acts as part of the country’s deterrence against Israel.

But some will certainly demand a strong response. An indication of what Hezbollah might be planning to do could come on Thursday, in the first public reaction by its powerful leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

The Lebanese government says 12 people, including two children, were killed after thousands of pagers used by the armed group Hezbollah exploded.

BBC Verify has been looking into a firm called BAC Consulting, which has been linked to the production of the pagers – despite the devices bearing a different manufacturer’s name.

A short while after the explosions took place on Tuesday, unverified images of two damaged pagers surfaced on social media. In the photos, the word “Gold” and a serial number starting either “AP” or “AR” was visible. This indicated that a Taiwanese company – Gold Apollo – could have been involved in the pagers’ manufacture.

However, the firm put out a strongly worded statement denying any involvement, saying: “This model is produced and sold by BAC.”

BAC Consulting is a Hungarian-based company which Gold Apollo says had permission to use its brand through a licensing agreement.

BBC Verify has accessed BAC’s company records, which reveal it was first incorporated in 2022 and has a single shareholder. It is registered to a building in Budapest’s 14th district.

As well as BAC, a further 13 companies and one person are registered at the same building.

However, our search of a financial information database does not reveal that BAC has any connections to other companies or people.

• Follow live updates on this story
• What we know about the explosions
• Video captures Beirut skyline as devices explode across city
• No electronic equipment considered safe after Lebanon device attacks
• Hezbollah and its conflict with Israel explained

The same database shows no trading information about BAC. For example, there are no records of any shipments between it and any other firms.

However, BAC’s website, which is now inaccessible, previously said it was scaling up its business in Asia, and had a goal to “develop international technology co-operation among countries for the sale of telecommunication products”.

According to records, BAC had a net turnover of 256,996,000 Hungarian Forint ($725,000; £549,000) in 2022, and 210,307,000 Hungarian Forint ($593,000; £449,000) in 2023.

A company brochure, published on LinkedIn, lists eight organisations BAC claims to have worked with – including the European Commission and the UK Department for International Development (DfID).

BBC Verify has approached all the listed organisations for comment. The UK Foreign Office – which has taken on DfID’s responsibilities – told us it was in the process of investigating. But based on initial conversations, it said it did not have any involvement with BAC, despite the firm’s claim.

BAC’s website listed one person as its chief executive and founder – Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono – and does not appear to mention other employees.

BBC Verify has learned she graduated from the University of Catania with a physics degree in 2001. According to her LinkedIn profile, she also holds PhDs from two London universities.

Her professional profile also states she was a board member of the Earth Child Institute (ECI) – an international non-profit organisation. However, it told us that Ms Bársony-Arcidiacono “is not and never has been an official member of the Earth Child Institute board of directors”.

The ECI said that she was introduced to them in 2017-18 and there was an exchange of emails “to explore if and how she could support ECI”. However, “no one at ECI has not been in contact with this person in the years since 2018 and there is no current connection with her”.

Elsewhere, Ms Bársony-Arcidiacono was listed as chief sustainability officer on the website of an organisation called Eden Global Climate Impact Group. However, this section of the website has now been removed.

We have made several attempts to contact Ms Bársony-Arcidiacono, but have been unable to reach her.

NBC has reported it had spoken to Ms Bársony-Arcidiacono, who confirmed her company worked with Gold Apollo. However, when asked about the pagers and the explosions, she said: “I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediate. I think you got it wrong.”

The BBC has called BAC a number of times, but there is no answer.

A spokesperson for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said the exploding pagers were “never” in Hungary.

“Authorities have confirmed that the company in question is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary,” government spokesperson Zoltán Kovács said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Separately, Bulgaria’s national security agency has said it is investigating the links of another company to the sale of the pagers.

While the agency has not named the company, Bulgaria’s main TV channels were told that only money – rather than goods – was transferred. The value of the transactions was reported to be worth €1.6m (£1.3m), with the most recent one going to Hungary.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Do you look at the possibility of political turbulence ahead of November’s US presidential election and think: democracy could be in trouble? So does a group of tech entrepreneurs backed by big Silicon Valley money. And they love it.

Imagine if you could choose your citizenship the same way you choose your gym membership. That’s a vision of the not-too-distant future put forward by Balaji Srinivasan. Balaji – who, like Madonna, is mostly just known by his first name – is a rockstar in the world of crypto. A serial tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist who believes that pretty much everything governments currently do, tech can do better.

I watched Balaji outline his idea last autumn, at a vast conference hall on the outskirts of Amsterdam. “We start new companies like Google; we start new communities like Facebook; we start new currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum; can we start new countries?” he asked, as he ambled on stage, dressed in a slightly baggy grey suit and loose tie. He looked less like a rockstar, more like a middle manager in a corporate accounts department. But don’t be fooled. Balaji is a former partner at the giant Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He has backers with deep pockets.

Silicon Valley loves “disruption”. Tech startups have been disrupting traditional media for years; now they are making inroads into other areas too: education, finance, space travel. “Imagine a thousand different startups, each of them replacing a different legacy institution,” Balaji told the audience. “They exist alongside the establishment in parallel, they’re pulling away users, they’re gaining strength, until they become the new thing.”

If startups could replace all these different institutions, Balaji reasoned, they could replace countries too. He calls his idea the “network state”: startup nations. Here’s how it would work: communities form – on the internet initially – around a set of shared interests or values. Then they acquire land, becoming physical “countries” with their own laws. These would exist alongside existing nation states, and eventually, replace them altogether.

You would choose your nationality like you choose your broadband provider. You would become a citizen of the franchised cyber statelet of your choice.

There is nothing new about corporations having undue influence in the affairs of nation states. The term “banana republic” derives from the fact that a US company, United Fruit, effectively ruled Guatemala for decades beginning in the 1930s. Apart from owning the majority of the land, they ran the railways, the postal service, the telegraph. When the Guatemalan government tried to push back, the CIA helped United Fruit out by instigating a coup.

But the network state movement appears to have greater ambitions still. It doesn’t just want pliant existing governments so that companies can run their own affairs. It wants to governments with companies.

The Coming Storm

As the US heads into a presidential election, Gabriel Gatehouse dives back into the labyrinthine rabbit warren of American conspiracy culture. Whilst liberals across the world worry about a possible return of Donald Trump, millions of Americans are convinced that their democracy has already been hijacked – by a sinister Deep State cabal. How did this happen? And who is behind it? That’s the story that Gabriel Gatehouse is investigating in this series of The Coming Storm.

There are those who view the network state idea as a neo-colonial project that would replace elected leaders with corporate dictators acting in the interests of their shareholders. But others think it’s a way of cutting through what they see as the regulation-infested state of Western democracies today. Sounds like a tech bro fantasy? Elements of the network state already exist.

The conference in Amsterdam included tech entrepreneurs showcasing some of these “startup societies”. There was Cabin, a “network city of modern villages” that has branches in the US, Portugal and elsewhere; and Culdesac, an Arizona-based community designed for remote working.

Balaji’s concept of the network state builds on the idea of “charter cities”, urban areas that constitute a special economic zone, similar to free ports. There are several such projects under construction around the world, including in Nigeria and Zambia. At a recent rally in Las Vegas, Donald Trump promised that, if elected in November, he would free up federal land in Nevada to “create special new zones with ultra-low taxes and ultra-low regulation”, to attract new industries, build affordable housing and create jobs. The plan would, he said, revive “the frontier spirit and the American dream”.

Culdesac and Cabin look more like online communities that have established territorial bases. Próspera is different. Located on an island off the coast of Honduras, it describes itself as a “private city” catering to entrepreneurs. It promotes longevity science – offering unregulated experimental gene therapies to slow the ageing process.

Run by a for-profit company based in Delaware in the United States, Próspera was granted special status under a previous Honduran government to make its own laws. The current president, Xiomara Castro, wants it gone, and has begun stripping it of some of the special privileges it was granted. Próspera is suing the government of Honduras for $10.8 billion.

At some point during the day-long pitching session in Amsterdam, a young man in a grey hoodie slouched on stage. His name was Dryden Brown. He said he wanted to build a new city-state, somewhere on the Mediterranean coast. It would be governed not by a giant state bureaucracy, but on the blockchain, the technology underlying cryptocurrency. Its founding principles would be ideas of “vitality” and “heroic virtue”. He called it Praxis, the Ancient Greek word for “action”. The first citizens of this new nation, he said, would be able to move in in 2026.

He was a little hazy on the details. Move in where exactly? Who would build the infrastructure? Who would run it? Dryden Brown fumbled with a remote and pulled up a slide, suggesting Praxis was backed by funds with access to hundreds of billions of dollars of capital.

For now, though, the “Praxis community” exists mainly on the internet. There is a website where you can apply for citizenship. Who, exactly, these citizens are, is unclear. Dryden flashed up another slide with his remote. It was a Pepe meme: the sad-looking cartoon frog that became an “alt-right” mascot during the Trump campaign in 2016.

In this niche world of startup nations, Praxis had a reputation for edginess. They hosted legendary parties: people spoke of candle-lit soirees in giant Manhattan loft spaces, where awkward computer coders mixed with hipster models and figures from the “Dark Enlightenment” – people like the blogger Curtis Yarvin, who advocates a totalitarian future in which the world is ruled by corporate “monarchs”. His ideas are sometimes described as fascist, something he denies. Attendees would be made to sign an NDA. Journalists were generally not welcome.

After his presentation, I went to talk to Dryden Brown. He seemed suspicious and a little cold, but he gave me his phone number. I messaged him a few times, trying to engage him in conversation. To no avail.

But then, about six months later, I spotted an intriguing notice on X. “Praxis magazine launch. Tomorrow night. Photocopy your favourite pages.” There was no time given, no location. Just a link where you could apply to attend. I applied. No answer. So, next morning, I texted Dryden Brown again. And to my surprise, he replied right away: “Ella Funt at 10pm.”

Ella Funt turned out to be a bar and nightclub in Manhattan. Formerly known as Club 82, it had once been a legendary spot on the New York gay scene; in the 1950s, writers and artists would go there to drink cocktails served by women in tuxedos and watch drag acts in the basement. Now it was hosting an exclusive party for people who wanted to start a new country. And I had somehow got myself an invite. But I was 2000 miles away in Utah. If I was going to make it in time, I had to get on a flight right away.

I was actually one of the first to arrive. The place was almost empty, with a few Praxis people laying out copies of their magazine around the bar. I flicked through it: expensive, heavy paper; lots of advertisements for seemingly random things: perfume; 3D-printed guns; one for just… milk. Like Pepe the Frog, milk is an internet meme. In “alt-right” circles, posting an icon of a white milk bottle signals white supremacy.

The magazine urged readers to “photocopy pages and paste them around your town” – a kind of analogue memetics. A Xerox machine had been wheeled into the bar for that very purpose.

A group of young men walked in, some wearing cowboy boots. They didn’t look like outdoor types though. I got talking to one of them. He introduced himself as Zac, a “crypto cowboy” from Milton Keynes (he was wearing a leather Stetson.)

