Kamala Harris has released her medical records, which concluded she is in “excellent health” and fit for the presidency.

Following the disclosure, the Democratic Party’s nominee to be the next US president accused Donald Trump of a lack of transparency over not releasing his own health records.

The vice-president also claimed her Republican rival “doesn’t want the American people to see whether or not he’s fit to become president”.

Without revealing Trump’s medical records, the former president’s team responded by quoting his doctor as saying that he was in “perfect and excellent health”.

The Trump campaign said the Republican nominee had a “extremely busy and active campaign schedule” and claimed Harris “does not have the stamina of President Trump”.

The trading of barbs came after the White House published a medical report that said Vice-President Harris “possesses the physical and mental resiliency” necessary to serve as president.

Dr Joshua Simmons, a US Army colonel who has been Harris’ physician for over three years, wrote that her most recent physical in April was “unremarkable” – adding that she maintains a healthy and active lifestyle.

He also noted she has a family history of colon cancer and suffers from allergies – going on to say she keeps up recommended preventative care, including having colonoscopy and annual mammograms.

Following the release of the medical records, a Harris campaign spokesman said in a post on social media: “your turn, Donald Trump”.

Ahead of a campaign event in North Carolina, Harris also sought to cast doubt on her rival’s mental acuity and how he “goes off on tangents”.

Democrats have been on the attack about the 78-year-old Trump’s age and mental fitness, after months of Republicans directing similar criticisms at President Joe Biden before he exited the race.

If elected president again in November, Trump would end his second term as the oldest serving president in US history at 82 – albeit a record that would be shared with Biden, who will be the same age when he leaves office in January.

In response to the pressure from the Harris camp, the Trump’s campaign’s communications director Steven Cheung said he had “voluntarily released” updates from his personal physician and the doctor who treated him after the assassination attempt against him this summer in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“All have concluded he is in perfect and excellent health to be Commander in Chief,” Cheung added.

He also cited a November 2023 medical letter that said Trump’s “physical exams were well within the normal range and his cognitive exams were exceptional”.

National polls suggest Harris remains slightly ahead of Trump but the numbers in battleground states are extremely close.

On Saturday morning, a message was posted on social media by the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesman warning people living in the ‘D5’ area of northern Gaza to move south. D5 is a square on the grid superimposed over maps of Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It is a block that is split into several dozen smaller areas.

The message, the latest in a series, said: “The IDF is operating with great force against the terrorist organisations and will continue to do so for a long time. The designated area, including the shelters located there, is considered a dangerous combat zone. The area must be evacuated immediately via Salah al-Din Road to the humanitarian area.”

A map is attached with a large yellow arrow pointing from block D5 down to the south of Gaza. Salah al-Din Road is the main north-south route. The message is not promising a swift return to the places people have been living in, an area that has been pulverised by a year of repeated Israeli attacks. The heart of the message is that the IDF will be using “great force… for a long time”. In other words, don’t expect to come back any time soon.

The humanitarian area designated by Israel in the message is al-Mawasi, previously an agricultural area on the coast near Rafah. It is overcrowded and no safer than many other parts of Gaza. BBC Verify has tracked at least 18 airstrikes on the area.

Hamas has sent out its own messages to the 400,000 people left in northern Gaza, an area that was once the urban heartland of the Strip with a population of 1.4m. Hamas is telling them not to move. The south, they are told, is just as dangerous. As well as that, Hamas is warning them that they will not be allowed back.

Many people appear to be staying put, despite Israeli airstrikes and artillery bombardments. When I went down to an area overlooking northern Gaza I could hear explosions and see columns of smoke rising. The intensity reminded me of the first months of the war.

Some of the people who have stayed in northern Gaza when so many others have already fled south are doing so to remain with vulnerable relatives. Others are from families with connections to Hamas. Under the laws of war, that does not automatically make them belligerents.

One tactic that has been used over the last year by civilians who want to avoid IDF operations without taking their chances in the overcrowded and dangerous south of Gaza is to move elsewhere in the north, for example from Beit Hanoun to Gaza City, while the IDF is operating near their homes or shelters. When the army moves on, they return.

The IDF is trying to stop that happening, according to BBC colleagues who are daily contact with Palestinians in Gaza. It is channelling families who are moving in one direction only, down Salah al-Din, the main road to the south.

Israel does not allow journalists to enter Gaza to report the war, except for brief, rare and closely supervised trips with the IDF. Palestinian journalists who were there on 7 October still do brave work. The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 128 Palestinian media workers in Gaza have been killed since the war began. In northern Gaza, since Israel went back on the offensive, they have been filming panic-stricken families as they flee, often with small children helping out by carrying oversized backpacks.

One of them sent out a brief interview with a woman called Manar al-Bayar who was rushing down the street carrying a toddler. She was saying as she half-walked, half-ran on the way out of Jabalia refugee camp that “they told us we had five minutes to leave the Fallujah school. Where do we go? In southern Gaza there are assassinations. In western Gaza they’re shelling people. Where do we go, oh God? God is our only chance.”

The journey is hard. Sometimes, Palestinians in Gaza say, people on the move are fired on by the IDF. It insists that Israeli soldiers observe strict rules of engagement that respect international humanitarian law.

But Medical Aid for Palestinians’ head of protection, Liz Allcock, says the evidence presented by wounded civilians suggest that they have been targeted.

“When we’re receiving patients in hospitals, a large number of those women and children and people of, if you like, non-combatant age are receiving direct shots to the head, to the spine, to the limbs, very indicative of the direct targeted attack.”

Once again, the UN and aid agencies who work in Gaza are saying that Israeli military pressure is deepening what is already a humanitarian catastrophe.

Desperate messages are being relayed from the remaining hospitals in northern Gaza, saying that they are running low on fuel to power the generators that keep the hospitals going, and keep badly wounded patients alive. Some hospitals report that their buildings have been attacked by the Israelis.

The suspicion among Palestinians, the UN and relief agencies is that the IDF is gradually adopting some or all of a new tactic to clear northern Gaza known as the “Generals’ Plan”. It was proposed by a group of retired senior officers led by Maj-Gen (ret) Giora Eiland, who is a former national security adviser.

Like most Israelis they are frustrated and angry that a year into the war Israel still has not achieved its war aims of destroying Hamas and freeing the hostages. The Generals’ Plan is a new idea that its instigators believe can, from Israel’s perspective, break the deadlock.

At its heart is the idea that Israel can force the surrender of Hamas and its leader Yahya Sinwar by increasing the pressure on the entire population of the north. The first step is to order civilians to leave along evacuation corridors that will take them south of Wadi Gaza, an east-west stream that has become a dividing line in Gaza since the Israeli invasion last October.

Giora Eiland believes Israel should have done a deal straight away to get the hostages back, even if it meant pulling out of Gaza entirely. A year later, other methods, he says, are necessary.

In his office in central Israel, he laid out the heart of the plan.

“Since we already encircled the northern part of Gaza in the past nine or 10 months, what we should do is the following thing to tell all the 300,000 residents [that the UN estimates is 400,000] who still live in the northern part of Gaza that they have to leave this area and they should be given 10 days to leave through safe corridors that Israel will provide.

“And after that time, all this area will become to be a military zone. And all the Hamas people will still, though, whether some of them are fighters, some of them are civilians… will have two choices either to surrender or to starve.”

Eiland wants Israel to seal the areas once the evacuation corridors are closed. Anyone left behind would be treated as an enemy combatant. The area would be under siege, with the army blocking all supplies of food, water or other necessities of life from going in. He believes the pressure would become unbearable and what is left of Hamas would rapidly crumble, freeing the surviving hostages and giving Israel the victory it craves.

The UN World Food Programme says that the current offensive in Gaza is having a “disastrous impact on food security for thousands of Palestinian families”. The main crossings into northern Gaza, it says, have been closed and no food aid has entered the strip since 1 October. Mobile kitchens and bakeries have been forced to stop work because of air strikes. The only functioning bakery in the north, which is supported by WFP, caught fire after it was hit by an explosive munition. The position in the south is almost as dire.

It is not clear whether the IDF has adopted the Generals’ Plan in part or in full, but the circumstantial evidence of what is being done in Gaza suggests it is at the very least a strong influence on the tactics being used against the population. The BBC submitted a list of questions to the IDF, which were not answered.

The ultra-nationalist extremists in Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet want to replace Palestinians in northern Gaza with Jewish settlers. Among many statements he’s made on the subject, the finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has said “Our heroic fighters and soldiers are destroying the evil of Hamas, and we will occupy the Gaza Strip… to tell the truth, where there is no settlement, there is no security.”

It was a phone call that ended a decades-long wait – of 56 years and eight months, to be precise.

The caller, from a police station in Pathanamthitta district in the southern Indian state of Kerala, gave unexpected news to Thomas Thomas – the body of his elder brother, Thomas Cherian, had finally been found.

Cherian, an army craftsman, was among 102 passengers on board an Indian Air Force aircraft that crashed in the Himalayas in 1968 after encountering severe weather conditions.

The plane went off the radar while it was flying over the Rohtang pass, which links the northern state of Himachal Pradesh to Indian-administered Kashmir.

For years, the IAF AN-12 aircraft was listed as missing and its fate remained a mystery.

Then in 2003, a team of mountaineers found the body of one of the passengers.

In the years since then, army search expeditions discovered eight more bodies and in 2019, the wreckage of the plane was recovered from the mountains.

A few days ago, the 1968 crash once again made headlines when the army recovered four bodies, including that of Cherian.

When the news reached the family, it felt like “the suffocation of 56 years had suddenly evaporated”, Mr Thomas told BBC Hindi.

“I was finally able to breathe again,” he says.

Cherian, the second of five children, was just 22 years old when he went missing. He had boarded the aircraft to get to his first field posting in the Himalayan region of Leh.

It was only in 2003, when the first body was found, that his status was moved from missing to dead.

“Our father died in 1990 and our mother in 1998, both waiting for news about their missing son,” says Mr Thomas.

Altogether, only 13 bodies have been recovered until now from the site of the crash.

Harsh weather conditions and the icy terrain of the region make it hard for search teams to carry out expeditions there.

The bodies of Cherian and three others – Narayan Singh, Malkan Singh and Munshiram – were found 16,000ft above sea level near the Dhaka glacier. The latest operation was jointly conducted by the Dogra Scouts – a unit of the Indian army’s Dogra regiment – and members of the Tiranga Mountain Rescue.

Officials used satellite imagery, a Recco radar and drones to locate the bodies, says Colonel Lalit Palaria, commanding officer of the Dogra Scouts.

The Recco radar, which can detect metallic objects buried in the snow at depths of about 20m, identified debris from the aircraft in the area.

The team then manually dug through the wreckage and found one body.

Three more bodies were recovered from within the crevasses of the glacier.

It was the nametag on Cherian’s uniform – “Thomas C”, with only the C of his surname visible – along with a document in his pocket that helped officials identify him.

His family says that while the grief of losing him could never fade, they are relieved to finally get some closure.

On 3 October, officials handed over Cherian’s coffin, draped in the Indian flag, to his family. A funeral service was held at a church in their village Elanthoor, a day later.

Mr Thomas says that through all the years of waiting, army officials had told them that the search was still on and that they would let them know when they found Cherian’s body.

“We really appreciate that they kept us posted all these years,” he says, adding that many other members of the extended family had joined the armed forces even after Cherian’s disappearance.