“I kind of represent the American Wild West,” he said. “I feel as though we are at the frontier.”

Plenty of people associate cryptocurrencies with scams: highly volatile internet money, the value of which could disappear overnight. But in the world of the “network state”, they love crypto. They see it as the future of money – money that governments cannot control.

The next person I got talking to called himself Azi. I asked for his surname. “Mandias,” he replied with a smile. It was a reference to a sonnet by Percy Bysse Shelley: Ozymandias, King of Kings. Anonymity is an important part of the crypto ethos. I got the feeling no one at this party was giving me their real names.

Mr Mandias was from Bangladesh originally, but had grown up in Queens, New York. He was the founder of a tech startup. He believed that, just as the printing press had contributed to the collapse of the feudal order in Europe 500 years ago, today new tech – crypto, the blockchain, AI – would bring about the collapse of the democratic nation state.

“Obviously, democracy is great,” he said. “But the best ruler is a moral dictator. Some people call [that] the philosopher king.”

Azi said he was excited to be “on the precipice of what I think is the next renaissance”. But before this renaissance, he predicted a “Luddite movement” against new technology that would destroy millions of jobs and monopolise the global economy. The Luddites would fail, Azi said. Yet he predicted that the transition period to what he called the “next stage” of human societal evolution – the “network state” stage – would be violent and “Darwinistic”.

Far from being perturbed by this prospect, Azi seemed excited at the thought that out of the smouldering ashes of democracy, new kings would emerge: corporate dictators ruling over their networked empires.

I wandered over to the bar and got myself a drink. There I got talking to two young women who did not look like they were part of the crypto crowd. Ezra was the manager of another nightclub nearby, her friend Dylan was a student. It looked like they’d been invited to add a bit of glamour to what was – essentially – a party of crypto-bros and computer geeks. But they had some thoughts about the whole network state idea.

“What happens if you don’t have enough employees in the hospital or at the school for the kids?” Dylan asked. “It is unrealistic to start an entire city without any government.” To Ezra, the whole idea seemed dystopian. “We wanted to see what a ‘real’ cult meeting was like,” she said, I think in jest.

Just then, Dryden Brown appeared, the co-founder of Praxis. When he went outside for a cigarette, I followed him. The Praxis Magazine was a way to showcase the new culture he was hoping to build, he told me. Praxis, he said, was about “the pursuit of the frontier” and of “heroic virtue”.

I doubted Dryden would last very long in a covered wagon out on the prairie. He looked exhausted by it all. I wanted to ask him some pointed questions about the network state project: who would be the citizens of this brave new world? Who would govern it? What was with all the alt-right memes? And – Dylan’s question – who was going to staff the hospitals?

But we kept getting interrupted by more guests arriving. Dryden Brown invited me to visit the “Praxis Embassy” the following day. We said our see-you-tomorrows and went inside. The party was getting wilder. Ezra and Dylan and some friends who looked like models were climbing up on top of the Xerox machine. They were busy photocopying – not pages from the magazine, but bits of their bodies. I grabbed a copy of the magazine and left.

Back at my tiny Airbnb above a Chinese supermarket, I leafed through it. Alongside the white supremacist memes and ads for guns, there was a QR code. It linked to a short film: a 20-minute polemic against the emptiness of modern life, a lament for a vanished world of hierarchies and heroism.

“You are entertained and satiated,” the narrator intones, “you are seemingly productive. But you are not great.” The voice talks about the “algorithms making you hate yourself and your own civilisation”.

At this point in the film, the screen shows an animated figure pointing a pistol straight at the viewer.

“Contemporary media proclaims that having any ideals is fascist,” the voice continues. “Everything of conviction is fascist.”

Was it an invitation to embrace the label of fascism? This movement seemed to yearn for a specific conception of Western culture – a Nietzschean world in which the fittest survive, where disruption and chaos give birth to greatness.

The next day, I stopped by the “Praxis Embassy” – a giant loft space on Broadway. The bookshelves were indeed filled with copies of Nietzsche, biographies of Napoleon and a volume entitled The Dictator’s Handbook. I hung around for a bit, but Dryden Brown never turned up.

I left wondering what exactly it was I had witnessed the previous night: was it a glimpse of the future, in which countries like the United States and the UK would collapse into a spider’s web of corporate societies, a world in which you could choose to become a citizen of a cyber statelet? Or were Dryden Brown and his friends just “trolling”, a bunch of tech bros roleplaying as alt-right revolutionaries in order to have a laugh at the expense of the establishment, and enjoy a good party?

Might Dryden Brown one day become a CEO-king, ruler of an alt-right franchised empire with outposts dotted around the Mediterranean? I doubt it. But there are moves to promote more autonomous zones, free ports and charter cities. And if democracy is in trouble, the network state movement looks like it is waiting in the wings.

For the past 20 years, self-declared “cyborg artist” Neil Harbisson has provoked debate with his “eyeborg” – a surgically attached antenna.

Harbisson, who grew up in Barcelona, is colour blind, having been born with the rare condition achromatopsia, which affects one in 33,000 people.

This means he sees in what he calls “greyscale” – only black, white and shades of grey.

But he decided to have surgery in 2004 which changed his life – and his senses – attaching an antenna to the back of his head, which transforms light waves into sounds.

When film director Carey Born came across Harbisson, classed by Guinness World Records as “the first officially recognised ‘cyborg’,” she was “gobsmacked and astonished”.

Her next move was to meet him, and then make a film about him – Cyborg: A Documentary.

It explores how he navigates his life, along with effects and implications of his unusual surgical procedure.

“The reason he did it was not to substitute the sense that he was lacking – it was in order to create an enhancement,” Born tells the BBC.

“So that was really the main hook that I thought was fascinating.”

As a student, Harbisson had met Plymouth University cybernetics expert Adam Montandon, who enabled him to “hear” colour using headphones, a webcam and laptop – transforming light waves into sounds.

Harbisson seized on this experience, but wanted more, by merging the technology with his own body – something Spain’s bioethical committees repeatedly rejected.

He eventually persuaded anonymous doctors to operate, removing part of the back of his skull so the antenna could be implanted and the bone could then grow over it.

Harbisson, who describes himself as a “cyborg artist”, has said: “I don’t feel like I’m using technology, I feel like I am technology.”

The term cyborg refers to a being with human and machine elements, giving them enhanced abilities.

Cyborgs are already a feature of popular culture and sci-fi, appearing in TV series like Doctor Who, The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, and films including Terminator and Robocop.

The chip in the back of Harbisson’s head allows him to hear the colours not through his ears, but through the bone of his skull. It also connects to nearby devices as well as the internet.

His partner, Moon Ribas, says in the film: “He is brave, he likes to do things differently”, while he says his antenna “allows me to extend my perception of reality”.

Harbisson explains in the film that post-surgery, he had five weeks of headaches, and it took him about five months to get used to the antenna.

Born says after the procedure he got “depression, because like when they did trepanning [a surgical intervention where a hole is drilled into the skull] in the 60s and 70s.

“People got really big side effects – he had that as well.”

She admits she was unsure what to expect when they first met, but found “Neil and Moon were very personable… I thought they would make an accessible way into the subject”.

The film shows how people respond to him, asking about his appearance, and we see him producing artworks based on his perception of colour.

But life post-antenna has not been straightforward – the film also reveals he’s received death threats, from people who object to how he has modified his body.

Harbisson touches on this in the film.

“For many years we’ve had different types of death threats, from people who really hate what we’re doing, because they think it’s anti-natural or anti-God,” he says.

“So they think we should be stopped.”

The threats caused the couple to relocate their home to somewhere new, its precise location a closely guarded detail.

Born says: “It’s such a shame… they’re very gentle people”.

But she adds that her film injects possible notes of caution into the issue of body augmentation.

Harbisson’s credo, which includes his own business interests, is: “Design Yourself.”

But Born wants to get people thinking about “security – and the hacking potential all of these things could result in”.

“There’s a safety issue in terms of who is doing it, what are the circumstances that they’re doing it under, and what are the possible outcomes or consequences?” she adds.

A 2022 survey by US think tank the Pew Research Centre, into AI and human enhancement, suggests the US public may have some reservations.

Those surveyed were “generally more excited than concerned about the idea of several potential changes to human abilities”.

But many were “hesitant or undecided” about the virtues of biomedical interventions to “change cognitive abilities or the course of human health”.

The film also highlights that three years earlier, BBC News presenter Stephen Sackur highlighted possible ethical concerns about body augmentation.

He challenged Harbisson during an interview at Swiss debating conference, the St Gallen Symposium.

“There are all sorts of ways in which this is worrying and alarming… not least because you call yourself transpecies, but you’re acquiring abilities that are beyond the capacity of other human beings,” he said.

He also queried enhancements “only available to those who have the means to undertake this sort of thing, creating possibly an uber-species”.

But Harbisson said his not-for-profit Cyborg Foundation tries to make such augmentations “as available as possible”.

“It’s not expensive to create a new sense, but we are giving all these senses to machines,” he said, such as cars or hand dryers.

“You can just add them to your body – it’s just people who wish to extend their perception.”

Body modification artist Jenova Rain worked with Harbisson in 2018 during Manchester Science Festival, and sees his work as “amazing and very important”.

“He’s pushing the boundaries of what we’re trying to achieve as a species,” she tells the BBC.

“I think we need more people to be as brave and bold as he is.”

Her job also includes combining technology and the human body – she implants microchips into people’s hands, carrying out about 100 per year.

The microchip would open a door, for example, much like an electronic key for a car.

“Primarily we were looking at doing this as access for people with disabilities, or mobility and dexterity issues, who struggle using keys specifically,” she tells the BBC.

Dani Clode, an augmentation designer for Cambridge University’s neuroscience plasticity lab, finds Harbisson “fascinating” but says she and her colleagues are still working out if augmentation is “a good thing, or is it a bad thing?”

“I’m choosing my words carefully here because it is an exciting and interesting area. We just want to make sure it’s done safely,” she tells the BBC.

Her work includes creating a removable extra thumb and a tentacle arm.

Clode demonstrates the thumb, operated by a pressure pad under the wearer’s big toe.

“I make the devices, and the lab uses them to understand the future brain,” she explains, adding they study the impact on the brain when the body is augmented.

“After five days of training with this device [we learned] we could alter the brain,” she says.

“We fundamentally changed how they used their hand for that for that week, which then showed up in their brain.”

Born adds a final note of caution.

“Cybernetics will happen – it is happening,” she says.

“I think often the politicians and the regulatory bodies or those parts of government are very slow, and that technology is not allowing for that.

“The technology is accelerating so fast, but we plod along.”

She’s concerned about who ends up holding the keys to cybernetic technology.

“If it’s all in the hands of a particular few individuals, or a few very elite, very rich influential organisations, that is not a democratic process, and it’s going to affect all of us.

“So I’m just alerting people, in a nice, accessible way.”