Like the Odalil family, the relatives of the other soldiers whose bodies were found recently are also dealing with the grief and relief. Many of their closest relatives, including parents and spouses, died waiting for news of them.

In the northern state of Uttarakhand, Jaiveer Singh is still processing the news. He also received his uncle Narayan Singh’s body in early October.

Years after Narayan Singh went missing, his family lost hope. So with their consent, Singh’s wife, Basanti Devi, began a new life with one of his cousins. Jaiveer Singh was one of the children born of that relationship.

He says that for years, his mother held on to hopes of Narayan Singh’s return. She died in 2011.

“I don’t even have a photo of my uncle as a memory,” he says.

Scotland’s former First Minister Alex Salmond has died suddenly at the age of 69.

The former MP and MSP, who led the country between 2007 and 2014, became ill while attending an international conference in North Macedonia.

The North Macedonian government said Mr Salmond had lost consciousness at the Inex Olgica hotel, near the city of Ohrid, at about 15:30 local time on Saturday.

Local media reports said he collapsed during a lunch and was pronounced dead at the scene. The Alba party, which he led, believe the cause of death to be a heart attack, according to the Press Association news agency.

Tributes have poured in from across the policital spectrum, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer describing him as being a “monumental figure of Scottish and UK politics”.

Salmond’s succcessor as first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said he had been her mentor and that “for more than a decade we formed one of the most successful partnerships in UK politics”.

King Charles said he and the Queen were “greatly saddened” to hear of Salmond’s sudden death, adding: “His devotion to Scotland drove his decades of public service

“We extend our deep condolences to his family and loved ones at this time”.

Salmond led the pro-independence side ahead of the referendum in 2014, and resigned as first minister after Scottish voters backed remaining in the UK by 55% to 45%.

He had led the SNP to power when they won the Scottish Parliament election in 2007, having previously been the party’s leader between 1990 and 2000.

Salmond, Scotland’s first pro-independence first minister, then led the SNP to an unprecedented majority in the election four years later – which paved the way for the referendum to be held.

Under his leadership, the Scottish government also introduced popular policies including free NHS prescriptions and free university tuition fees for Scottish students.

After quitting as first minister, he had a spectacular fallout with Sturgeon over her government’s mishandling of harassment complaints against him.

Salmond was also cleared of serious sexual offence charges after a trial in Edinburgh in 2020.

He had been charged with 13 offences, including attempted rape, but was acquitted of all of the charges against him after two weeks of evidence at the High Court.

The women who made the allegations against Salmond – which dated back to his time as first minister – had included an SNP politician, a party worker and several current and former Scottish government civil servants and officials.

During his evidence to the court, he said the claims made about his alleged conduct were “deliberate fabrications for a political purpose” or “exaggerations”.

In his closing speech to the jury, Salmond’s lawyer said the former first minister “could certainly have been a better man” but had not committed any crimes.

After quitting the SNP, Salmond set up an alternative independence supporting party, called Alba, of which he was the leader.

He also hosted his own show on the controversial Russian broadcaster RT, but suspended it following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Alba has approached the UK foreign office for help in returning Salmond’s body to the UK.

Its deputy leader Kenny MacAskill described Salmond as being “the outstanding Scottish politician not just of his generation but for generations far before” and said he had “possessed extraordinary charm and a common touch which endeared him to so many in Scotland”.

Paying tribute to her former political mentor, Sturgeon said she was “shocked and sorry” to learn of Salmond’s death.

She added: “Obviously, I cannot pretend that the events of the past few years which led to the breakdown of our relationship did not happen, and it would not be right for me to try.

“However, it remains the fact that for many years Alex was an incredibly significant figure in my life.

“He was my mentor, and for more than a decade we formed one of the most successful partnerships in UK politics.”

First Minister John Swinney said he was “deeply shocked and saddened” at the news and extended his condolences to Salmond’s wife Moira and his family.

Swinney added: “Alex worked tirelessly and fought fearlessly for the country that he loved and for her Independence.

“He took the Scottish National Party from the fringes of Scottish politics into government and led Scotland so close to becoming an independent country.”

Former First Minister Humza Yousaf said he and Salmond had “obviously had our differences in the last few years”, but praised the “enormous contribution he made to Scottish and UK politics”.

The Scottish Parliament has lowered its flags as a mark of respect to Salmond.

Salmond was born on Hogmanay 1954 in Linlithgow and went on to study economic and medieval history at the University of St Andrews, where he joined the SNP almost immediately after arriving in 1973.

He later worked as an assistant economist for the UK government’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland before moving on to the Royal Bank of Scotland, where he worked for seven years as an economist, eventually coming to specialise in oil and gas.

He served as the SNP MP for Banff and Buchan between 1987 and 2010 and was elected as party leader in 1990.

Salmond was elected to the Scottish Parliament when it was created in 1999, but stood down as party leader a year later before returning as leader in 2004.

Sir Keir Starmer described Salmond as being a “monumental figure of Scottish and UK politics”.

The prime minister added: “As first minister of Scotland he cared deeply about Scotland’s heritage, history and culture, as well as the communities he represented as MP and MSP over many years of service.

“My thoughts are with those who knew him, his family and his loved ones. On behalf of the UK government, I offer them our condolences today.”

Starmer’s predecessor as prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said: “Alex Salmond was a huge figure in our politics.

“While I disagreed with him on the constitutional question, there was no denying his skill in debate or his passion for politics. May he rest in peace.”

Israeli army vehicles had already pounded the dirt road into dust where we crossed into Lebanon, breaking through a hole in the fence that marks the ceasefire line drawn between the two countries a generation ago.

The ceasefire itself is already in tatters.

Israel’s ground invasion along this border last week was launched, it said, to destroy Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure in “limited, localised, targeted raids”.

Ten days on, the army was taking us to a village a couple of miles into Lebanese territory, where it had just established “some level of control”.

We were told not to reveal where it is, for military reasons, and our movements were restricted.

Israeli artillery was blasting through the air as we arrived. The brigade commander, Col Yaniv Malka, told us the area was still not clear of Hezbollah fighters.

Bursts of small-arms fire were from fighting that was taking place 500m away, he said, describing “face-to-face combat” with Hezbollah fighters inside the village just a couple of days before – meaning, he said, “my troops seeing in their eyes, and fighting them in the streets”.

All along the central path through the village, houses lay demolished; piles of rubble leaching glimpses of family life. Buildings left standing were shot through with artillery, missing corners or walls and peppered with gunshot and shrapnel holes.

Two tanks sat in churned up earth near what was once a village square. The level of destruction around them is reminiscent of Gaza.

Our movements on the ground were restricted by the army to a limited area of the village, but neighbouring buildings and communities appeared, from a distance, to be untouched.

These incursions seem – so far – to be more “limited and targeted” geographically than militarily.

The graffiti on a building commandeered by troops read: “We wanted peace, you wanted war”.

“Most of the terrorists ran away,” Col Malka told me. “[But] dozens of houses were booby-trapped. When we went house to house, we discovered booby-traps and weapons. We had no choice but to destroy them.”

We only have the army’s account of what happened here.

I asked an army spokesman whether any women or children were present when the operation here began. He replied that all civilians had been given ample warning to leave.

The human rights group Amnesty International this week described Israel’s evacuation warnings in southern Lebanon as inadequate and overly general, and said they did not absolve the country of its obligations under international law.

We were also shown three caches of weapons it said were found inside civilian homes here, including boxes of brand-new mortars, new anti-tank missiles and mines, as well as sophisticated shoulder launched rockets and night-scopes.

One anti-tank missile we saw was already semi-assembled.

The chief of staff for the 91st Division, Roy Russo, also showed us a garage he said had been used as an equipment warehouse, with sleeping bags, body armour, rifles and ammunition hidden in a large barrel.

“This is what we call an exchange zone,” he said. “They’re morphing from civilians into combatants. All this gear is designed to manoeuvre into [Israel] and conduct operations on the Israeli side. This is not defensive equipment.”

This, Israel says, is why it launched its invasion of southern Lebanon; that Hezbollah’s stockpiles of weapons and equipment along this border were planning for a cross-border attack similar to last year’s 7 October attacks by Hamas in southern Israel.

At the start of this invasion, the army revealed that Israeli special forces had been operating across the Lebanese border in small tactical units for almost a year, conducting more than 70 raids to find and destroy Hezbollah infrastructure, including underground tunnels – one of which, it said, stopped 30m (100ft) before the ceasefire line with Israel and was unfinished.

Col Malka showed me some of the weapons he said the army found on the day we arrived. They include a large IED, an anti-personnel mine, and a high-tech night-scope.

He said troops were finding “two to three times” the number of weapons they found in Gaza, with “thousands” of weapons and thousands of pieces of ammunition found in this village alone.

“We don’t want to hold these places,” he told me. “We want to take all the ammunition and fighting equipment out. After that, we expect the people will come back, and understand that peace is better for them, and terrorist control over them in a bad thing.”

“But I’ll leave that to the diplomats to solve,” he smiled.

After the last ground war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, the UN ruled that Hezbollah must pull back north of the Litani River. A previous resolution also ordered its disarmament. Neither decision has been enforced.

That ground war in 2006 was a wake-up call for Israel. The Iran-backed militia fought its army to standstill. For almost 20 years, both sides have been avoiding – and preparing for – the next one.

Col Malka fought in Lebanon during that war. “This one is different,” he said.

When I asked why, he replied: “Because of 7th October.”

As we were speaking, the sound of small-arms fire grew louder. He gestured towards it. “That’s my guys fighting in the casbah,” he said.

Israel’s ground invasion is part of a dramatic escalation against Hezbollah over the past three weeks that has also seen it intensify air strikes on southern Lebanon and parts of Beirut.

Lebanon says more than 2,200 people have been killed, mainly during the recent escalation, and more than a million people displaced.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel on 8 October last year, the day after Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel. The Iran-backed group says it is acting in solidarity with the Palestinians and has said it will stop firing if there is a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Israel accuses Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields. One commander described the ground war as an offensive operation to defend Israeli citizens – an invasion to stop an invasion, in other words.

But the speed with which Israel’s forces have been moving through villages along this border may only be the first chapter in this story.

Hezbollah tactics have shifted since the ground invasion began, with Israeli towns like Metula – surrounded on three sides by Lebanon – reporting a drop in direct fire from anti-tank missiles, and a rise in rockets fired out of sight from further away.

The assessment of many is that Hezbollah fighters have not run away, but simply withdrawn further back into Lebanon.

Israel already has four divisions lined up at this border – and a growing chorus of voices inside the country who say this is the moment, not just to push back Hezbollah, but to remake the Middle East.

As the fighting near the village intensified, we were told to leave immediately, hurried out to the waiting convoy.

Under the shadow of a growing conflict with Iran, Israel’s small successes along this frontier don’t change one key fact: this is not actually a border war, it’s a regional war being fought along a border.

Viktoriia Roshchyna disappeared in August 2023 in a part of Ukraine now occupied by Russian forces.

It took nine months for Russian authorities to confirmed the journalist had been detained. They gave no reason.

This week, her father got a terse letter from the defence ministry in Moscow informing him that Victoria was dead, aged 27.

The document said the journalist’s body would be returned in one of the swaps organised by Russia and Ukraine for soldiers killed on the battlefield. The death date was given as 19 September.

Again, there was no explanation.

This weekend, friends gathered to remember Viktoriia on the Maidan in central Kyiv. They shuffled into position on the steps holding her photograph, young face smiling out at the small crowd.