A selection of the week’s best photos from across the African continent and beyond:

• What an athlete’s murder tells us about women’s safety in Kenya
• Climate change is turbo-charging Somalia’s problems – but there’s still hope
• Kidnapped and trafficked twice – a sex worker’s life in Sierra Leone
• ‘Bipolar, colour and me’ – an artist’s spreadsheet of emotion
• Who was behind one of the deadliest attacks in Sudan?

A recent report, which details poor working conditions and rampant sexual harassment faced by women in Malayalam-language cinema, is causing seismic upheavals in the entertainment industry in India.

But the messages of solidarity and support have come largely from women – and critics say the silence of powerful men, including India’s biggest and most loved stars, is deafening.

Based on testimonies from 51 people from the Kerala-based film industry, the Hema Committee report lays bare decades of exploitation and says that “women have been asked to make themselves available for sex on demand” and that they were constantly told to make “compromise and adjustments” if they wanted work.

The panel was set up in 2017 after Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), formed by a group of women working in the Malayalam cinema, petitioned the government after a top actress was sexually assaulted by a group of men allegedly at the behest of a top male actor.

Their 290-page report was released last month, with chunks redacted to hide the identities of the survivors and those accused of harassment.

But since its release on 19 August, several women have publicly spoken up about their ordeal and more than a dozen police complaints have been lodged against male stars, producers, directors and other influential men.

The state government has set up a special investigation team (SIT) to look into the allegations and the Kerala high court has asked the SIT to investigate the instances mentioned in the report, raising hopes that the survivors may after all get justice.

Women in all Indian film industries, including in the biggest and hugely popular Bollywood, have repeatedly spoken about the casting couch – the practice of men asking for sexual favours in return for roles – and rampant sexual harassment they face.

“The rot is as deep as the ocean across all Indian film industries,” film critic and author Shubhra Gupta told the BBC. “We won’t find a single female performer anywhere in the country who has not suffered. If everyone came out to complain, it will take us many decades to deal with all those complaints.”

The sordid revelations about the extent of the rot in Malayalam cinema have made headlines and the findings have been debated on primetime TV. Deedi Damodaran, a WCC member, told the BBC that the response has been “overwhelming”.

“Some women have now talked about how they had to flee the industry because of the terrible things that happened to them. They have no evidence, but they’ve got some sort of closure by talking about their experiences.”

Many of them, she says, have spoken out despite being trolled and abused on social media.

The report has also created ripples in other film industries, with calls for reform being heard in regional industries based in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.

In Telangana, pressure has grown on the government to publish a report on the Telugu film industry that’s been waiting to see the light of the day for two years. An inquiry was instituted after an upcoming actress, Sri Reddy, protested by stripping down to her undergarments in public in 2018 “to draw attention to the sexual exploitation of women in the industry”.

West Bengal has set up a committee to investigate allegations of sexual abuse in the Bengali film industry, actress Ritabhari Chakraborty has said. This, she added, would “cleanse the industry from predators”.

• A report that exposed the Kerala film industry

Women in Tamil and Kannada cinema have also petitioned their state governments to improve working conditions for them.

Veteran Tamil actress Radhika Sarathkumar told the BBC that the Hema committee report has created a lot of awareness and that “men will be scared now”.

“It’s time women in cinema get together and speak up and stop this nonsense,” she said.

But the lack of support from the men in the industry, says Damodaran, has been disappointing.

Malayalam superstars Mohanlal and Mammootty have welcomed the report but said that nothing should be done to hurt the industry.

“These heroes are worshipped as larger than life beings, but we’re waiting for them to take a heroic stand,” Damodaran told the BBC.

In Tamil Nadu, actor-politicians Kamal Haasan and Vijay’s silence has been noted, while Rajinikanth faced criticism for claiming ignorance of the report 10 days after its release.

“The harassment happens to each of us, how come men don’t know about it? Maybe the male actors compartmentalise, maybe they choose not to see it,” Sarathkumar told the BBC. “It’s very sad that every time the onus in on the women to protect themselves.”

Some have also pointed out that the biggest names in Bollywood – Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar – have chosen to remain silent.

Gupta says their silence may be deafening, but it’s not unexpected. “I would’ve been very surprised if there had been a reaction. We saw what happened in 2018 after the #MeToo movement first started in Bollywood after actress Tanushree Dutta accused an actor of behaving inappropriately towards her on a film set in 2008.”

“For a while, there was a groundswell of support and it seemed that Bollywood would step up and do something about it. But then things were contained. None of the men suffered any consequences, they are all back to doing what they did. In fact, the women who complained didn’t get work.”

A key criticism of Bollywood is that, unlike other industries, none of its leading actresses have addressed gender issues.

Dutta, who received little support from her A-lister peers and has since claimed that she has been denied work, has described the Hema committee report as “useless”, adding that earlier reports about making workplaces safer for women had not helped.

Gupta says one of the reasons why stars don’t speak out could be to avoid trouble for themselves.

“ I think they keep quiet because they know the stakes are high, they are fearful of not getting work in the industry. Remember the time when Aamir Khan or Shahrukh Khan spoke about intolerance? They got trolled heavily and lost out on work.”

Damodaran, however, says the response to the report has given her cause for optimism.

“Film industries in India are deeply patriarchal and misogynistic. But we can’t continue with the kind of sexism and misogyny that women have to face in their workplace. Things are bound to change – and they must.”

More than 30,000 Boeing workers are on strike after their union rejected a deal that would have raised pay in exchange for the loss of bonuses and pensions.

The employees are now in their second week of striking with no sign of any deal with Boeing management on the horizon.

We asked workers on the picket line outside a Boeing factory in Auburn, Washington, why they feel they have no choice but to strike.

Many of the strikers the BBC spoke to cited the loss of their bonuses and pensions, as well as inflation and the cost of living, as their reasons for walking out.

Davon Smith, 37, earns under $28 (£21) an hour attaching the wings to Boeing 777X planes, which sell for over $400m (£300m) each. He also works as a security guard at a bar to make ends meet.

“That kind of keeps me afloat, a little bit,” he says about the part-time security job.

His fiancée, who works as a secretary for Seattle schools, earns more than him.

Smith, who has worked at Boeing for only a year, says his pay rate doesn’t compensate him for the level of safety that goes into ensuring that the planes don’t fail.

He says he’s concerned he could be held criminally liable if his work isn’t done correctly.

“Every time we make a plane to their spec, we pretty much put our life on the line. Because if anything goes wrong – like if it’s a torque’s out of spec or something like that – and potentially the plane goes down, we obviously get [jail] time for that,” he says.

The deal that union representatives and Boeing had tentatively agreed would have seen workers get a 25% pay rise over four years.

It also offered improved healthcare and retirement benefits, 12 weeks of paid parental leave, and would have given union members more say on safety and quality issues.

However, the union had initially targeted a 40% pay rise, and almost 95% of union members who voted rejected the deal.

Many remain angry about benefits lost during contract negotiations years ago – especially the pension, which guaranteed certain payouts in retirement.

Now, the firm contributes to worker investment accounts known as 401(k)s, making their values subject to the strength of the stock market.

“They just took everything away. They took away our pensions, they took away our bonuses that people rely on,” says Mari Baker, 61, who started at Boeing in 1996 and currently works as a kitter, overseeing the tools used at factories.

She calls the rejected deal “a slap in the face”, but says she is worried about losing her health insurance at the end of the month, if the strike continues and whether she’ll be able to afford her prescription medication.

Boeing declined to comment for this story, pointing to earlier comments by executives pledging to reset the relationship with workers and work towards a deal as soon as possible.

Before the stoppage, the company was already facing deepening financial losses and struggling to repair its reputation after a series of safety issues.

New chief executive Kelly Ortberg, who was appointed to turn the business around, had urged workers not to strike as it would put the company’s “recovery in jeopardy”.

On Wednesday, the firm announced it was suspending the jobs of tens of thousands of staff in the US as a way of saving money in response to the strike.

Patrick Anderson, chief executive of the Anderson Economic Group, a research and consulting firm, says Boeing is a company “on the precipice”.

His firm estimates that the strike, just in its first week, has already cost workers at the firm and its suppliers more than $100m in lost wages and shareholders more than $440m, among other economic losses.

“This strike doesn’t just threaten earnings, it threatens the reputation of the company at a time when that reputation has suffered hugely,” he says.

Workers on the picket line dismiss the threat to the firm, saying they have little to lose.

“This past year working here I couldn’t afford to pay my mortgage,” says Kerri Foster, 47, who joined Boeing last year after leaving her previous career as a nurse and now works as an aerospace mechanic.

Foster says that she has not been “making enough to pay basic bills”. Meanwhile, the cost of living is increasing, along with her mortgage payments and property taxes.

She’s willing to keep striking until her pay is increased and pension restored, despite the loss of income while the strike continues.

“I’m hungry already. I mean, if you can’t pay your bills when you’re going to work, what’s the difference?” she says.

Ryan Roberson, 38, works in the final assembly division at Boeing. He brought two of his six children to the picket line with him on Wednesday.

As an employee at Boeing for less than a year, the plan that the union rejected would not have had any impact on his wages. Increases would have only gone to those working for more than a year.

He says he plans to keep striking until workers at “that entry level can have a liveable wage”.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union, which represents the strikers, has issued debit cards to members.

After the strike goes into its third week, workers will receive $250 each week, which will be deposited on to the card.

That $250 “will buy a lot of Top Ramen”, says Roberson, referring to the ultra-cheap instant noodles.

Marc Cisneros, 29, says he is striking “because for the amount of work I do and the quality that I produce, it seems unfair that I’m unable to afford my rent”.

He says Boeing is “putting me in essential poverty even though I’m working 40, 50, 60 hours per week”.

Cisneros has worked at Boeing for four years. His girlfriend works there as well. His mother also worked there, “making a decent amount of money” which supported him and his sibling.

He says he’s proud to work at Boeing and is disappointed by his lack of compensation from a company he hopes to work for until he retires.

“I mean this is dangerous. It’s big hunks of metal flying through the sky,” he says.

“You gotta take pride in the quality [and] in everything that you do here. Our names are on every single thing that we produce.”

A woman has told the BBC she was subjected to a “sickening” sexual assault by former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed after being invited to his London flat for a work meeting.

The woman, who the BBC is calling Melanie, believes police were close to arresting him over her allegations just days before he died in August 2023.

A BBC investigation published on Thursday revealed that more than 20 women said they were sexually assaulted by the billionaire. Five said they were raped.

Melanie is one of a growing number of additional ex-Harrods employees to tell the BBC they were attacked since the documentary and podcast Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods was released.

The BBC investigation gathered evidence that during Fayed’s ownership, Harrods not only failed to intervene, but helped cover up abuse allegations.

Melanie’s testimony comes as new details emerge of failed efforts by police and prosecutors to hold Fayed to account during his life. A legal team representing many of the women the BBC has spoken to, will outline their case against Harrods on Friday.

Melanie worked at Harrods for a few years prior to 2010. She described being hired there as a 21-year-old as a “dream job”.

She met Fayed – who was in his late seventies at the time – at work meetings on two occasions, before being summoned to his apartment on London’s Park Lane in late 2007.