“She had huge courage,” one woman began the tributes.

“We will miss her enormously,” said another, turning away as her eyes filled with tears.

Viktoriia’s stories were snapshots of life that Ukrainians were not getting from anywhere else.

Reporting from occupied areas of Ukraine was extremely dangerous, but her colleagues remember how she was desperate to go there, even after she was detained and held in custody the first time, for ten days.

“Her parents used to call and tell us to stop deploying her, but we never did deploy her!” one of her former bosses recalled.

“All her editors tried to stop her. But it was impossible.”

The young reporter eventually went freelance in order to deploy herself and when she got back newspapers would buy her reports.

Most strikingly, she never used a pseudonym even though she wrote openly of “occupied” territory and referred to those who collaborated with the Russians as “traitors”.

“She wanted to provide information about how those cities live under siege by the Russian army,” Sevgil Musaieva, editor-in-chief at Ukrayinska Pravda, told the BBC.

“She was absolutely amazing.”

Viktoriia’s father has previously described how she set out via Poland and Russia last July, heading for occupied Ukraine.

It was a week before she called to say she’d been interrogated at the border for several days.

All we know for sure after that, is that by May she was in Detention Centre No. 2 in Taganrog, southern Russia – a facility so notorious for the brutal treatment of many Ukrainians that some dub it the “Russian Guantanamo”.

According to the Media Initiative for Human Rights, another Ukrainian citizen who was released from Taganrog last month has told Viktoriia’s family she saw the journalist on 8 or 9 September.

Then, there was cause for hope.

“I was 100% sure she’d be back on 13 September this year. My sources gave me 100% guarantees,” Musaieva, from Ukrayinska Pravda, says.

She had been told Viktoriia would be included in one of the periodic prisoner-of-war swaps that Ukraine and Russia carry out, planned for the middle of last month.

“So what happened with her in prison? Why didn’t she come home?”

Viktoriia was moved, with another Ukrainian woman, but neither were included in the prisoner exchange.

“That means she was taken somewhere else,” says Media Initiative director Tetyana Katrychenko. “They say to Lefortovo. Why there? We don’t know.”

She says it’s not normal practice ahead of a swap.

Lefortovo prison in Moscow is run by the FSB security service and used for those accused of espionage and serious crimes against the state.

“Maybe they took her there to start some kind of court proceeding or investigation. That’s happened to other civilians taken from Kherson and Melitopol,” Tetyana says.

The BBC understands that Viktoriia’s father had spoken to her in prison on 30 August.

At some point, she had called a hunger strike, but that day her father urged her to start eating again and she agreed.

“That needs investigating. It also means we’d be blaming her, partially, and not the Russian Federation, as we should,” Tetyana cautions.

Ukraine’s intelligence service has confirmed Viktoriia’s death and the General Prosecutor’s office has changed its criminal case from illegal detention to murder.

In Russia, Viktoriia was never charged with any crime and the circumstances of her detention are not known.

“A civilian journalist … captured by Russia. Then Russia sends a letter that she died?” Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn told the BBC in Kyiv.

“It’s killing. Just the killing of hostages. I don’t know other word.”

Russia hasn’t commented.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, huge numbers of civilians have been taken from areas of Ukraine that Moscow has overrun and now controls.

Like Viktoriia’s family, desperate relatives are left with little or no information on their whereabouts or wellbeing, and no idea whether they’ll ever get home.

So far, the Media Initiative has collated a list of 1,886 names.

“There’s all sorts of people, including ex-soldiers and police officers and local officials like mayors,” Tetyana says.

“And of course there may be many more we don’t know about.”

Neither lawyers nor the Red Cross get access and even if someone’s location can be confirmed, getting them back home is almost impossible: civilians are rarely swapped.

Viktoriia’s friends and colleagues say they won’t rest until they’ve investigated what happened.

“Her life was her work,” Angelina Karyakina, a former editor at Hromadske says. “It’s a rare type of people who are so determined.”

“I’m pretty sure the way she would want us to remember her is not to stand here and cry, but to remember her dignity,” she says.

“And I think what’s important for us journalists, is to find out what she was working on – and to finish her story.”

Social media algorithms, in their commonly known form, are now 15 years old.

They were born with Facebook’s introduction of ranked, personalised news feeds in 2009 and have transformed how we interact online.

And like many teenagers, they pose a challenge to grown-ups who hope to curb their excesses.

It’s not for want of trying. This year alone, governments around the world have attempted to limit the impacts of harmful content and disinformation on social media – effects that are amplified by algorithms.

In Brazil, authorities briefly banned X, formerly known as Twitter, until the site agreed to appoint a legal representative in the country and block a list of accounts that the authorities accused of questioning the legitimacy of the country’s last election.

Meanwhile, the EU has introduced new rules threatening to fine tech firms 6% of turnover and suspend them if they fail to prevent election interference on their platforms.

In the UK, a new online safety act aims to compel social media sites to tighten content moderation.

And in the US, a proposed law could ban TikTok if the app isn’t sold by its Chinese parent company.

The governments face accusations that they are restricting free speech and interfering with the principles of the internet as laid down in its early days.

In a 1996 essay that was republished by 500 websites – the closest you could get to going viral back then – US poet and cattle rancher John Perry Barlow argued: “Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.”

Adam Candeub is a law professor and a former advisor to President Trump, who describes himself as a free speech absolutist.

Social media is “polarising, it’s fractious, it’s rude, it’s not elevating – I think it’s a terrible way to have public discourse”, he tells the BBC. “But the alternative, which I think a lot of governments are pushing for, is to make it an instrument of social and political control and I find that horrible.”

Professor Candeub believes that, unless “there is a clear and present danger” posed by the content, “the best approach is for a marketplace of ideas and openness towards different points of view”.

This idea of a “marketplace of ideas” feeds into a view of social media as offering a level playing field, allowing all voices to be heard equally. When he took over Twitter (now rebranded as X) in 2022, Elon Musk said that he saw the platform as a “digital town square”.

But does that fail to take into account the role of algorithms?

According to US lawyer and Yale University global affairs lecturer Asha Rangappa, Musk “ignores some important differences between the traditional town square and the one online: removing all content restrictions without accounting for these differences would harm democratic debate, rather than help it.”

Introduced in an early 20th-Century Supreme Court case, the concept of a “marketplace of ideas”, Rangappa argues, “is based on the premise that ideas should compete with each other without government interference”. However, she claims, “the problem is that social media platforms like Twitter are nothing like a real public square”.

Rather, argues Rangappa, “the features of social media platforms don’t allow for free and fair competition of ideas to begin with… the ‘value’ of an idea on social media isn’t a reflection of how good it is, but is rather the product of the platform’s algorithm.”

Algorithms can watch our behaviour and determine what millions of us see when we log on – and, for some, it is algorithms that have disrupted the free exchange of ideas possible on the internet when it was first created.

“In its early days, social media did function as a kind of digital public sphere, with speech flowing freely,” Kai Riemer and Sandra Peter, professors at the University of Sydney Business School, tell the BBC.

However, “algorithms on social media platforms have fundamentally reshaped the nature of free speech, not necessarily by restricting what can be said, but by determining who gets to see what content”, argue Professors Riemer and Peter, whose research looks at why we need to rethink free speech on social media.

“Rather than ideas competing freely on their merits, algorithms amplify or suppress the reach of messages… introducing an unprecedented form of interference in the free exchange of ideas that is often overlooked.”

Facebook is one of the pioneers of recommendation algorithms on social media, and with an estimated three billion users, its Feed is arguably one of the biggest.

When the platform rolled out a ranking algorithm based on users’ data 15 years ago, instead of seeing posts in chronological order, people saw what Facebook wanted them to see.

Determined by the interactions on each post, this came to prioritise posts about controversial topics, as those garnered the most engagement.

Because contentious posts are more likely to be rewarded by algorithms, there is the possibility that the fringes of political opinion can be overrepresented on social media. Rather than free and open public forums, critics argue that social media instead offers a distorted and sensationalised mirror of public sentiment that exaggerates discord and muffles the views of the majority.

So while social media platforms accuse governments of threatening free speech, is it the case that their own algorithms might also inadvertently pose a threat?

“Recommendation engines are not blocking content – instead it is the community guidelines that restrict freedom of speech, according to the platform’s preference,” Theo Bertram, the former vice president of public policy at TikTok, tells the BBC.

“Do recommendation engines make a big difference to what we see? Yes, absolutely. But whether you succeed or fail in the market for attention is not the same thing as whether you have the freedom to speak.”

Yet is “free speech” purely about the right to speak, or also about the right to be heard?

As Arvind Narayanan, professor of Computer Science at Princeton University, has said: “When we speak online – when we share a thought, write an essay, post a photo or video – who will hear us? The answer is determined in large part by algorithms.”

By determining the audience for each piece of content that’s posted, platforms “sever the direct relationship between speakers and their audiences”, argue Professors Riemer and Peter. “Speech is no longer organised by speaker and audience, but by algorithms.”

It’s something that they claim is not acknowledged in the current debates over free speech – which focus on “the speaking side of speech”. And, they argue, it “interferes with free speech in unprecedented ways”.

Our era has been labelled “the algorithmic society” – one in which, it could be argued, social media platforms and search engines govern speech in the same way nation states once did.

This means straightforward guarantees of freedom of speech in the US constitution can only get you so far, according to Jack Balkin of Yale University: “the First Amendment, as normally construed, is simply inadequate to protect the practical ability to speak”.

Professors Riemer and Peter agree that the law needs to play catch-up. “Platforms play a much more active role in shaping speech than the law currently recognises.”

And, they claim, the way in which harmful posts are monitored also needs to change. “We need to expand how we think about free speech regulation. Current debates focused on content moderation overlook the deeper issue of how platforms’ business models incentivise them to algorithmically shape speech.”

While Professor Candeub is a “free speech absolutist”, he’s also wary of the power concentrated in the platforms that can be gatekeepers of speech via computer code. “I think that we would do well to have these algorithms made public because otherwise we’re just being manipulated.”

Yet algorithms aren’t going away. As Bertram says, “The difference between the town square and social media is that there are several billion people on social media. There is a right to freedom of speech online but not a right for everyone to be heard equally: it would take more than a lifetime to watch every TikTok video or read every tweet.”

What, then, is the solution? Could modest tweaks to the algorithms cultivate more inclusive conversations that more closely resemble the ones we have in person?

New microblogging platforms like Bluesky are trying to offer users control over the algorithm that displays content – and to revive the chronological timelines of old, in the belief that offers an experience which is less mediated.

In testimony she gave to the Senate in 2021, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen said: “I’m a strong proponent of chronological ranking, ordering by time… because we don’t want computers deciding what we focus on, we should have software that is human-scaled, or humans have conversations together, not computers facilitating who we get to hear from.”

However, as Professor Narayanan has pointed out, “Chronological feeds are not … neutral: They are also subject to rich-get-richer effects, demographic biases, and the unpredictability of virality. There is, unfortunately, no neutral way to design social media.”

Platforms do offer some alternatives to algorithms, with people on X able to choose a feed from only those they follow. And by filtering huge amounts of content, “recommendation engines provide greater diversity and discovery than just following people we already know”, argues Bertram. “That feels like the opposite of a restriction of freedom of speech – it’s a mechanism for discovery.”

According to the US political scientist Francis Fukuyama, “neither platform self-regulation, nor the forms of state regulation coming down the line” can solve “the online freedom of speech question”. Instead, he has proposed a third way.

“Middleware” could offer social media users more control over what they see, with independent services providing a form of curation separate from that inbuilt on the platforms. Rather than being fed content according to the platforms’ internal algorithms, “a competitive ecosystem of middleware providers … could filter platform content according to the user’s individual preferences,” writes Fukuyama.

“Middleware would restore that freedom of choice to individual users, whose agency would return the internet to the kind of diverse, multiplatform system it aspired to be back in the 1990s.”

In the absence of that, there could be ways we can currently improve our sense of agency when interacting with algorithms. “Regular TikTok users are often very deliberate about the algorithm – giving it signals to encourage or discourage the recommendation engine along avenues of new discovery,” says Bertram.

“They see themselves as the curator of the algorithm. I think this is a helpful way of thinking about the challenge – not whether we need to switch the algorithms off but how do we ensure users have agency, control and choice so that the algorithms are working for them.”

Although, of course, there’s always the danger that even when self-curating our own algorithms, we could still fall into the echo chambers that beset social media. And the algorithms might not do what we ask of them – a BBC investigation found that, when a young man tried to use tools on Instagram and TikTok to say he was not interested in violent or misogynistic content, he continued to be recommended it.

Despite that, there are signs that as social media algorithms move towards maturity, their future could not be in the hands of big tech, nor politicians, but with the people.

According to a recent survey by the market-research company Gartner, just 28% of Americans say they like documenting their life in public online, down from 40% in 2020. People are instead becoming more comfortable in closed-off group chats with trusted friends and relatives; spaces with more accountability and fewer rewards for shocks and provocations.

Meta says the number of photos sent in direct messages now outnumbers those shared for all to see.

Just as Barlow, in his 1996 essay, told governments they were not welcome in Cyberspace, some online users might have a similar message to give to social media algorithms. For now, there remain competing visions on what to do with the internet’s wayward teen.

King Charles has confirmed that it is up to the Australian people to decide whether the country remains a constitutional monarchy or becomes a republic.

Ahead of the King’s visit to Australia next week, the Australian Republic Movement exchanged letters with Buckingham Palace officials, writing on the King’s behalf.

Correspondence from the palace, first revealed by the Daily Mail, says that “whether Australia becomes a republic” is a “matter for the Australian public to decide”.

The future of the monarchy in Australia is likely to be an issue during the royal visit by King Charles and Queen Camilla, which includes events in Sydney and Canberra.

• King’s Australia trip is biggest since cancer diagnosis
• Australia puts republic referendum plan on hold

The letter sent by palace officials restates the existing position, rather than marking any new change in policy – and Buckingham Palace is not saying anything further to the letter’s contents.

But it is an amicable exchange, following a request by a group campaigning for a republic to have a meeting with the King during his visit.

“The King appreciated that you took the time to write and asked me to reply on his behalf,” says the letter from Buckingham Palace to the Australian Republic Movement, written in March.

“Please be assured that your views on this matter have been noted very carefully.

“His Majesty, as a constitutional monarch, acts on the advice of his Ministers, and whether Australia becomes a republic is therefore a matter for the Australian public to decide.”

The letter adds that the King and Queen have a “deep love and affection” for Australia and “your thoughtfulness in writing as you did is warmly appreciated”.

A referendum on the issue was held in Australia in 1999, where people voted to remain a constitutional monarchy.

Earlier this year Australia’s government said plans for another referendum were “not a priority”.

But campaigners for a republic argue that Australia’s head of state shouldn’t be the monarch but someone chosen by Australians.

When the King’s visit was announced, Isaac Jeffrey of the Australian Republic Movement said: “While we respect the role the royals have played in the nation to date, it’s time for Australia to elect a local to serve as our head of state. Someone who can work for Australia full time.”

It is a campaign that has commended King Charles as an individual but is opposed to the role of the monarchy in Australia.

“We’re keen to tell him we’ll stay in the Commonwealth and a republic is about us, not about him or his family,” said Mr Jeffrey.

The visit to Australia will be the King’s biggest trip since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year. His only other international trip since then has been to France for D-Day commemorations.

His treatment is expected to be paused during the trip, which after Australia will include attending a Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Samoa.

The visit, from 18 to 26 October, will include a review of the Australian naval fleet in Sydney harbour, attending a community barbecue, supporting environmental projects and meeting two award-winning cancer experts.

This week it was also announced that in December King Charles will host a two-day state visit to the UK by the Amir of Qatar.

A man has described how he helped expose “seismic” rape and sexual assault allegations about Mohamed Al Fayed after his fiancee told him she was a victim of the Harrods billionaire.

Keaton Stone spent years speaking to women around the world, gathering a “damning” dossier of evidence.

He took that to the BBC in 2023 and helped to make the documentary, Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods.

His now wife, Sophia Stone, had been a personal assistant to the businessman after joining Harrods at 19.

Mrs Stone revealed to her husband in 2018 that she had been groomed, sexually assaulted, and almost raped by Al Fayed.

It emerged as he helped rewrite his wife’s CV. After realising that she had worked for Al Fayed, he put it at the top of her resume.

“Harrods to me, I guess we all thought it was this amazing, prestigious store, so I made a huge deal of that,” Mr Stone said.

“When I finally presented that to her thinking she’s going to be absolutely made up with this – it wasn’t the reaction I expected.

“She absolutely just completely broke down crying, shaking, [saying] ‘why have you got his name on there, get him off, get him off’. This horrible visceral upset distraught reaction.

“So that’s when I knew something’s not right here.”

Her description of what happened became the catalyst for a six-year-long journey, ultimately resulting in an expose and the documentary.

Mr Stone, who acted as a consultant for the programme, said: “It was very hard for her to tell me. She still finds it so traumatic.”

She told her fiance that Al Fayed tried to rape her several times while she worked for the firm between 1988 and 1991, almost succeeding on one occasion.

There was also “constant harassment and sexual assault” both in the office and everywhere she went with him, including private helicopters and planes.

Mr Stone added: “I’m keen to make the point: Why didn’t these people leave? They couldn’t, they could not leave, they were threatened, they were silenced, they were terrified.

“That’s why [Sophia] wasn’t able to leave.

“It wasn’t a lucky escape, because what happened happened and he’s traumatised her to this day.”

He added that Al Fayed’s actions against the numerous women who have shared their experiences were “absolutely beyond despicable and depraved”.

The couple have moved around, living in Birmingham and London before finally settling in the small town of Lichfield, in Staffordshire.

It was there, first in a spare room, then in an office in their garden that Mr Stone began piecing the evidence together.

He said his wife had buried what had happened to her for a long time, which he says is the case for many survivors around the world.

“The majority of them have deeply, deeply put this in a box and buried it away,” he said.

When he contacted former employees of Al Fayed, he said: “I can’t tell you how many times I had someone say something like, ‘you’ve no idea how long I’ve waited for this email or this text. I’ve waited 25 years for someone to ask me about this.’

“Things had tried to come out about him before, [but] they never landed and he was able to swat them away.”

Since the documentary, the team have been “inundated” with more survivors coming forward, and Mr Stone believes there are now more than 100 of them.

Al Fayed died in August 2023.

“He knew something was happening, he was aware,” Mr Stone said.

“The overwhelming desire was to expose him and to hold him to account whilst he was alive.

“We desperately didn’t want another [Jimmy] Savile situation – we wanted him in jail.

“How big it was meant that it took as long as it did, and sadly he did die, but it’s still of overwhelming importance to the survivors that the world knows the truth about him.”

Mr Stone also hopes the revelations will help ensure those who facilitated Al Fayed’s actions will be held to account.

In a statement last month, Harrods acknowledged that at the time of Al Fayed’s ownership it had “failed our employees who were his victims and for this we sincerely apologise”.

It added “the Harrods of today is a very different organisation”.

“Sophia is tired, she’s had to live with this all day every day for six years,” he said.

“She is deeply still traumatised and she just wants it over with. She wants to put it behind her, but she’s adamant and so staunch in her belief that this should be exposed.

“It needs to be, for the greater good and for all the other survivors – it must continue to be investigated and exposed.”

An international arrest warrant has been issued for Australian ex-rugby star Rocky Elsom following a conviction for embezzlement in France, French media say.

The former captain of Australia’s national team was president of RC Narbonne, one of country’s most prestigious clubs, in 2015-16. On Friday a court found him guilty of misappropriating a total of €700,000 (£586,000).

Elsom was convicted in absentia and given a five-year-prison sentence, according to French media.

He recently told Sunday Times newspaper that he was living in the Irish capital Dublin.

In the interview with the British outlet, published on 6 October, Elsom said he was coaching at the Catholic University School, a private school for boys in Dublin. He said planned to live in the city until December.

A sporting celebrity in Ireland, the 41-year-old, played for Leinster Rugby in the late 2000s and helped the team win the Heineken Cup, Europe’s top club rugby tournament, in 2009.

He also appeared 75 times for Australia’s national team – nicknamed the Wallabies – between 2005 and 2011. After his retirement he was part of a consortium that bought RC Narbonne.

The French court convicted Elsom of abusing corporate assets and forging documents during his time as president of the club, local media reports say.

A lawyer involved in the case, Patrick Tabet, is quoted by Ouest-France newspaper as saying that Elsom made a “completely unjustified” payment of €79,000 to a former coach and gave a monthly salary of €7,200 to an Australian resident who “never came to Narbonne”.

The club was placed into administration and relegated to lower leagues in 2018.

The judge handed down a harsher prison term than the two years requested by prosecutors. Mr Tabet said the former Wallabies star was also ordered to pay back some €705,000 (£586,000).

A UN peacekeeper has been wounded in southern Lebanon after being hit by gunfire, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) has said, the fifth member of the multinational force to be injured in recent days.

In a statement on Saturday, Unifil said the peacekeeper was injured at its headquarters in the southern city of Naquora on Friday night amid “ongoing military activity nearby”, though added that it did not know the origin of the fire.

“He underwent surgery at our Naqoura hospital to remove the bullet and is currently stable,” it said.

On Friday US President Joe Biden has said he was “absolutely, positively” urging Israel to stop firing at UN peacekeepers in Lebanon following two earlier incidents on Thursday and Friday.

Israeli troops have launched a ground invasion in southern Lebanon as part of its escalation against the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, with which it has been trading cross-border fire on a near daily basis for the past year.

Israeli forces have urged UN peacekeepers to leave their positions. A spokesperson for Unifil said on Saturday that there had been a “unanimous decision” to stay in the border region.

Separately, Unifil said buildings at a position in the village of Ramyah sustained “significant damage due to explosions from nearby shelling” on Friday night.

“We remind all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and premises, including avoiding combat activities near Unifil positions,” the mission said.

On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged that its troops were responsible for an incident in which two Sri Lankan soldiers, also in Naqoura, were injured.

The IDF said soldiers operating near the base opened fire after identifying a threat and that the incident would be investigated “at the highest levels”.

Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry said it “strongly condemned” the attack.

On Thursday, two Indonesian peacekeepers were injured falling from an observation tower after Israeli tanks fired towards it.

Lt Gen Seán Clancy, chief of staff of the Irish Defence Forces, has said he does not believe the strike on Thursday was accidental. Some 340 Irish troops are currently operating in Lebanon with Unifil.

“An observer tower with a round from a tank directly into it, which is a very small target, has to be very deliberate,” he told Irish broadcaster RTÉ.

“So from a military perspective, this is not an accidental act. It’s a direct act.