Melanie says she went to the evening meeting despite the invitation “ringing the alarm bells”.

She was shown into the sitting room by a housekeeper.

Melanie continued: “He sat down next to me, talking to me for a few minutes, not very long… He had asked that I return a couple of weeks later to stay at the apartments the night before the Harrods sale, and I could go to the Harrods sale with him, and I could meet the celebrity that was opening it.

“And he would not really let me leave until I agreed to that, so I said yes to be able to leave. I did not go back.

“As I stood to leave, that’s when he put his hands on my breast and said some pretty disgusting things. And I was in complete shock. I just turned around and walked out.”

Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods

A BBC investigation into allegations of rape and attempted rape by Mohamed Al Fayed, the former owner of Harrods. Did the luxury store protect a billionaire predator?

Watch Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods on BBC iPlayer now.

Listen to World of Secrets, Season 4: Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods on BBC Sounds. If you’re outside the UK, you can listen wherever you get your podcasts, external.

Melanie told the BBC she did not share the full details of the “sickening” experience with loved ones, and for years “felt it was my fault” because she was “naive enough to have gone”. She described Fayed as a “sleazebag” and “slimy”.

In January 2023 Melanie decided to go to the police. The BBC has seen emails showing the case was passed to the Met’s CID department, which investigates serious allegations.

Melanie says she was later told the Met planned to arrest Fayed that year, and officers tried to arrest him on two occasions.

But he was too unwell to be questioned, and he died age 94 in August 2023.

Like other women the BBC has spoken to, Melanie said there were “rumours swirling” about Fayed, and described his private office as being like a “modelling agency” full of young women.

She continued: “There was definitely a knowledge, like a secret knowledge, within the company that Fayed likes to have pretty girls in his chairman’s office. And you do wonder what that means.”

Other women who worked at Harrods have painted a picture of Fayed as a predator who abused his position to prey on staff, and used his power to deter them from speaking out.

Some former employees recounted how he would tour his department store and identify young female assistants he found attractive, before promoting them to work his private office.

Ex-staff told the BBC this abuse was an open secret at the store. One said: “We all watched each other walk through that door thinking, ‘you poor girl, it’s you today’ and feeling utterly powerless to stop it.”

As well as inside Harrods itself and his Mayfair home, women have described incidents involving Fayed on trips to Paris, St Tropez and Abu Dhabi.

One woman described him as a “monster” who “cultivated fear” among his staff, while the store’s ex-deputy director of security revealed Fayed had phones tapped and secret cameras installed to monitor his employees’ discussions.

Melanie was not the only woman who tried to bring Fayed to justice.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed it was “aware of various allegations of sexual offences made over a number of years” against Fayed.

It said each of the allegations reported to the force had been “investigated and, where appropriate, advice from the Crown Prosecution Service was sought”.

But Fayed was never charged with a crime.

The closest he came to being uncovered appears to have been in October 2008, when he was questioned over allegations made by a girl who he first met when she was 14.

Ellie – not her real name – told the BBC that Fayed personally offered to secure her a job despite her then being just 15.

She recounted how in May 2008 she was told to go to the Harrods boardroom, where she said Fayed grabbed her face and tried to put his tongue in her mouth.

“I mentioned that I was 15, and [said] ‘what are you doing?’, and he said I was turning into a beautiful woman and grabbed my chest.”

She said Fayed flew into a rage and started screaming at her when she pushed him off.

Ellie went to the police and Fayed was questioned by detectives – news which became public in October 2008.

On Thursday, the Met confirmed it had spoken to more than one witness and analysed telephone data in Ellie’s case. The force said it handed a file of evidence to the CPS – but prosecutors decided no further action should be taken.

The Met has declined to say whether Ellie’s case was the only one where Fayed was formally questioned, though the BBC has seen no evidence he was ever quizzed over any other allegation.

The BBC understands Ellie’s case was the only time when a file of evidence was handed to the CPS, a step which has to be taken before an individual can be charged.

On four occasions, police investigations into Fayed were advanced enough for police to consult prosecutors for legal advice.

The CPS advised the Met in 2018, 2021, and 2023 – but in those instances, police did not provide prosecutors with a full file of evidence. It is also not clear if all of those investigations relate to separate women.

It means Fayed was never forced to answer claims against him in court during his lifetime.

Melanie described the feeling of discovering Fayed had died and would never be taken in for questioning over her 2023 report as “gutting”.

But asked what she would say to Fayed if he were still alive today, Melanie told the BBC: “That you didn’t get away with it. That everybody out there knows what you’ve done… and money can’t get you out of this.”

The claims against Fayed have not come out of the blue. The Egyptian businessman, who owned Harrods between 1985 and 2010, became a well-known figure, also acquiring the Ritz in Paris and Fulham Football club.

He came to further public prominence when his son Dodi died alongside Diana, Princess of Wales in a Paris car crash.

Suspicions about Fayed’s predatory behaviour were investigated during his life – including by Vanity Fair in 1995, ITV in 1997 and Channel 4 in 2017.

It was only when Fayed died that many of his victims felt able to come forward.

On Friday, details of new claims are expected to emerge.

Members of the UK legal team representing many of the women featured in the BBC documentary Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods, are to hold a news conference on Friday morning.

The legal team will outline the case against Harrods. They will be joined by the US women’s rights lawyer Gloria Allred, who has represented victims of high-profile offenders in the past.

Fourteen of the women the BBC has spoken to have brought civil claims against Harrods’ current owners for damages.

Harrods said it has a process available to women who say they were attacked by Fayed, adding “it has been our priority to settle claims in the quickest way possible, avoiding lengthy legal proceedings for the women involved”.

Harrods reiterated its apology to its former staff after the BBC investigation was published. A spokesperson said: “We have now had the opportunity to watch the programme and once again express our sympathy to the victims featured.”

The Met said it was committed to investigating sexual offences and encouraged victims to speak to police.

It also said any new information about Fayed would be “assessed and investigated accordingly”.

Fayed’s family did not provide a statement when asked for comment.

Listen to World of Secrets, Season 4: Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods on BBC Sounds. If you’re outside the UK, you can listen wherever you get your podcasts.

The boss of Nike will step down next month, making way for a company veteran to take his place as the leader of the world’s biggest sportswear company amid tough competition in the retail sector.

In a statement, Nike said John Donahoe will retire on 13 October, staying on in an advisory role until early next year to “ensure a smooth transition”.

Demand for the company’s trainers has been faltering in international markets like China and the company’s stock price had slumped.

Shares rose more than 9% in after-hours trading, however, following the announcement that Elliott Hill would return to the firm.

Mr Donahoe was responsible for boosting Nike’s online presence, as well as driving more sales directly from customers instead of partnering with other shops on High Streets or in shopping centres.

He joined the company’s board in 2014 before taking on the role of chief executive in 2020.

His tenure has been challenging with huge shifts in the retail landscape during the pandemic and as inflation spiked in the following years.

The footwear firm has also faced tough competition from the likes of newer rivals On and Hoka, which some analysts have described as being more innovative and on top of current trends.

Nike had been hoping that new products and a marketing campaign around the Olympic Games in Paris would help bring shoppers back to the brand.

But in the announcement on Thursday, it said that the board and Mr Donahoe had “decided he will retire from his role”.

“It became clear now was the time to make a leadership change,” Mr Donahoe said, adding that Mr Hill was the right person for the job and he was looking forward to seeing his future success.

His replacement, Mr Hill, retired from the company just four years ago after serving in a number of senior leadership roles in Europe and the US.

He said he was “eager to reconnect” with employees he had worked with in the past.

“Together with our talented teams, I look forward to delivering bold, innovative products that set us apart in the marketplace and captivate consumers for years to come,” he added.

A team of student volunteers on an archaeological dig in northern France has had a surprise communication from the past.

Sifting through the remains of a Gaulish village on cliff-tops near Dieppe on Monday, they uncovered an earthenware pot containing a small glass flask.

“It was the kind of vial that women used to wear round their necks containing smelling-salts,” said team-leader Guillaume Blondel, who heads the archaeological service for the town of Eu.

Inside the bottle was a message on paper, rolled up and tied with string.

On Tuesday evening, Mr Blondel opened the paper – which read as follows:

“P.J Féret, a native of Dieppe, member of various intellectual societies, carried out excavations here in January 1825. He continues his investigations in this vast area known as the or .”

Féret was a local notable, and municipal records confirm that he conducted a first dig at the site 200 years ago.

“It was an absolutely magic moment,” said Mr Blondel. “We knew there had been excavations here in the past, but to find this message from 200 years ago… it was a total surprise.

“Sometimes you see these time capsules left behind by carpenters when they build houses. But it’s very rare in archaeology. Most archaeologists prefer to think that there won’t be anyone coming after them because they’ve done all the work!”

The emergency dig was ordered because of cliff erosion at the spot just north of Dieppe. Already, a substantial part of the oppidum – or fortified village – has disappeared.

Mr Blondel said: “We knew it was a Gaulish village. What we don’t know is what went on inside the village. Was it a place of importance?”

In the week since the dig began, several artefacts dating from the Gaulish period – mostly pieces of pottery from around 2,000 years ago – have been uncovered.

A Republican candidate for governor in North Carolina has insisted he will not exit the race after it was reported that he made controversial comments on a porn website more than a decade ago.

Mark Robinson characterised the CNN report, which alleged that he had referred to himself as a “black Nazi” on an adult forum, as “salacious tabloid lies”.

He has been under pressure from state Republicans and members of Donald Trump’s campaign team to quit the race in the swing state, according to anonymous sources quoted by the Carolina Journal newspaper.

Trump himself did not refer to the report during his comments at a Thursday night event in Washington about antisemitism.

Robinson, 56, is a former furniture manufacturer who was elected to be the state’s first black lieutenant governor in 2020.

He won the nomination to run for governor in March after receiving an endorsement from Trump, who called him “Martin Luther King on steroids”.

Robinson’s race is in a potentially pivotal swing state which Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is hoping to wrest from the Republicans.

• Robinson to take on Josh Stein in North Carolina race

According to the CNN report published on Thursday, Robinson used to visit a porn website from 2008-12 called Nude Africa, with the username “minisoldr”.

According to CNN, minisoldr posted about enjoying watching “tranny” porn, adding: “Yeah I’m a ‘perv’ too!”

The BBC has not verified the CNN report.

In 2021, Robinson refused to apologise after he was criticised for saying that children in schools should not be learning about “transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth”.

In a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday, as the CNN story was being published, he denied wrongdoing.

“Let me reassure you, the things you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson,” he said.

“We are staying in this race. We are in it to win it.”

He said he was the victim of a “high-tech lynching” by his white Democratic opponent, Josh Stein.

Stein’s campaign said in a statement that “North Carolinians already know Mark Robinson is completely unfit to be governor”.

Opinion polls already suggest Stein, a Harvard-educated lawyer who is currently North Carolina’s attorney general, has a firm lead in the race.