“Whether its indiscipline or directed, either way it is not conscionable or allowable.”

The leaders of France, Italy, and Spain have also condemned Israel’s actions, saying in a joint statement that they were unjustifiable and should immediately end.

On Saturday Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes on villages to the north and south of the capital Beirut had killed nine people.

The IDF also told residents of 23 southern Lebanese villages to evacuate to areas north of the Awali river.

Hezbollah continued to fire into Israel, with the IDF saying that about 320 projectiles had been identified and a number of them intercepted.

On Saturday, the IDF announced that the areas around the northern towns of Zar’it, Shomera, Shtula, Netu’a, and Eben Menachem would be closed to civilians from 20:00 local time (18:00 BST).

About 10,000 peacekeepers from 50 countries are stationed in Lebanon, alongside around 800 civilian staff.

Since 1978, they have patrolled the area between the Litani River and the UN-recognised boundary between Lebanon and Israel, known as the “Blue Line”.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel on 8 October last year, the day after Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel. The Iran-backed group says it is acting in solidarity with the Palestinians and has said it will stop firing if there is a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Over the past three weeks, Israel has dramatically escalated its campaign against Hezbollah, intensifying air strikes against southern Lebanon and southern parts of Beirut, assassinating Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and launching a ground invasion.

Lebanon says more than 2,000 people have been killed, mainly in the recent escalation, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. This week Hezbollah rocket fire has killed two Israeli civilians and a Thai national, Israeli authorities say.

White blobs have been washing up on the beaches of Newfoundland recently, sparking an investigation by Canadian officials.

They have been described by resident Stan Tobin as doughy – “like someone had tried to bake bread and done a lousy job” – with an odour reminiscent of vegetable oil.

Beachcombers on the southern tip of the Canadian province began reporting the strange substance around early September.

The BBC has reached out to Ottawa officials for comment, but has not received a response.

Photos of the substance began cropping up on a beachcombers group online, prompting speculation that it was fungus or mold, palm oil, paraffin wax or even ambergris – a rare and valuable substance produced by whales and used in the perfume industry.

One poster suggested it looked like dough used to make ‘Toutons’ – a regional dish of dough often fried in pork fat.

A spokesperson for Environment and Climate Change Canada told the Globe and Mail that the substance was not a petroleum hydrocarbon, petroleum lubricant, biofuel or biodiesel.

While a marine ecologist for Fisheries and Oceans Canada told the newspaper it was not a sea sponge and contained no biological material.

The blobs were spotted along the shores of Placentia Bay, on Newfoundland’s southeast coast.

Mr Tobin, a local environmentalist, lives in Ship Cove, a tiny village on the bay, and regularly walks the beaches.

He discovered the mystery blobs one day last month, initially thinking it looked like Styrofoam.

He’s since come across “hundreds and hundreds of globs – big globs, little globs” with most about 6in (15cm) in diameter, he said.

But when he called the Canadian Coast Guard to report the findings, Mr Tobin was told that was ruled out as the base of the substance.

“Somebody or somebodies know where this came from and how it got there,” Mr Tobin said. “And knows damn well it’s not supposed to be here.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced plans to temporarily suspend the right to asylum as part of a new migration strategy to combat irregular migration.

During a speech at a meeting of his centre-right Civic Coalition political grouping in Warsaw, Tusk said people smugglers – aided by Belarus and Russia – were abusing the right to asylum.

Since 2021, Poland has seen a huge increase in the number of people, mainly from the Middle East, Africa and Asia, crossing into the country illegally from Belarus.

Warsaw has accused Belarus and Russia of “hybrid warfare”, directing the flow of migrants towards the European Union in a bid to destabilise the bloc. Both countries deny this.

When the migration crisis began in August 2021, in that month alone, eight times as many people tried to cross the border illegally than had attempted to do so in the whole of 2020. Dozens continue to attempt to cross the border daily.

Tusk said he would present the new migration policy at a government meeting on 15 October.

“One of the elements of the migration strategy will be the temporary territorial suspension of the right to asylum,” the prime minister said. “I will demand this, I will demand recognition in Europe for this decision,” he added.

Under international law, countries are obliged to offer people the right to claim asylum. Tusk did not say how he would justify the move to his EU partners.

“We know very well how it is used by Lukashenko, Putin… by people smugglers, people traffickers, how this right to asylum is used exactly against the essence of the right to asylum,” he said. “Poland must take back 100% control over who comes to Poland,” he added.

Many of the migrants who cross into the country from Belarus do not stay, instead entering Germany. The trend has prompted Berlin to introduce checks on its border with Poland.

Tusk’s pro-EU coalition government surprised many by continuing a hard-line migration policy implemented by the previous right-wing Law and Justice government, which authorised pushbacks and built a 5.5-metre-high steel fence along 186km (115 miles) of its border with Belarus.

While it talked tough on migrants from Middle Eastern and Asian countries, the Law and Justice-led government issued the highest number of annual residence and work permits in the whole of the EU during much of its time in office.

Tusk’s coalition has continued the policy of pushbacks and re-introduced an exclusion zone on part of the border. In July, following the death of a 21-year-old soldier who was fatally stabbed by migrants on the border, the government pushed through parliament the decriminalisation of the use of firearms by security forces in self-defence in certain circumstances.

Opinion polls suggest much of the public supports the hard-line, with 86% of respondents supporting the use of weapons in self-defence by the security services.

Indeed, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski identified a tough migration policy by Civic Coalition as a key element in its electoral success in October last year.

“I don’t think we would have won if we hadn’t outflanked the then ruling party on the right on migration, if we hadn’t convinced the electorate that we will be as tough on physically protecting the Polish border as the previous government was, so we neutralised this issue,” Mr Sikorski told an audience at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington in September.

But rights groups have expressed concern over the new government’s migration policy. NGOs estimate more than 130 migrants have died on both sides of Belarus’ border with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia since the crisis began.

“I never saw Donald Tusk as a human rights champion, but this is a new low,” Malgorzata Szuleka, a board member of the Warsaw-based Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights told the BBC.

“There is a humanitarian crisis on the border, but it is also an open migration route. We need to find a place for a rational discussion that is not so populistically driven,” she added.

Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon is about to end its second week, as Israel’s war has already entered its second year. Appeals for a ceasefire have increased following an air strike in Beirut on Thursday night, and the wounding on Friday, for the second day running, of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon by Israeli military fire.

A new offensive is taking place in Jabalia, in northern Gaza, despite persistent calls for the conflict there to end. Israel’s allies are also urging restraint as the country prepares to retaliate against Iran, following last week’s ballistic missile attack.

However, Israel will continue to pursue its own path, and resist this pressure, because of three factors: 7 October, Benjamin Netanyahu and the United States.

It was in January 2020 when Iranian general Qassem Soleimani landed at Baghdad airport on a night-time flight from Damascus. Soleimani was the head of Iran’s notorious Quds Force, an elite, clandestine unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps specialising in overseas operations.

The group – whose name means Jerusalem, and whose main adversary was Israel – was responsible for arming, training, funding and directing proxy forces abroad in Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories and beyond. At the time, Soleimani was perhaps the second most powerful man in Iran, after the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

As Soleimani’s convoy left the airport, it was destroyed by missiles fired from a drone that killed him instantly.

Although Israel provided intelligence to help locate its arch-adversary, the drone belonged to the United States. The assassination order had been given by then US President Donald Trump, not Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down,” former President Trump would later say in a speech referring to the Soleimani assassination. In a separate interview, Trump also suggested that he had expected Israel to play a more active role in the attack and complained that Netanyahu was “willing to fight Iran to the last American soldier”.

While Trump’s account of events is disputed, at the time it was believed that Netanyahu, who praised the killing, was concerned that direct Israeli involvement could provoke a large-scale attack against Israel, either from Iran directly, or its proxies in Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories. Israel was fighting a shadow war with Iran, but each side was careful to keep the fighting within certain bounds, for fear of provoking the other into a larger-scale conflict.

Just over four years later, in April of this year, the same Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Israeli jets to bomb a building in the Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus, killing two Iranian generals amongst others.

Then in July, the Israeli prime minister authorised the assassination of Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s top military commander, in an air strike on Beirut. The response of the current US president was reportedly to swear at him, according to a new book by Bob Woodward, who claims that President Joe Biden was aghast that Israel’s prime minister was prepared to escalate a conflict the White House had been trying to bring to an end for months.

“You know, the perception of Israel around the world increasingly is that you’re a rogue state, a rogue actor,” President Biden is reported to have said.

The same prime minister, characterised as being too cautious by one US president, was then castigated as being too aggressive by his successor.

What separates the two episodes is of course 7 October 2023 – the bloodiest day in the history of Israel and a political, military and intelligence failure of catastrophic proportions.

What unites the two moments, however, is Netanyahu defying the will of a US president.

Both factors help to explain the way Israel continues to prosecute the current war.

Israel’s most recent wars concluded after a few weeks, once international pressure built so much that the United States insisted on a ceasefire.

The ferocity and scale of the Hamas attack against Israel, the impact on Israeli society and its sense of security, mean that this war was always going to be unlike any recent conflict.

For a US administration pouring billions of dollars’ worth of weapons into Israel, Palestinian civilian deaths and suffering in Gaza have been deeply uncomfortable, and politically damaging for the administration. For America’s critics in the region, the apparent impotence of the superpower when it comes to influencing the largest recipient of US aid is baffling.

Even after US jets were involved in repelling Iranian attacks on Israel in April – a clear sign of how Israel’s security is underwritten by its larger ally – Israel continued to bat away attempts to change the course of its war.

This summer, Israel chose to escalate its conflict with Hezbollah, without seeking prior approval from the United States.

As Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, Netanyahu has learned from more than 20 years of experience that US pressure is something he can withstand, if not ignore. Netanyahu knows that the US, particularly in an election year, will not take action that forces him to divert from his chosen course (and believes, in any event, that he is fighting America’s enemies too).

Especially when it comes to the latest escalation, it would be wrong to assume that Netanayhu is operating outside the Israeli political mainstream. If anything, the pressure on him is to be tougher to strike harder against Hezbollah, but also Iran.

When a ceasefire plan in Lebanon was mooted by the US and France last month, criticism of the proposed 21-day truce came from the opposition, and the main left-wing grouping in Israel, as well as the right-wing parties.

Israel is determined to continue its wars now, not just because it feels it can withstand international pressure, but also because Israel’s tolerance of the threats it faces has shifted after 7 October.

Hezbollah has for years stated its aim to invade the Galilee in northern Israel. Now that the Israeli public has experienced the reality of gunmen infiltrating homes, that threat cannot be contained, it must be removed.

Israel’s perception of risk has also changed. Long-held notions of military red lines in the region have evaporated. Several acts have been committed in the past year that could, until recently, have led to an all-out conflict, raining bombs and missiles on Tehran, Beirut, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Israel has assassinated the head of Hamas while he was a guest of the Iranians in Tehran; it has also killed the entire leadership of Hezbollah, including Hassan Nasrallah; it has assassinated senior Iranian officials inside diplomatic buildings in Syria.

Hezbollah has fired more than 9,000 missiles, rockets and drones at Israeli cities, including ballistic missiles at Tel Aviv. The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen have also launched large missiles at Israel’s cities, intercepted by Israeli defences as they re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere above central Israel. Iran has launched not one, but two attacks against Israel in the past six months involving more than 500 drones and missiles. Israel has invaded Lebanon.

Any one of these might, in the past, have precipitated a regional war. The fact that they have not will change the way a normally cautious, risk-averse Israeli prime minister decides on his next move.

US President Joe Biden has said he is “absolutely, positively” urging Israel to stop firing at UN peacekeepers during its conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, following two incidents in 48 hours.

On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its troops were responsible for the incident, in which two Sri Lankan soldiers for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) were injured.

IDF soldiers operating around the Unifil base in Naqoura identified a threat and opened fire, the Israeli army said, adding the incident would be investigated “at the highest levels”.

On Thursday, two Indonesian Unifil soldiers were injured falling from an observation tower after an Israeli tank fired towards it.

The leaders of France, Italy and Spain issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s actions, saying they were unjustifiable and should immediately come to an end.

Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry said it “strongly condemns” the IDF attack which injured two of its soldiers.

The head of UN peacekeeping said there was reason to believe some firing on UN positions in southern Lebanon had been direct, though he did not ascribe responsibility for the incidents.

“For example we have a case where a tower was hit by a fire and also damages to cameras at one of the positions – which obviously to us very much looked like direct fire,” Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the BBC’s Newshour programme.

As Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon continues, the IDF and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah continued to fire missiles and rockets across the Israel-Lebanon border.

The IDF said it had detected about 100 rockets crossing into northern Israel from Lebanon within the space of half an hour on Friday. Two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were detected crossing from Lebanon, one of which was intercepted, the IDF said.

The Lebanese ministry of health said three people, including a two-year-old girl, were killed in an Israeli raid on the city of Sidon in southern Lebanon. Two Lebanese soldiers were killed after Israeli forces targeted an army post in the town of Kafra in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army said.

In the capital, Beirut, emergency workers continued to comb through the wreckage of buildings hit by two Israeli air strikes on Thursday.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the attacks came with no warning and killed 22 people, all civilians, and injured another 117. Israel has not commented.

Israeli forces launched a ground invasion into southern Lebanon last month as they escalated their response to rocket fire from Hezbollah.

Hezbollah and Israel have been trading near-daily cross-border fire since last October, when the Palestinian armed group Hamas in the Gaza Strip carried out a deadly attack in southern Israel.

The IDF has said the UN post struck in Naqoura on Friday was about 164ft (50m) away from the source of the threat identified by soldiers. It said it had told peacekeeping troops to stay in protected spaces at the time.

Unifil said Israeli military vehicles had knocked over barriers at another UN site in Labbouneh, closer to the border with Israel.

The incidents represented a “serious development”, it said.

Mikati said Friday’s attack was “a crime which is directed at the international community”.

Israel argues that Unifil has failed to stabilise the region, and has asked peacekeepers to withdraw northwards so it can confront Hezbollah.

The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, has reiterated Israel’s call for Unifil personnel to withdraw north by 5km (3 miles) to “avoid danger,” but the UN’s Jean-Pierre Lacroix said they would remain in position.

About 10,000 peacekeepers from 50 countries are stationed in Lebanon, alongside around 800 civilian staff.

Since 1978, they have patrolled the area between the Litani River and the UN-recognised boundary between Lebanon and Israel, known as the “Blue Line”.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel on 8 October last year, the day after Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel. The Iran-backed group says it is acting in solidarity with the Palestinians and has said it will stop firing if there is a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Over the past three weeks, Israel has dramatically escalated its campaign against Hezbollah, intensifying air strikes against southern Lebanon and southern parts of Beirut, assassinating Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and launching a ground invasion.

Lebanon says more than 2,000 people have been killed, mainly in the recent escalation, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. This week Hezbollah rocket fire has killed two Israeli civilians and a Thai national, Israeli authorities say.

In a separate development on Friday, Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defence agency was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying at least 30 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the Jabalia town and refugee camp in the north of the Palestinian enclave.

The IDF has not commented on the issue.

Meanwhile, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said “thousands are trapped” in the Jabalia refugee camp, including five of its staff.

The MSF said Israeli forces had issued evacuation orders on 7 October in Jabalia, “while carrying out attacks at the same time”, meaning people could not leave safely.

Dr Mohammed Salha, the acting director of the al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, told the BBC’s Newshour programme the area had been under siege for seven days.

He warned that the hospital would run out of fuel on Saturday, as Israeli forces were “cutting Jabalia from the rest of Gaza”.

“No medication, no medical supplies, no healthy water, no fuel, so pressure, pressure on these people to move and go directly to the south,” Dr Salha said.

Israel has been conducting a new ground operation in the area, saying it is targeting regrouping Hamas fighters who aim to launch attacks, with dozens of people reportedly killed or wounded in northern Gaza in recent days.

Amid acrid smoke and cries from residents, rescue workers were searching Friday morning for signs of anyone left trapped in the rubble from two Israeli air strikes that hit central Beirut overnight.

According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, 22 people died and 117 were wounded, making these the deadliest strikes in central Beirut of the recent escalation.

At the site of the heaviest of the two, in the Shia neighbourhood of Basta, the head of the Civil Defence rescue team Youssef Al-Mallah told the BBC that five people were still unaccounted for.

The Civil Defence has appealed for family members of the missing to come forward with any information on their whereabouts, Al-Mallah said.

Unconfirmed reports Friday said that Wafiq Safa, the head of Hezbollah’s liaison and coordination unit, was the target of one of the strikes but managed to survive.

Israeli authorities have not commented. They issued no warnings ahead of the strikes, as they have in some instances.

Both the strikes on Beirut hit residential buildings in densely packed neighbourhoods. The missile that hit Basta fell close to the site of an earlier strike that killed nine people last week. It destroyed a four-storey building completely and severely damaged or destroyed at least three adjacent buildings.

The other strike, on the mostly Shia neighbourhood of Nweiri, hit the third floor of an eight-storey building, ejecting large pieces of rubble into the street and destroying cars and shopfronts below.

The timing of the strikes – at about 20:00 local time, 18:00 BST – meant that many residents of the neighbourhoods were at home or on the street in the vicinity.

Hassan Jaafar, a 22-year-old security guard, was at home with friends just 50m from the Basta strike. He told the BBC they heard a “roar that seemed to grow closer with every second”.

“The shockwave knocked us off our feet, sending us backwards as dust and debris filled the air,” he said. “For a moment, everything vanished in a cloud of ash.”

Jaafar said he and his friends were bruised and cut in the strike by flying debris and glass. “In that moment, it felt like the war had expanded into our lives,” he said.

On the massive pile of rubble left by the strike on Friday morning, distraught residents looked on at their destroyed apartments and pleaded with members of the Civil Defence team to help them retrieve surviving possessions.

One group of women was searching for a missing relative – a mother of young children who was last seen on a stretcher at the site. The Civil Defence team told the group they needed to check at every hospital in person.

“If she left here on a gurney she will be at a hospital somewhere,” a rescue worker said.

Ibtisam Mazloum, 42, was in her building nearby when the strike hit. “If they want to fight they should fight at the border,” she said, angily. “The civilians in Beirut are not part of this.”

At the site of the Nweiri strike, Musa Araf, who works for the Civil Defence, described being in his apartment on the sixth floor of the target building when the missile hit.

“I didn’t panic because of my job, I am used to it,” he said. “But my children were screaming and clinging on to me. One of my grandchildren was cut by flying glass.”

This is the third time Israel has launched air strikes on Beirut outside of the city’s southern suburb of Dahieh, where the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah has a strong presence.

The previous strikes on central Beirut targeted members of Hezbollah and the People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine, according to the IDF. One hit a health clinic which the IDF described as Hezbollah-affiliated and killed nine people.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch called on Friday for an inquiry into Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon. Reports said that an observation post belonging to the United Nations peacekeeping mission (Unifil) had been fired at by Israeli forces.

The incident would mark the fourth time in recent days that Israeli troops have fired at Unifil bases. Yesterday, two Indonesian peacekeepers were injured after an Israeli tank fired at a watchtower at the force’s headquarters in Ras al-Naqoura.

Hezbollah said on Friday it had launched an attack on an Israeli military base in the northern city of Haifa using explosive-laden drones.

The Iran-backed group said the attack was a retaliation for Israeli strikes on Beirut.

When an Israeli air strike hit her employer’s house in southern Lebanon, Andaku (not her real name) found herself all alone, locked inside and terrified.

The 24-year-old Kenyan woman has been working in Lebanon as a domestic worker for the past eight months, but she says the last month has been the toughest as Israel’s military has intensified its bombardment of what it has said are Hezbollah targets across the country.

“There were a lot of bombings. It was too much. My employers locked me in the house and left to save their own lives,” she tells BBC News Arabic.

The sound of explosions has left Andaku traumatised. She has lost track of how many days she was left alone in the house before her employers returned.

“When they came back, they threw me out. They never paid me and I had nowhere to go,” she says, adding that she was lucky enough to have enough money to catch a bus to the capital, Beirut.

Andaku’s story is not the only one.

Last Friday, UN officials said most of Lebanon’s nearly 900 government-organised shelters were full following the escalation of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, and expressed concern for the tens of thousands of mostly female domestic workers in the country.

According to the International Organization for Migration, there are around 170,000 migrant workers in Lebanon. Many of them are women from Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Philippines.

“We are receiving increasing reports of migrant domestic workers being abandoned by their Lebanese employers, either left on the streets or in their homes as their employers flee,” Mathieu Luciano, the IOM’s head of office in Lebanon, told a press briefing in Geneva.

Many migrant domestic workers move to Lebanon to be able to provide financial support for their families back home.

The average monthly salary for African domestic workers is estimated to be around $250 (£191), whereas Asian housekeepers could earn up to $450.

Migrant domestic workers have to abide by the Kafala (sponsorship) system in Lebanon, which does not guarantee protected rights for migrant workers, and allows employers to confiscate their passports and withhold their wages. They find work through local agencies.

“The lack of legal protections within the Kafala system, combined with restricted movement, means many can become trapped in exploitative conditions. This has resulted in instances of abuse, isolation, and psychological trauma among migrant workers,” says IOM spokesman Joe Lowry.

“Furthermore, we are aware of cases of migrants being locked into houses of Lebanese citizens who are fleeing, to look after their properties,” he adds.

Mina (also not her real name) is from Uganda and has been a domestic worker in Lebanon for one year and four months.

She tells the BBC she was mistreated by the family she worked for and decided to escape and return to her agency.

Hoping she would receive help, Mina said she was shocked to learn that she had to work for another family on a two-year contract before she could return home.

“When I returned to the [agency], I told them I had worked enough to be able to pay for my ticket and return back home. They took my money and asked me to work in a house for two years to be able to travel home,” the 26-year-old says.

Having to live with the continuous sounds of explosions led to Mina’s mental health being affected. She was not able to do her assigned domestic tasks properly, so she asked her new employer to leave.

She had been working for a family in Baalbek, a city in the Bekaa Valley in north-eastern Lebanon.

“[The family] had beaten me, pushed me and thrown me out… There were so many bombs at that time. When I left, I had nowhere to go,” she says.

Another domestic worker from Kenya, Fanaka, 24, says her agency would send her to work in different homes every two months and that she suffered from continuous headaches.

“I have been trying to do my best at work, but nobody is born perfect,” she says.

The women say they faced many challenges while living on the streets, as many shelters refused to take them in, claiming they were reserved for displaced Lebanese and not foreigners.

All three managed to reach Caritas Lebanon, a non-governmental organisation that has been providing help and protection for migrant workers since 1994.