The North Carolina Republican Party defended Robinson in a statement, saying “the Left” was “trying to demonise him via personal attacks”.

Trump himself did not address the controversy during Thursday night’s comments to the Israeli-American Council National Summit, in which he vowed to “stop the toxic poison of antisemitism from spreading all over America and all over the world”.

He bemoaned the lack of support he said he was receiving from Jewish voters, saying if he failed to win the election, “the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that”.

The Harris campaign posted a video on social media reminding voters of Trump’s past praise for Robinson.

The deadline for withdrawing from the governor contest was on Thursday evening, as postal ballots go into the mail on Friday. Early voting in the state begins in less than a month.

Recent polling in North Carolina shows Harris and Trump effectively tied among likely voters.

The Tar Heel State has been a Republican stronghold, with only one Democratic presidential nominee winning there in the last 20-plus years.

Trump narrowly beat Joe Biden in North Carolina four years ago by less than 2%.

Democrats have campaigned heavily in the state this election season.

• SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote
• EXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide election
• FACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger under Biden or Trump?
• POLICIES: What Harris or Trump would do in power
• POLLS: Who is winning the race for the White House?

One of Georgia’s most well-known transgender women has been killed in her home, a day after the country’s parliament passed a major anti-LGBT bill.

Local officials say Kesaria Abramidze, 37, was stabbed to death in her flat in the capital, Tbilisi, on Wednesday.

The interior ministry said it was investigating a “premeditated murder committed with particular cruelty and aggravating circumstances on gender grounds”.

A 26-year-old man has been arrested in the case that has shocked the small South Caucasian nation. Georgian media reported he was known to the victim.

Rights groups have linked the killing to the new anti-LGBT law, arguing the government’s promotion of it had fuelled transphobic hate crime.

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, who opposed the new law, said the “horrendous murder” raised urgent questions about hate crimes and discrimination.

The legislation from Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s government severely restricts rights for LGBT people.

It introduces a ban on same-sex marriage, gender-affirming surgeries, child adoption by non-heterosexuals and the promotion of same-sex relationships in schools.

The bill sailed through parliament on Tuesday in an 84-0 vote, despite criticism from rights groups.

The ruling party said the “Protection of Family Values and Minors” bill was designed to protect a majority of Georgians seeking protection from “LGBT propaganda”.

But local LGBT rights campaigners said the government had used homophobic and transphobic language and ideas in promoting the bill.

Several activists directly linked what they said was the government’s harmful rhetoric to the killing of Ms Abramidze.

One of the first openly trans public figures in the country, she had represented Georgia in international trans pageants and had more than 500,000 followers on social media.

“Political homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia have become central to the government’s official discourse and ideology,” said local human rights group the Social Justice Center.

“Kesaria Abramidze’s killing cannot be viewed separately from this overall grave context,” it added.

• Georgia Pride stormed by right-wing protesters in 2023

Progressive politicians outside the country have also linked the killing to the government’s legislative agenda.

“Those who sow hatred will reap violence. Kesaria Abramidze was killed just one day after the Georgian parliament passed the anti-LGBTI law,” wrote German lawmaker Michael Roth, the social democratic chair of the country’s foreign affairs committee.

European Union figures had already condemned the legislation when it passed earlier this week, saying it further jeopardised the country’s stated aim of joining the EU.

Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said the law was “further derailing the country from its EU path”. He called on the Georgian government to withdraw the law.

The legislation undermines the “fundamental rights of the people” and increases discrimination and stigmatisation, he added.

The British embassy has also expressed “serious concerns”.

Rights groups have characterised the Georgian legislation as being similar to Russian laws which severely restrict LGBT rights.

The Washington-based think tank Freedom House said the bill was “pulled directly from the Kremlin’s authoritarian playbook”.

After thousands of pagers and radio devices exploded in two separate incidents in Lebanon – injuring thousands of people and killing at least 37 – details are still being pieced together as to how such an operation was carried out.

Lebanon and Hezbollah, whose members and communication systems were targeted, have blamed Israel – though Israel is yet to comment.

The BBC has followed a trail from Taiwan, to Japan, Hungary, Israel and back to Lebanon.

Here are the unanswered questions.

Some early speculation suggested that the pagers could have been targeted by a complex hack that caused them to explode. But that theory was quickly dismissed by experts.

To cause damage on the scale that they did, it is probable they were rigged with explosives before they entered Hezbollah’s possession, experts say.

Images of the broken remains of the pagers show the logo of a small Taiwanese electronics manufacturer: Gold Apollo.

The BBC visited the company’s offices, situated on a large business park in a nondescript suburb of Taipei.

The company’s founder, Hsu Ching-Kuang, seemed shocked. He denied the business had anything to do with the operation.

“You look at the pictures from Lebanon,” he told reporters outside his firm’s offices. “They don’t have any mark saying Made in Taiwan on them, we did not make those pagers!”

Instead – he pointed to a Hungarian company: BAC Consulting.

Mr Hsu said that three years ago he had licensed Gold Apollo’s trademark to BAC, allowing them to use Gold Apollo’s name on their own pagers.

He said the money transfers from BAC had been “very strange” – and that there had been problems with the payments, which had come from the Middle East.

• Taiwan pager maker stunned by link to Lebanon attacks

The BBC went to the registered office of BAC Consulting, situated in a residential area of the Hungarian capital, Budapest.

The address appeared to be shared by 12 other companies – and no-one in the building could tell us anything about BAC Consulting at all.

Officials in Hungary say the firm, which was first incorporated in 2022, was merely a “trading intermediary with no manufacturing or operational site” in the country.

A brochure for BAC, published on LinkedIn, lists eight organisations it claims to have worked with – including the UK Department for International Development (DfID).

The UK Foreign Office – which has taken on DfID’s responsibilities – told the BBC it was in the process of investigating. But based on initial conversations, it said it did not have any involvement with BAC.

BAC’s website listed one person as its chief executive and founder – Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono.

The BBC made several attempts to contact Ms Bársony-Arcidiacono, but were unable to reach her.

However, she did reportedly speak to NBC News, saying: “I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediate.”

So who is really behind BAC Consulting?

The New York Times has reported that the company was in fact a front for Israeli intelligence.

The newspaper, citing three Israeli officials, said that two other shell companies were created to help hide the identities of the people who were really producing the pagers: Israeli intelligence officers.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify these reports – but we do know that Bulgarian authorities have now begun investigating another company linked to BAC.

Bulgarian broadcaster bTV reported on Thursday that 1.6 million euros ($1.8m; £1.3m) connected to the device attacks in Lebanon passed through Bulgaria and was later sent to Hungary.

• What we know about firm linked to Lebanon pagers

The origins of the radio devices, which exploded in the second wave of attacks, are less clear.

We know that at least some of those that exploded were the IC-V82 model produced by the Japanese company, ICOM.

Those devices were purchased by Hezbollah five months ago, according to a security source speaking to Reuters news agency.

Earlier, a sales executive at the US subsidiary of Icom told the Associated Press news agency that the exploded radio devices in Lebanon appeared to be knockoff products that were not made by the company – adding that it was easy to find counterfeit versions online.

It took the BBC a matter of seconds to find Icom IC-V82s listed for sale in online marketplaces.

ICOM said in a statement it had stopped manufacturing and selling the model almost a decade ago, in October 2014 – and said it had also discontinued production of the batteries needed to operate it.

The company said it does not outsource manufacturing overseas – and all its radios are produced at a factory in Western Japan.

According to Kyodo news agency, Icom director Yoshiki Enomoyo suggested that photos of the damage around the battery compartment of the exploded walkie-talkies suggest they may have been retrofitted with explosives.

• Japan firm says it stopped making walkie-talkies used in Lebanon blasts

Videos show victims reaching into their pockets in the seconds before the devices detonated, causing chaos in streets, shops and homes across the country.

Lebanese authorities have concluded that the devices were detonated by “electronic messages” sent to them, according to a letter by the Lebanese mission to the UN, seen by Reuters news agency.

Citing US officials, the New York Times said that the pagers received messages that appeared to be coming from Hezbollah’s leadership before detonating. The messages instead appeared to trigger the devices, the outlet reported.

We do not yet know what kind of message was sent to the radio devices.

This is the question many in Lebanon are now asking – paranoid that other devices, cameras, phones or laptops could have also been rigged with explosives.

The Lebanese Army has been on the streets of Beirut using a remote-controlled bomb disposal robot to carry out controlled explosions.

BBC crews in Lebanon have been stopped and told not to use their phones or cameras.

“Everyone is just panicking… We don’t know if we can stay next to our laptops, our phones. Everything seems like a danger at this point, and no-one knows what to do,” one woman, Ghida, told a BBC correspondent.

• ‘We don’t know if our phones are safe’: Lebanon on edge after exploding device attacks

There are several theories as to why the devices were triggered to explode this week.

One is that Israel chose this moment to send a devastating message to Hezbollah, following almost a year of escalating cross-border hostilities after Hezbollah fired rockets at or around northern Israel a day after the Hamas attack of 7 October.

The other is that Israel did not intend to put its plan in motion at this moment, but was forced to after fearing the plot was about to be exposed.

According to US outlet Axios, the original plan was for the pager attack to be the opening salvo of an all-out war as a way to try to cripple Hezbollah’s fighters.

But, it says, after Israel learned that Hezbollah had become suspicious, it chose to carry out the attack early.

US Vice-President Kamala Harris has spoken of her willingness to use her gun if an intruder entered her home.

“If somebody breaks into my house, they’re getting shot,” she said in a jokey exchange during a livestreamed event in Michigan with host Oprah Winfrey on Thursday.

After a laugh, the Democratic presidential nominee continued: “I probably shouldn’t have said that, but my staff will deal with that later.”

Harris, who highlighted during the recent presidential debate that she was a gun-owner, went on to reiterate that she supported a ban on assault weapons.

A firearm of that type was “literally designed to be a tool of war”, she told Winfrey. “It has no place on the streets of a civil society.”

Harris’s opponents have increasingly pointed to Harris’s attitude on guns as being indicative of her shifting policy positions ahead of the November election.

While she stressed her support for an assault weapons ban on Thursday, last week’s ABC News debate moderator noted that the Democrat no longer supported a “buyback” programme that would force gun owners to hand over their AR-15s and other assault-style weapons to the government.

Buyback proposals gained steam during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race, with Harris voicing her support at the time. “We have to have a buyback programme, and I support a mandatory gun buyback programme,” she said in October 2019.

During the presidential debate, Harris did not directly explain why she no longer supported the buyback idea.

Asked by Winfrey to confirm if she had been a gun owner for “a while” herself, Harris replied that she had. She said she was was a supporter of the US Second Amendment, which protects the right to gun ownership.

But Harris stressed that she wanted tighter gun laws.

She went on to set out her case for a ban on assault weapons, citing America’s problem with school shootings.

It was “bone-chilling” for a child to have to go through a drill for such an incident, Harris said. “It doesn’t have to be this way,” she added.

After one of the most recent US mass shootings, a 14-year-old boy has been charged with murdering four people at a high school in Georgia.

During Thursday’s event with Winfrey – who also spoke at last month’s Democratic National Convention – Harris was also questioned on topics including immigration and the economy.

Celebrities including Jennifer Lopez featured in the session, which was watched by about 300,000 people.

• Why Kamala Harris is highlighting her gun ownership
• Boy, 14, and father in court over Georgia school shooting

Harris’s gun ownership has been a matter of public record since 2019, when she said: “I own a gun for probably the reason a lot of people do – for personal safety. I was a career prosecutor.”

But her ownership came to the attention of many in the US – including Winfrey, by her admission – during last week’s presidential head-to-head with Republican rival Donald Trump. It marked the first time the issue had come up in a 2024 debate.

Harris denied a Trump claim that she would “confiscate everybody’s gun” if elected to the White House, pointing out that both she and her running-mate Tim Walz, a hunting enthusiast, had firearms of their own.

Trump, too, has also owned three guns, though he had to surrender two of them and face restrictions on the third after facing criminal charges in New York.

Harris also outlined her stance at a recent rally in North Carolina, saying: “We who believe in the freedom to live safe from gun violence will finally pass an assault weapons ban, universal background checks and red-flag laws.”

So-called red-flag laws allow people to apply to a judge to confiscate another person’s gun if they are deemed to be a risk to themselves or others.

• SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote
• EXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide election
• FACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger under Biden or Trump?
• POLICIES: What Harris or Trump would do in power
• POLLS: Who is winning the race for the White House?

India has dismissed a news report claiming the government failed to prevent European buyers from transferring Indian-made artillery shells to Ukraine.

In a story published on Thursday, Reuters alleged that artillery shells sold by Indian arms makers had been diverted by European customers to Ukraine.

The report alleged that the transfer of ammunition has been ongoing for more than a year, with Delhi taking no action to stop it despite repeated protests from Moscow.

India’s foreign ministry has called the report “speculative” and “misleading”.

The report “implies violations by India, where none exist, and hence, is inaccurate and mischievous”, Randhir Jaiswal, the ministry’s spokesperson wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Mr Jaiswal added that India has an “impeccable track record compliance with international obligations” on non-proliferation of arms and has its own robust export rules.

Moscow is yet to react to the report or Delhi’s statement.

Indian arms export regulations restrict the use of weapons to the designated buyer, and any unauthorised transfers could jeopardise future sales. In May, India had announced further tightening of export rules, mandating that buyers ensure the arms are not sent to third countries.

Ukraine, which is battling a renewed offensive from Russia, reportedly grapples with a shortage of artillery ammunition.

Citing unnamed Indian and European government and defence industry officials along with customs data, the Reuters report said that India produced a small amount of the ammunition being used by Ukraine – which is estimated to be under 1% of the total arms imported by Kyiv since the war began in 2021.

Italy and the Czech Republic are among the European countries sending Indian ammunitions to Ukraine, it added.

The report said Moscow had raised the issue with Delhi on at least two occasions, including during a meeting between the foreign ministers of both countries in July.

India has refrained from directly criticising Russia over the war, which has drawn the annoyance of Western powers.

• Ukraine: Why India is not criticising Russia over invasion
• Diplomatic tightrope for Modi as he visits Kyiv after Moscow

Delhi, however, has often spoken about the importance of respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations. It has continuously pushed for diplomacy and dialogue to end the war.

India and Russia have traditionally shared warm relations, and Moscow remains an important trade and defence partner for Delhi despite Western sanctions on Russia.

Last year, Russia was India’s biggest oil supplier. In the defence sector, it continues to be India’s biggest ally, supplying more than 60% of Delhi’s needs.

In July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first bilateral trip to Russia after being elected to his third term, where he referred to President Vladimir Putin as a “dear friend”.

But Modi’s Russia visit invited the ire of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said he was “disappointed to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow”.

Weeks later, Modi visited Ukraine and held talks with Zelensky, which analysts said was in line with India’s famed non-alignment approach to geopolitics.

Police in southern Pakistan have shot dead a doctor accused of blasphemy, drawing condemnation from human rights groups.

Dr Shahnawaz Kanbhar was killed “just by chance” in shootout with officers who did not know it was him, according to a local police chief in Sindh province Niaz Khoso

Dr Kanbhar had gone into hiding on Tuesday after being accused of insulting Islam’s prophet Muhammad and sharing blasphemous content on social media.

He is the second blasphemy suspect in Pakistan to be shot dead in the space of a week.

According to a police report, officers in the city of Mirpur Khas had tried to stop two men riding on a motorcycle on Wednesday, in order to search their vehicle.

Instead of complying, the report says, one of the men opened fire. A gun battle ensued, in which Dr Kanbhar was killed.

It was only after the shootout that officers learned that the man they had shot was Dr Kanbhar, according to Khoso, the local police chief. The second person on the motorcycle escaped.

Another police official, Khas Asad Chaudhry, told BBC Urdu that Dr Kanbhar was accidentally shot by his companion on the motorcycle.

However, a relative of Dr Kanbhar has told BBC Urdu that he was killed in a “fake encounter” – something which local police deny.

The Interior Minister for Sindh province Zia-ul-Hasan Linjar has ordered an independent inquiry into Dr Kanbhar’s death.

The killing of Dr Kanbhar comes a week after an officer opened fire inside a police station in the south-western city of Quetta, fatally wounding another suspect who was being held on accusations of blasphemy.

The deaths have drawn strong condemnation from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), which said it was “gravely concerned by the alleged extrajudicial killing of two people accused of blasphemy.”

“This pattern of violence in cases of blasphemy, in which law enforcement personnel are allegedly involved, is an alarming trend,” it said in a statement issued on Friday.

Dr Kanbhar was shot dead a day after Islamists in nearby Umerkot staged a protest demanding his arrest and burned down his clinic.

His relatives told BBC Urdu that they had to travel for miles to bury his body, after having been blocked by local people and officials.

The incident in Sindh province comes a week after an officer opened fire inside a police station in the south-western city of Quetta, fatally wounding another suspect held on accusations of blasphemy.

The man had been arrested last Wednesday after officers rescued him from an enraged mob that claimed he had insulted Muhammad.

However, the man’s family and tribe said they forgave the officer and that the man had hurt the sentiments of Muslims by insulting Muhammad, according to local media reports.

Though killings of blasphemy suspects by mobs are common, such killings by police are rare in Pakistan.

Accusations, or even simply rumours, of blasphemy spark rioting and rampage by mobs that can escalate into killings.

Under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can be sentenced to death – though authorities have yet to carry out a death sentence for blasphemy.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in attacks on blasphemy suspects in recent years.

In June, a mob broke into a police station in the north-western town of Madyan, snatched a detainee who was a tourist, and then killed him over allegations that he had desecrated Islam’s holy book.

More than 70,000 people fighting in Russia’s military have now died in Ukraine, according to data analysed by the BBC.

And for the first time, volunteers – civilians who joined the armed forces after the start of the war – now make up the highest number of people killed on the battlefield since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.

Every day, the names of those killed in Ukraine, their obituaries and photographs from their funerals are published across Russia in the media and on social networks.

BBC Russian and the independent website Mediazona have collated these names, along with names from other open sources, including official reports.

We checked that the information had been shared by authorities or relatives of the deceased – and that they had been identified as dying in the war.

New graves in cemeteries have also helped provide the names of soldiers killed in Ukraine – these are usually marked by flags and wreaths sent by the defence ministry.

We have identified the names of 70,112 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, but the actual number is believed to be considerably higher. Some families do not share details of their relatives’ deaths publicly – and our analysis does not include names we were unable to check, or the deaths of militia in Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

Among them, 13,781 were volunteers – about 20% – and fatalities among volunteers now exceed other categories. Former prisoners, who joined up in return for pardons for their crimes, were previously the highest but they now account for 19% of all confirmed deaths. Mobilised soldiers – citizens called up to fight – account for 13%.

Since October last year, weekly fatalities of volunteers have not dipped below 100 – and, in some weeks, we have recorded more than 310 volunteer deaths.

As for Ukraine – it rarely comments on the scale of its deaths on the battlefield. In February, its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, but estimates based on US intelligence suggest greater losses.

The story of Rinat Khusniyarov is typical of many of the volunteer soldiers who died. He was from Ufa in Bashkortostan and had been working two jobs to make ends meet – at a tram depot and a plywood factory. He was 62 years old when he signed his contract with the Russian army in November last year.

He survived less than three months of fighting and was killed on 27 February. His obituary, in a local online memorial website, simply called him “a hardworking, decent man”.

According to the data we analysed, most of the men signing up come from small towns in parts of Russia where stable, well-paid work is hard to find.

Most appear to have joined up willingly, although some in the republic of Chechnya have told human rights activists and lawyers of coercion and threats.

Some of the volunteers have said they did not understand the contracts they were signing had no end date, and have since approached pro-Kremlin journalists to, unsuccessfully, ask them for help ending their service.

Salaries in the military can be five to seven times higher than average wages in less affluent parts of the country, plus soldiers get social benefits, including free childcare and tax breaks. One-off payments for people who sign up have also repeatedly risen in value in many parts of Russia.

Most of the volunteers dying at the front are aged between 42 and 50. They number 4,100 men in our list of more than 13,000 volunteers. The oldest volunteer killed was 71 years old – a total of 250 volunteers above the age of 60 have died in the war.

Soldiers have told the BBC that rising casualties among volunteers are, in part, down to their deployment to the most operationally challenging areas on the front line, notably in the Donetsk region in the east, where they form the backbone of reinforcements for depleted units, Russian soldiers told the BBC.

Russia’s “meat grinder” strategy continues unabated, according to Russian soldiers we have spoken to. The term has been used to describe the way Moscow sends waves of soldiers forward relentlessly to try to wear down Ukrainian forces and expose their locations to Russian artillery. Drone footage shared online shows Russian forces attacking Ukrainian positions with little or no equipment or support from artillery or military vehicles.

Sometimes, hundreds of men have been killed on a single day. In recent weeks, the Russian military have made desperate, but unsuccessful, attempts to seize the eastern Ukrainian towns of Chasiv Yar and Pokrovsk with such tactics.

An official study by the primary military medical directorate of the Russian defence ministry says that 39% of soldiers’ deaths are a result of limb injuries and that mortality rates would be significantly improved if first aid and subsequent medical care were better.

The Russian government’s actions suggests it is keen to avoid forcing people to fight through a new, official wave of mobilisation – instead, it is ramping up calls for service volunteers, along with the incentives to do so.

Remarks by regional officials in local parliaments suggest they have been tasked from the top with trying to recruit people from their local districts. They advertise on job vacancy websites, contact men who have debt and bailiff problems, and conduct recruitment campaigns in higher education establishments.

Since 2022, convicted prisoners have also been encouraged to join up in return for their release, but now a new policy means people facing criminal prosecution can accept a deal to go to war instead of facing trial in court. In return, their cases are frozen and potentially dropped altogether.