In audio recordings sent to the BBC, migrant workers from Sierra Leone said dozens of them remained stranded on the streets of Beirut and were in desperate need of food.

Others told local media that they were denied entry to government-organised shelters in schools because they were not Lebanese.

The BBC contacted local authorities, who denied any form of discrimination.

Sources from the ministry of education told the BBC: “No specific centres have been designated for foreign domestic workers, but at the same time, they have not been refused entry.”

It is understood that some workers are avoiding official shelters, fearing repercussions over their incomplete legal documentation.

Hessen Sayah Korban, head of the protection department at Caritas Lebanon, says her NGO is currently sheltering around 70 migrant domestic workers, who are mainly mothers with children.

She says more funding is needed to be able to provide shelter for up to 250 domestic workers who have either been abandoned by their employers or are homeless and had their official documents confiscated.

“We are trying to provide them with all the help needed; it can be legal, mental or physical.”

She adds that many domestic workers require help with their mental health because they have been traumatised.

Since the beginning of October, the IOM has received more than 700 new requests from people seeking help to return to their countries of origin.

Ms Korban says Caritas, along with other NGOs, is assisting the abandoned domestic workers wanting to leave by co-ordinating with the IOM, various embassies and consulates, and the Lebanese security services.

Donald Trump and his Republican allies have repeatedly claimed that the Democrats are planning to get illegal immigrants to vote in the US election.

“Our elections are bad, and a lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, they’re trying to get them to vote,” Trump said during the presidential debate with Kamala Harris.

BBC Verify has identified more than 100 paid-for ads on Facebook and Instagram posted by Republicans since the start of September focusing on the issue.

It is illegal for a non-US citizen to vote in a national election, but studies suggest cases of this actually happening are very rare.

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 prohibits non-citizens – which includes illegal immigrants – from voting in federal elections.

The punishment includes a year in prison, a fine, and possibly deportation.

Every state is required to use a common registration form which requires people to confirm they are US citizens, under penalty of perjury for false claims, but does not require documentary proof.

“That first step of having to tick a box saying you’re a citizen to register to vote is a huge deterrent for illegal immigrants, as it’s hugely risky to lie,” says Jasleen Singh, a voting expert at the liberal policy think tank Brennan Center for Justice.

In many states, voter rolls are cross-referenced with citizenship and immigration services, death certificates, and postal records to make sure that people who are non-citizens, dead, or live out of state are not registered to vote.

“At the polls, there’s a list of eligible voters, and if a non-citizen turns up, they’ll be turned away or told to cast a provisional ballot which will only be accepted if they can provide proof of citizenship,” says Prof Ronald Hayduk, a voting rights expert at San Francisco State University.

Non-citizens are not allowed to vote in state-wide elections either.

However, some municipalities in California, Maryland, Vermont and Washington DC do allow them to vote in certain local elections, such as for school boards.

A number of studies, both from conservative and left-leaning organisations, suggest instances of illegal immigrants voting in US federal elections are very rare.

One by the Brennan Center for Justice interviewed 44 election officials who worked across 12 states during the 2016 election.

It found that out of 23.5 million votes counted in these states, an estimated 30 suspected incidents of non-citizens voting were referred for further investigation.

That’s about 0.0001% of all votes cast.

An analysis of a database which collected election fraud cases between 1999 and 2023 by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research group, found 77 instances of non-citizens voting.

A number of other reports, including by the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank, entitled ‘Non-citizens Don’t Illegally Vote in Detectable Numbers’, come to similar conclusions.

“According to many sources of evidence, the number of non-citizens who vote in elections is very small,” says Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute who’s written a number of reports on voter fraud.

“It’s not zero, some people slip through the cracks for various reasons, but it’s nowhere near at the level to impact the outcome of an election.”

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a Republican proposal which would require people to prove their citizenship when registering to vote, has been rejected in the House of Representatives.

Republican lawmakers continue to push for more citizenship requirements.

“We have a number of states who have done audits of their voter rolls and found thousands of non-citizens,” the lead Republican in the House, Mike Johnson, told CNN.

He highlighted Ohio, Pennsylvania and Georgia – three states where polls show a tight race between Trump and Kamala Harris.

In Ohio, a review called for by Republican officials in the state, found that out of about eight million registered voters, there were 597 cases which have been referred for “further review and potential prosecution” for non-citizens registering to vote.

In Pennsylvania, a glitch with electronic touchscreens in state drivers’ licence centres wrongly showed non-citizens the option to register to vote while getting new or updated licences.

This glitch was in the system between 2006 and 2017, and has since been resolved.

In 2017, Pennsylvania state election officials said non-citizen immigrants might have cast 544 ballots illegally out of more than 93 million ballots in elections dating back to 2000.

In Georgia, a review of voter rolls in 2022 found 1,634 people “had attempted to register to vote” but “were not able to be verified”, out of about seven million registered voters.

“Voter fraud and illegal immigrants voting is so rare that this myth is to sow doubt in election integrity and lay the groundwork to cast doubt on the election outcome,” argues Ms Singh.

BBC Verify has identified 118 paid-for ads posted on Facebook and Instagram since 1 September by Republican candidates or by Republican political groups which claim widespread voter registration of non-citizens, or which raise the question of whether non-citizens should be allowed to vote in elections.

The ads we identified were shown between 7.8 and nine million times on the platforms.

One – which had more than 2.4 million views – invites users to participate in a poll with the question: “Should illegal immigrants be allowed to vote?”

Another ad posted by Congresswoman Ann Wagner, with more than 900,000 views, invites users to answer the same question.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

A new movie that won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival has made its debut in London, as its breakout star continues to gain significant Oscars momentum.

Anora was awarded the Palme d’Or at the French film festival in May, launching its lead actress Mikey Madison into the race for best actress at next year’s Academy Awards.

The film tells the story of a 23-year-old woman who is working as a stripper in New York when she meets the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch.

In a storyline with slight echoes of 1990’s Pretty Woman, the man pays Anora to move into his mansion and become his girlfriend, and the pair enjoy a whirlwind romance.

The film has received highly positive reviews, with critics agreed on Madison’s impressive performance in the lead role.

“If there was ever a time to roll out the red carpet and put an actress on the map, this is it,” said Screen Rant’s Patrice Witherspoon. “Madison is a star.”

The actress gives a “terrific performance”, agreed the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw, adding that the actress “owns the screen”.

Madison may not yet be a household name, but she is also not a newcomer, having perviously appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and the 2022 reboot of horror franchise Scream.

But, as the Evening Standard’s Maddy Mussey put it: “Anora is essentially her big break, and boy does she nail it.”

Madison and director Sean Baker walked the red carpet ahead of the film’s UK premiere at the Royal Festival Hall on Friday.

Anora is directed by Sean Baker, the US film-maker behind Tangerine, The Florida Project and Red Rocket.

The movie also stars Mark Eidelstein as the boy, Ivan, known as Vanya to his friends, and Karren Karagulian as Toros, the Russian minder tasked with keeping an eye on him on behalf of Ivan’s parents.

But one of the film’s best and most understated performances comes from Yura Borisov as Igor, a tough but kindly henchman who works for Toros.

In addition to Madison’s own awards chances, Borisov could have a shot at a best supporting actor when the Oscar nominations are announced in January.

Like several of Baker’s previous films, Anora highlights and explores the lives of sex workers.

While developing the movie, the director consulted current and former real-life sex workers, including Andrea Werhun, who wrote a memoir in 2018 about her experiences.

Baker told Indiewire: “I think no matter what subject matter you’re tackling, if you’re not a part of that world or a part of that community, it’s vital to have consultants, who have that life experience, on board and make sure that you’re representing [it] in an accurate way, a responsible way, a respectful way.”

At a launch event in London earlier this week, Madison said Werhun’s memoir “really spoke to me… I was really intrigued and obsessed with her writing”.

She also discussed other ways she prepared for the role, explaining: “I went to New York early, about a month early, so that I could live in Brighton Beach and immerse myself more in that neighbourhood. Also, so that I could fine-tune the accent.”

Ed Potton of the Times described Anora as “a wonderful movie from one of the world’s best independent directors” in a five-star review.

“Every character in Anora might be an utter nightmare, but they’re also a joy to spend time with,” said the Telegraph’s Robbie Collin, also awarding five stars and adding: “Nothing and no-one here can draw the spotlight from Madison.”

However, some felt the film’s run time of two hours 20 minutes could have been cut down.

“Anora takes viewers on a frenetic and wild ride that goes on for a little too long as it zig zags to an inevitable outcome,” said Carla Hay of Culture Mix. “This foul-mouthed movie’s best asset is the acting.”

But Hannah Lodge of Screen Rex concluded: “Anora is as deeply funny as it is stressful, as loud as it is heartfelt, and as chaotic as it is meticulous. This is Baker’s best film to date.”

“Now I think about it, I definitely chose the wrong industry.”

Xiao Chen*, who works in a private equity firm in China’s financial hub, Shanghai, says he is having a rough year.

For his first year in the job, he says he was paid almost 750,000 yuan ($106,200; £81,200). He was sure he would soon hit the million-yuan mark.

Three years on, he is earning half of what he made back then. His pay was frozen last year, and an annual bonus, which had been a big part of his income, vanished.

The “glow” of the industry has worn off, he says. It had once made him “feel fancy”. Now, he is just a “finance rat”, as he and his peers are mockingly called online.

China’s once-thriving economy, which encouraged aspiration, is now sluggish. The country’s leader, Xi Jinping, has become wary of personal wealth and the challenges of widening inequality.

Crackdowns on billionaires and businesses, from real estate to technology to finance, have been accompanied by socialist-style messaging on enduring hardship and striving for China’s prosperity. Even celebrities have been told to show off less online.

Loyalty to the Communist Party and country, people are told, now trumps the personal ambition that had transformed Chinese society in the last few decades.

Mr Chen’s swanky lifestyle has certainly felt the pinch from this U-turn. He traded a holiday in Europe for a cheaper option: South East Asia. And he says he “wouldn’t even think about” buying again from luxury brands like “Burberry or Louis Vuitton”.

But at least ordinary workers like him are less likely to find themselves in trouble with the law. Dozens of finance officials and banking bosses have been detained, including the former chairman of the Bank of China.

On Thursday, the former vice-governor of the People’s Bank of China, Fan Yifei, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, according to state media.

Fan was found guilty of accepting bribes worth more than 386 million yuan ($54.6m; £41.8m).

The industry is under pressure. While few companies have publicly admitted it, pay cuts in banking and investment firms are a hot topic on Chinese social media.

Posts about falling salaries have generated millions of views in recent months. And hashtags like “changing career from finance” and “quitting finance” have gained more than two million views on the popular social media platform Xiaohongshu.

Some finance workers have been seeing their income shrink since the start of the pandemic but many see one viral social media post as a turning point.

In July 2022, a Xiaohongshu user sparked outrage after boasting about her 29-year-old husband’s 82,500-yuan monthly pay at top financial services company, China International Capital Corporation.

People were stunned by the huge gap between what a finance worker was getting paid and their own wages. The average monthly salary in the country’s richest city, Shanghai, was just over 12,000 yuan.

It reignited a debate about incomes in the industry that had been started by another salary-flaunting online user earlier that year.

Those posts came just months after Xi called for “common prosperity” – a policy to narrow the growing wealth gap.

In August 2022, China’s finance ministry published new rules requiring firms to “optimise the internal income distribution and scientifically design the salary system”.