A small number of the volunteers killed have been from other countries. We have identified the names of 272 such men, many of whom were from Central Asia – 47 from Uzbekistan, 51 from Tajikistan, and 26 from Kyrgyzstan.

Last year saw reports of Russia recruiting people in Cuba, Iraq, Yemen and Serbia. Foreigners already living in Russia without valid work permits or visas, who agree to “work for the state”, are promised they will not be deported and are offered a simplified route to citizenship if they survive the war. Many have later complained that they did not understand the paperwork – as with Russian citizens, they have turned to the media for help.

The governments of India and Nepal have called on Moscow to stop sending their citizens to Ukraine and repatriate the bodies of the dead. So far, the calls have not been acted upon.

Many new recruits who have joined the military have criticised the training they have received. A man who signed a contract with the Russian army in November last year told the BBC he had been promised two weeks of training at a shooting range before deployment to the front.

“In reality, people were just thrown out onto the parade ground, and dished out some gear,” he said, adding the equipment was poorly made.

“We were loaded on to trains, then trucks, and sent to the front. About half of us were thrown into battle straight from the road. As a result, some people went from the recruitment office to the front line in just a week,” he said.

Samuel Cranny-Evans, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute in the UK says: “Basic understanding of things like camouflage and concealment or how to move quietly at night, how to move without creating a profile for yourself during the day,” should be taught as basic infantry skills.

Another soldier also told the BBC that equipment is a problem, saying it “varies, but most often it’s some random set of uniforms, standard boots that wear out within a day, and a kit bag with a label showing it was made in the mid-20th Century”.

“A random bulletproof vest and a cheap helmet. It’s impossible to fight in this. If you want to survive, you have to buy your own equipment.”

A recent report, which details poor working conditions and rampant sexual harassment faced by women in Malayalam-language cinema, is causing seismic upheavals in the entertainment industry in India.

But the messages of solidarity and support have come largely from women – and critics say the silence of powerful men, including India’s biggest and most loved stars, is deafening.

Based on testimonies from 51 people from the Kerala-based film industry, the Hema Committee report lays bare decades of exploitation and says that “women have been asked to make themselves available for sex on demand” and that they were constantly told to make “compromise and adjustments” if they wanted work.

The panel was set up in 2017 after Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), formed by a group of women working in the Malayalam cinema, petitioned the government after a top actress was sexually assaulted by a group of men allegedly at the behest of a top male actor.

Their 290-page report was released last month, with chunks redacted to hide the identities of the survivors and those accused of harassment.

But since its release on 19 August, several women have publicly spoken up about their ordeal and more than a dozen police complaints have been lodged against male stars, producers, directors and other influential men.

The state government has set up a special investigation team (SIT) to look into the allegations and the Kerala high court has asked the SIT to investigate the instances mentioned in the report, raising hopes that the survivors may after all get justice.

Women in all Indian film industries, including in the biggest and hugely popular Bollywood, have repeatedly spoken about the casting couch – the practice of men asking for sexual favours in return for roles – and rampant sexual harassment they face.

“The rot is as deep as the ocean across all Indian film industries,” film critic and author Shubhra Gupta told the BBC. “We won’t find a single female performer anywhere in the country who has not suffered. If everyone came out to complain, it will take us many decades to deal with all those complaints.”

The sordid revelations about the extent of the rot in Malayalam cinema have made headlines and the findings have been debated on primetime TV. Deedi Damodaran, a WCC member, told the BBC that the response has been “overwhelming”.

“Some women have now talked about how they had to flee the industry because of the terrible things that happened to them. They have no evidence, but they’ve got some sort of closure by talking about their experiences.”

Many of them, she says, have spoken out despite being trolled and abused on social media.

The report has also created ripples in other film industries, with calls for reform being heard in regional industries based in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.

In Telangana, pressure has grown on the government to publish a report on the Telugu film industry that’s been waiting to see the light of the day for two years. An inquiry was instituted after an upcoming actress, Sri Reddy, protested by stripping down to her undergarments in public in 2018 “to draw attention to the sexual exploitation of women in the industry”.

West Bengal has set up a committee to investigate allegations of sexual abuse in the Bengali film industry, actress Ritabhari Chakraborty has said. This, she added, would “cleanse the industry from predators”.

• A report that exposed the Kerala film industry

Women in Tamil and Kannada cinema have also petitioned their state governments to improve working conditions for them.

Veteran Tamil actress Radhika Sarathkumar told the BBC that the Hema committee report has created a lot of awareness and that “men will be scared now”.

“It’s time women in cinema get together and speak up and stop this nonsense,” she said.

But the lack of support from the men in the industry, says Damodaran, has been disappointing.

Malayalam superstars Mohanlal and Mammootty have welcomed the report but said that nothing should be done to hurt the industry.

“These heroes are worshipped as larger than life beings, but we’re waiting for them to take a heroic stand,” Damodaran told the BBC.

In Tamil Nadu, actor-politicians Kamal Haasan and Vijay’s silence has been noted, while Rajinikanth faced criticism for claiming ignorance of the report 10 days after its release.

“The harassment happens to each of us, how come men don’t know about it? Maybe the male actors compartmentalise, maybe they choose not to see it,” Sarathkumar told the BBC. “It’s very sad that every time the onus in on the women to protect themselves.”

Some have also pointed out that the biggest names in Bollywood – Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar – have chosen to remain silent.

Gupta says their silence may be deafening, but it’s not unexpected. “I would’ve been very surprised if there had been a reaction. We saw what happened in 2018 after the #MeToo movement first started in Bollywood after actress Tanushree Dutta accused an actor of behaving inappropriately towards her on a film set in 2008.”

“For a while, there was a groundswell of support and it seemed that Bollywood would step up and do something about it. But then things were contained. None of the men suffered any consequences, they are all back to doing what they did. In fact, the women who complained didn’t get work.”

A key criticism of Bollywood is that, unlike other industries, none of its leading actresses have addressed gender issues.

Dutta, who received little support from her A-lister peers and has since claimed that she has been denied work, has described the Hema committee report as “useless”, adding that earlier reports about making workplaces safer for women had not helped.

Gupta says one of the reasons why stars don’t speak out could be to avoid trouble for themselves.

“ I think they keep quiet because they know the stakes are high, they are fearful of not getting work in the industry. Remember the time when Aamir Khan or Shahrukh Khan spoke about intolerance? They got trolled heavily and lost out on work.”

Damodaran, however, says the response to the report has given her cause for optimism.

“Film industries in India are deeply patriarchal and misogynistic. But we can’t continue with the kind of sexism and misogyny that women have to face in their workplace. Things are bound to change – and they must.”

The killing of a Japanese schoolboy in the Chinese city of Shenzhen has sparked worry among Japanese expats living in China, with top firms warning their workers to be vigilant.

Toshiba and Toyota have told their staff to take precautions against any possible violence, while Panasonic is offering its employees free flights home.

Japanese authorities have repeated their condemnation of the killing while urging the Chinese government to ensure the safety of their citizens.

The stabbing of the 10-year-old boy on Wednesday was the third high-profile attack on foreigners in China in recent months.

In a statement issued to the BBC, electronics giant Panasonic said it would “prioritise the safety and health of employees” in mainland China in the wake of the latest attack.

Panasonic is allowing employees and their families to temporarily return to Japan at company expense, and is offering a counselling service as well.

Toshiba, which has around 100 employees in China, has urged its workers “to be cautious of their safety”.

The world’s biggest car manufacturer Toyota, meanwhile, told the BBC it was “supporting Japanese expatriates” by providing them with any information they might need on the situation.

Japan’s ambassador to Beijing has also urged the Chinese government to “do its utmost” to ensure the safety of its citizens.

Meanwhile on Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the attack “extremely despicable” and said Tokyo had “strongly urged” Beijing for an explanation “as soon as possible”.

Some Japanese schools in China have contacted parents, putting them on high alert in the wake of the stabbing.

The Guangzhou Japanese School cancelled some activities and warned against speaking Japanese loudly in public.

Some members of the Japanese expatriate community in China have told the BBC they are worried about their children’s safety.

One man, a 53-year-old businessman who has lived in Shenzhen for nearly a decade, said he would be sending his daughter back overseas to university earlier than usual.

“We always considered Shenzhen a safe place to live as it’s relatively open to foreigners, but now we are all more cautious about our safety,” he said.

“Many Japanese people are deeply concerned, and numerous relatives and friends have reached out to check on my safety.”

Chinese officials in Shenzhen said they were “deeply saddened” by the incident and had started installing security cameras near the school by Thursday morning.

“We will continue to take effective measures to protect the life, property, safety and legal rights of everyone in Shenzhen, including foreigners,” they were quoted as saying in the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily on Friday.

An editorial in the state-affiliated newspaper lambasted the suspected killer, saying “this violent behaviour does not represent the quality of ordinary Chinese people”.

On Friday, locals began laying flowers at the gate of the Japanese school in Shenzhen.

“It is really sad. It shouldn’t be like that,” a Shenzhen local told Singaporean news outlet The Straits Times.

Another, a retired teacher, said: “This child, no matter which country he is from, is the hope of a family, and of a nation.”

As Shenzhen reels from the killing, more details have emerged from various news reports and official sources.

The incident happened at around 08:00 local time (00:00 GMT) on Wednesday outside the boy’s school, the Shenzhen Japanese School.

The boy – who Chinese police named only as Shen – was stabbed in the abdomen. He later died from his injuries in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The assailant, a 44-year-old man surnamed Zhong, was arrested on the spot.

He had a criminal record, having been arrested for “damaging public infrastructure” in 2015 and “interfering with public order” in 2019, according to state-controlled media in Shenzhen.

An eyewitness said the suspect did not attempt to conceal his face when carrying out the attack.

“He didn’t run away, but just stood there and was apprehended by the local police guarding the school,” the witness told Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

Chinese authorities have not revealed the exact motive, but have repeatedly called the stabbing an “isolated incident”, as they did for two previous incidents this year.

In June, a man targeted a Japanese mother and her child in the eastern city of Suzhou. That attack was also near a Japanese school and led to the death of a Chinese national who had tried to protect the mother and son.

It prompted the Japanese government to request about $2.5m (£1.9m) to hire security guards for school buses in China.

Earlier in June, four American teachers were stabbed in the northern city of Jilin.

Eyes are now on the Chinese authorities and how they will assure Japanese communities that they are safe in China, while ensuring this does not turn into a major diplomatic crisis.

Ties between the two countries have long been acrimonious. For decades the two sides have clashed on a number of issues, ranging from historical grievances to territorial disputes.

Some have pointed out that the stabbing happened on the anniversary of the notorious Mukden Incident, when Japan faked an explosion to justify its invasion of Manchuria in 1931, triggering a 14-year war with China.

A former Japanese diplomat said Wednesday’s attack in Shenzhen was the “result of long years of anti-Japan education” in Chinese schools.

While diplomatic relations may often be strained, economic cooperation has always had a parallel steady existence, according to Japanese diplomats who have spoken to the BBC.

But the fact the attack took place in the cosmopolitan tech hub of Shenzhen may make both sides nervous.

Top Japanese firms in China warning their staff may raise questions about their presence there and what that might mean for economic relations between Tokyo and Beijing.

“One village, two countries” used to be the tagline for Yinjing on China’s south-western edge.

An old tourist sign boasts of a border with Myanmar made of just “bamboo fences, ditches and earth ridges” – a sign of the easy economic relationship Beijing had sought to build with its neighbour.

Now the border the BBC visited is marked by a high, metal fence running through the county of Ruili in Yunnan province. Topped by barbed wire and surveillance cameras in some places, it cuts through rice fields and carves up once-adjoined streets.

China’s tough pandemic lockdowns forced the separation initially. But it has since been cemented by the intractable civil war in Myanmar, triggered by a bloody coup in 2021. The military regime is now fighting for control in large swathes of the country, including Shan State along China’s border, where it has suffered some of its biggest losses.

The crisis at its doorstep – a nearly 2,000km (1,240-mile) border – is becoming costly for China, which has invested millions of dollars in Myanmar for a critical trade corridor.

The ambitious plan aims to connect China’s landlocked south-west to the Indian Ocean via Myanmar. But the corridor has become a battleground between Myanmar rebels and the country’s army.

Beijing has sway over both sides but the ceasefire it brokered in January fell apart. It has now turned to military exercises along the border and stern words. Foreign Minister Wang Yi was the latest diplomat to visit Myanmar’s capital Nay Pyi Taw and is thought to have delivered a warning to the country’s ruler Min Aung Hlaing.

Conflict is not new to impoverished Shan State. Myanmar’s biggest state is a major source of the world’s opium and and methamphetamine, and home to ethnic armies long opposed to centralised rule.

But the vibrant economic zones created by Chinese investment managed to thrive – until the civil war.

A loudspeaker now warns people in Ruili not to get too close to the fence – but that doesn’t stop a Chinese tourist from sticking his arm between the bars of a gate to take a selfie.

Two girls in Disney T-shirts shout through the bars – “hey grandpa, hello, look over here!” – as they lick pink scoops of ice cream. The elderly man shuffling barefoot on the other side barely looks up before he turns away.

“Burmese people live like dogs,” says Li Mianzhen. Her corner stall sells food and drinks from Myanmar – like milk tea – in a small market just steps from the border checkpoint in Ruili city.

Li, who looks to be in her 60s, used to sell Chinese clothes across the border in Muse, a major source of trade with China. But she says almost no-one in her town has enough money any more.

Myanmar’s military junta still controls the town, one of its last remaining holdouts in Shan State. But rebel forces have taken other border crossings and a key trading zone on the road to Muse.

The situation has made people desperate, Li says. She knows of some who have crossed the border to earn as little as 10 yuan – about one pound and not much more than a dollar – so that they can go back to Myanmar and “feed their families”.

The war has severely restricted travel in and out of Myanmar, and most accounts now come from those who have fled or have found ways to move across the borders, such as Li.

Unable to get the work passes that would allow them into China, Li’s family is stuck in Mandalay, as rebel forces edge closer to Myanmar’s second-largest city.

“I feel like I am dying from anxiety,” Li says. “This war has brought us so much misfortune. At what point will all of this end?”

Thirty-one-year-old Zin Aung (name changed) is among those who made it out. He works in an industrial park on the outskirts of Ruili, which produces clothes, electronics and vehicle parts that are shipped across the world.

Workers like him are recruited in large numbers from Myanmar and flown here by Chinese government-backed firms eager for cheap labour. Estimates suggest they earn about 2,400 yuan ($450; £340) a month, which is less than their Chinese colleagues.

“There is nothing for us to do in Myanmar because of the war,” Zin Aung says. “Everything is expensive. Rice, cooking oil. Intensive fighting is going on everywhere. Everyone has to run.”

His parents are too old to run, so he did. He sends home money whenever he can.

The men live and work on the few square kilometres of the government-run compound in Ruili. Zin Aung says it is a sanctuary, compared with what they left behind: “The situation in Myanmar is not good, so we are taking refuge here.”

He also escaped compulsory conscription, which the Myanmar army has been enforcing to make up for defections and battlefield losses.

As the sky turned scarlet one evening, Zin Aung ran barefoot through the cloying mud onto a monsoon-soaked pitch, ready for a different kind of battle – a fiercely fought game of football.

Burmese, Chinese and the local Yunnan dialect mingled as vocal spectators reacted to every pass, kick and shot. The agony over a missed goal was unmistakable. This is a daily affair in their new, temporary home, a release after a 12-hour shift on the assembly line.

Many of the workers are from Lashio, the largest town in Shan State, and Laukkaing, home to junta-backed crime families – Laukkaing fell to rebel forces in January and Lashio was encircled, in a campaign which has changed the course of the war and China’s stake in it.

Both towns lie along China’s prized trade corridor and the Beijing-brokered ceasefire left Lashio in the hands of the junta. But in recent weeks rebel forces have pushed into the town – their biggest victory to date. The military has responded with bombing raids and drone attacks, restricting internet and mobile phone networks.

“The fall of Lashio is one of the most humiliating defeats in the military’s history,” says Richard Horsey, Myanmar adviser to the International Crisis Group.

“The only reason the rebel groups didn’t push into Muse is they likely feared it would upset China,” Mr Horsey says. “Fighting there would have impacted investments China has hoped to restart for months. The regime has lost control of almost all northern Shan state – with the exception of Muse region, which is right next to Ruili.”

Ruili and Muse, both designated as special trade zones, are crucial to the Beijing-funded 1,700km trade route, known as the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor. The route also supports Chinese investments in energy, infrastructure and rare earth mining critical for manufacturing electric vehicles.

But at its heart is a railway line that will connect Kunming – the capital of Yunnan province – to Kyaukphyu, a deep sea port the Chinese are building on Myanmar’s western coast.

The port, along the Bay of Bengal, would give industries in and beyond Ruili access to the Indian Ocean and then global markets. The port is also the starting point for oil and gas pipelines that will transport energy via Myanmar to Yunnan.

But these plans are now in jeopardy.

President Xi Jinping had spent years cultivating ties with his resource-rich neighbour when the country’s elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi was forced from power.

Mr Xi refused to condemn the coup and continued to sell the army weapons. But he also did not recognise Min Aung Hlaing as head of state, nor has he invited him to China.

Three years on, the war has killed thousands and displaced millions, but no end is in sight.

Forced to fight on new fronts, the army has since lost between half and two-thirds of Myanmar to a splintered opposition.

Beijing is at an impasse. It “doesn’t like this situation” and sees Myanmar’s military ruler Min Aung Hlaing as “incompetent”, Mr Horsey says. “They are pushing for elections, not because they necessarily want a return to democratic rule, but more because they think this is a way back.”

Myanmar’s regime suspects Beijing of playing both sides – keeping up the appearance of supporting the junta while continuing to maintain a relationship with ethnic armies in Shan State.

Analysts note that many of the rebel groups are using Chinese weapons. The latest battles are also a resurgence of last year’s campaign launched by three ethnic groups which called themselves the Brotherhood Alliance. It is thought that the alliance would not have made its move without Beijing’s tacit approval.

Its gains on the battlefield spelled the end for notorious mafia families whose scam centres had trapped thousands of Chinese workers. Long frustrated over the increasing lawlessness along its border, Beijing welcomed their downfall – and the tens of thousands of suspects who were handed over by the rebel forces.

For Beijing the worst-case scenario is the civil war dragging on for years. But it would also fear a collapse of the military regime, which might herald further chaos.

How China will react to either scenario is not yet clear – what is also unclear is what more Beijing can do beyond pressuring both sides to agree to peace talks.

That predicament is evident in Ruili with its miles of shuttered shops. A city that once benefited from its location along the border is now feeling the fallout from its proximity to Myanmar.

Battered by some of China’s strictest lockdowns, businesses here took another hit when cross-border traffic and trade did not revive.

They also rely on labour from the other side, which has stopped, according to several agents who help Burmese workers find jobs. They say China has tightened its restrictions on hiring workers from across the border, and has also sent back hundreds who were said to be working illegally.

The owner of a small factory, who did not want to be identified, told the BBC that the deportations meant “his business isn’t going anywhere… and there’s nothing I can change”.

The square next to the checkpoint is full of young workers, including mothers with their babies, waiting in the shade. They lay out their paperwork to make sure they have what they need to secure a job. The successful ones are given a pass which allows them to work for up to a week, or come and go between the two countries, like Li.

“I hope some good people can tell all sides to stop fighting,” Li says. “If there is no-one in the world speaking up for us, it is really tragic.”

She says she is often assured by those around her that fighting won’t break out too close to China. But she is unconvinced: “No-one can predict the future.”

For now, Ruili is a safer option for her and Zin Aung. They understand that their future is in Chinese hands, as do the Chinese.

“Your country is at war,” a Chinese tourist tells a Myanmar jade seller he is haggling with at the market. “You just take what I give you.”

A man has admitted possessing extreme pornography involving sexual acts with a tortoise.

James Owen, 30, from Llanfechell, Anglesey, also pleaded guilty to having an indecent image of a child in the most serious category of child sexual abuse.

A Metropolitan Police investigation into another paedophile led police to Owen, who had received a category A child abuse photograph, Caernarfon Magistrates’ Court heard.

His electronic devices were seized from his home, uncovering four pictures and 24 videos of a person performing sexually with a live animal.

Owen was told he must now register with the police as a sex offender, after being released on bail.

He is due to be sentenced at Caernarfon Crown Court in October.

A team of student volunteers on an archaeological dig in northern France has had a surprise communication from the past.

Sifting through the remains of a Gaulish village on cliff-tops near Dieppe on Monday, they uncovered an earthenware pot containing a small glass flask.

“It was the kind of vial that women used to wear round their necks containing smelling-salts,” said team-leader Guillaume Blondel, who heads the archaeological service for the town of Eu.

Inside the bottle was a message on paper, rolled up and tied with string.

On Tuesday evening, Mr Blondel opened the paper – which read as follows:

“P.J Féret, a native of Dieppe, member of various intellectual societies, carried out excavations here in January 1825. He continues his investigations in this vast area known as the or .”

Féret was a local notable, and municipal records confirm that he conducted a first dig at the site 200 years ago.

“It was an absolutely magic moment,” said Mr Blondel. “We knew there had been excavations here in the past, but to find this message from 200 years ago… it was a total surprise.

“Sometimes you see these time capsules left behind by carpenters when they build houses. But it’s very rare in archaeology. Most archaeologists prefer to think that there won’t be anyone coming after them because they’ve done all the work!”

The emergency dig was ordered because of cliff erosion at the spot just north of Dieppe. Already, a substantial part of the oppidum – or fortified village – has disappeared.

Mr Blondel said: “We knew it was a Gaulish village. What we don’t know is what went on inside the village. Was it a place of importance?”

In the week since the dig began, several artefacts dating from the Gaulish period – mostly pieces of pottery from around 2,000 years ago – have been uncovered.