The following year, the country’s top corruption watchdog criticised the ideas of “finance elites” and the “only money matters” approach, making finance a clearer target for the country’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign.

The changes came in a sweeping but discreet way, according to Alex*, a manager at a state-controlled bank in China’s capital, Beijing.

“You would not see the order put into written words – even if there is [an official] document it’s certainly not for people on our level to see. But everyone knows there is a cap on it [salaries] now. We just don’t know how much the cap is.”

Alex says employers are also struggling to deal with the pace of the crackdown: “In many banks, the orders could change unexpectedly fast.”

“They would issue the annual guidance in February, and by June or July, they would realise that the payment of salaries has exceeded the requirement. They then would come up with ways to set up performance goals to deduct people’s pay.”

Mr Chen says his workload has shrunk significantly as the number of companies launching shares on the stock market has fallen. Foreign investment has decreased in China, and domestic businesses have also turned cautious – because of the crackdowns and weak consumption.

In the past his work often involved new projects that would bring money into his firm. Now his days are mostly filled with chores like organising the data from his previous projects.

“The morale of the team has been very low, the discussion behind the bosses backs are mostly negative. People are talking what to do in three to five years.”

It’s hard to estimate if people are leaving the industry in large numbers, although there have been some layoffs. Jobs are also scarce in China now, so even a lower-paying finance job is still worth keeping.

But the frustration is evident. A user on Xiaohongshu compared switching jobs to changing seats – except, he wrote, “if you stand up you might find your seat is gone.”

Mr Chen says that it’s not just the authorities that have fallen out of love with finance workers, it’s Chinese society in general.

“We are no longer wanted even for a blind date. You would be told not to go once they hear you work in finance.”

What if someone told you mermaids were real?

Forget the fish tails, we mean women capable of holding their breath for minutes on end as they dive under the sea several hundred times a day.

These are the haenyeo divers of South Korea, a community of women from Jeju Island who have been free-diving (without oxygen) to harvest seafood for centuries.

Now, with most of them in their 60s, 70s and 80s, their traditions and way of life are in danger as fewer younger women take up the profession, and with the ocean potentially changing beyond recognition.

It’s these facts that prompted US-Korean film-maker Sue Kim to team up with female education advocate and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafazai to share their story with the world, in their film The Last of the Sea Women.

The daughter of Korean immigrants, US-born Kim first came across the haenyeo when she was a child, holidaying in South Korea.

“I was so struck by them for the same reasons that you see in the film – they were so incredibly bold and vibrant and confident. They were also so loud… fighting and laughing, and they just gave off this very big energy and occupied their space so unapologetically,” says Kim.

“I just fell in love with that entire vibe and big energy when I was a little girl. And so I grew up staying fascinated with them. They were a version of Korean womanhood that I was inspired by and wanted to emulate,” she adds.

“I was so shocked that I did not know about the haenyeo, like so many people did not know, I said yes straight away,” explains Malala, who was a producer on the film.

“The story really took on an urgency about 10 years ago when I found out that this was probably the last generation of the haenyeo,” explains Kim. “It became more of an urgent mandate to make sure someone documented… while we still had them and while they could still tell us their own story in their own words.”

The film follows the women going about their gruelling work during the harvest season and examines the challenges they face both in and out of the water.

They head out to dive at 6am daily. They hold their breath for a couple of minutes, come back up to the surface and go back down again – between 100 and 300 times a session.

Just imagine the fitness levels. They harvest for four hours and then spend another three or four shelling and preparing their catch.

There are various theories as to why women began to take over this traditionally male job so many years ago. The Visit Jeju website states that the number of men was low overall in the population due to a high portion of them dying on the rough seas while boat fishing.

As a result, there weren’t many men to harvest the ocean, so women gradually took over the job.

This is the first major documentary about the haenyeo and Kim says it was hard to gain access.

“The haenyeo communities, they’re very insular,” she explains.

“They’re rural communities that live in fishing villages. They don’t interact with the cities of Jeju much.”

Kim found a researcher who had a history with NGOs and had contacts in the community.

“So this woman… introduced us, then I went down and I basically spent two weeks with… the Haenyeo communities and really gaining their trust. And I did that by mostly listening.

“They actually wanted to talk about all the things that were happening to them.

“They wanted to talk about the fact that they felt that they were on the verge of extinction. They wanted to talk about what was happening to the ocean that no-one seemed to know about or care about.”

Kim says she had to reassure the women that she wouldn’t stereotype them or pity them for working into old age.

“They love working! They think they’re so strong and empowered by doing so.”

Kim told them she would show them in their “true power.”

“‘I promise I will not take on this sad grandma trope because that’s not how I see you, I see you as heroes’,” she explained to the group.

“After that, we became a family.”

The risks are big. There is no insurance available for the job, as it’s too dangerous. And now the ocean – and the women’s livelihood – is under threat.

Global warming is resulting in less sea life, particularly in shallow water; diving deeper is more difficult without oxygen.

Much of the film focuses on the women’s protests against the radioactive water from Japan’s Fukishima plant being discharged into the ocean (Jeju borders Japan), which takes one of the haeneyeos, Soon Deok Jang, directly to the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The message from experts is, overwhelmingly, that the release is safe and it got the green light from the International Atomic Energy Agency – but not all scientists agree on the impact it will have.

While the haenyeo do harvest marine life, there are regulations in place about when they’re allowed to harvest certain seafood, which helps to protect the ecosystem.

Another reason they don’t use oxygen tanks is because “they believe that by holding their breath, that will allow them the natural amount of marine life that they should harvest”, Kim explains, which helps avoid overfishing.

Perhaps the bigger threat though, is from within, with fewer younger women choosing to pursue this difficult profession.

A training school was set up in the early 2000s to try to stem the dwindling numbers but only 5% of those attending go on to become haenyeos.

All is not lost though. The film introduces us to two young women from another island who have found a following on social media and point out the flexible hours the job can offer around family life. One of them had to learn to swim at the age of 30 to do the job.

The older women meet with them for festivals and protests – they call them “their babies” while they are named “aunties” in return.

Yousafzai is inspired: “When I look at the haenyeo and how they work together, it just reminds me of the collective work that women are doing everywhere else, including the advocacy that Afghan woman are doing to raise awareness of the systematic oppression they are facing.”

“When a girl is watching this documentary, I want her to believe in herself and realise that she can do anything. She can stay under the water for two to three minutes without oxygen,” she says. “And of course I still have to take some swimming classes to learn how to swim! I’m at point zero, but it has inspired me to consider swimming.”

A row over a luxury hotel, a mini-bar tab and two women who just cannot seem to agree.

Yes, you guessed it. Wagatha Christie is back.

The dispute between Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy returned to court this week, exactly five years after the viral social media post that sparked their high-profile libel battle.

During the High Court trial in 2022, the world’s media watched on, gripped by details of a whodunit worthy of author Agatha Christie.

Rooney had accused her fellow footballer’s wife of leaking private information about her to the press, and eventually emerged victorious.

Vardy was ordered to pay 90% of her rival’s legal costs, which now stand at more than £1.8m.

This week, the showdown returned to court as Vardy tried to reduce that bill.

It’s a saga worthy of a soap opera, and one that taps into Brits’ fascination with the Wags (wives and girlfriends) of footballers. It has already spawned multiple documentaries. And it’s not over yet.

“We’ll be back again at some point next year for an excruciating line-by-line process of going through the costs,” says media lawyer Jonathan Coad, who has followed the case from the start.

“It’s ridiculous,” he adds. “It’s the last place you want to end up.”

Here is what we learned after another week of the now infamous Wagatha row.

This week’s hearing was a “close-run thing”, but in the end, “the winner appears to be Coleen again”, says Coad.

Vardy’s barrister argued there were various reasons why the amount of money she has to pay should be reduced.

But in a ruling on Tuesday, senior costs judge Andrew Gordon-Saker dismissed a number of Vardy’s claims.

He found that Rooney’s legal team had not committed any misconduct, but reached that decision “on balance and, I have to say, only just”. However, that meant it was “not an appropriate case” to reduce the amount of money that Vardy should pay.

The following day, the judge ordered Vardy to pay Rooney £100,000 this month.

That is not additional to what she already owes. Vardy has already paid £800,000 so far, and the £100,000 is a further payment towards the eventual total bill.

“Vardy took a risk. It hasn’t worked, and now she’s come away paying another £100,000,” says Coad.

In 2022, the world’s media descended on London as Rooney and Vardy, flanked by their husbands, arrived at the High Court.

Even the US press were gripped, as they tried to make sense of why two “soccer wives” were going head-to-head.

This week, neither woman showed up, leaving their barristers to fight it out for them.

Naturally, that meant less of a media circus outside the court. And inside, where I was, there were fewer fireworks than last time.

Britain’s tabloids still had a field day, of course. The headline of the week surely goes to Metro, which dubbed the whole affair “Wagatha Thrifty”.

But the tenor of this hearing was much more muted. There was no cross-examination, and the arguments were less incendiary – although the two KCs did still have a decent fight.

Cost hearings are dry at the best of times. Even with the famous names involved, there is only so excited anyone can get about the intricate details of chargeable rates.

Having said that, there were still some juicy details.

One of the headline-grabbing claims to emerge involved a stay at a five-star hotel in London.

Vardy’s lawyer said Rooney’s total legal bill from the 2022 case included costs for a lawyer staying “at the Nobu Hotel, incurring substantial dinner and drinks charges as well as mini-bar charges”.

The hotel brand – a spin-off from the high-end Japanese restaurants – advertises itself as being “among the top luxury lifestyle hotel chains”.

But on Tuesday, Rooney’s lawyer Robin Dunne, said the spending claims were “factually inaccurate”.

“Yesterday morning, the Sun ran a front-page headline which dealt with mini-bar charges,” he said.

“It also was reported around the world, over and over again on Twitter, or X,” he said, adding that the charges had been taken as “evidence of the defendant spending wildly”.

He said a “modest” hotel had initially been booked for the lawyer.

But on the first night, there had been no wi-fi or working shower, so the lawyer transferred to the Nobu after Rooney’s agent said she could get reduced rates, he said.

A room at Nobu ordinarily costs £600 but was charged at £295, which he said was the same price as a room at a Premier Inn.

There was also a claim that £225 had been spent on a food and mini-bar tab.

But Mr Dunne insisted the mini-bar bill actually came to just £7 for two bottles of water, and said the lawyer had not eaten at the Nobu restaurant during his stay.

Vardy’s team also claimed it was “unreasonable” for Rooney to use Stewarts, a London-based law firm, and that she should have sought one near where she lived in north-west England.

But that was rejected by the judge.

“This was always going to be a high-profile case and it attracted significant press coverage both here and elsewhere,” Mr Gordon-Saker said on Tuesday.

“Defamation is still a specialist area and most of the firms who specialise in defamation are based in central London.”

He added that it was a “reasonable choice” to instruct a solicitor in central London, given the size of the claim and the “reputations at stake”.

The judge also rejected Vardy’s claim that it had been unreasonable for Rooney to consult her barrister on 30 occasions, at a cost of nearly £500,000.

He said that Vardy’s conduct – in particular destroying evidence – “adds to the complexity” and “clearly justifies rates in excess of the guidelines” for the most experienced lawyers.

But he did say less experienced lawyers should have been charged at a lower hourly rate.

This battle is far from over yet.

This week’s hearing dealt with points of principle. There will now be a line-by-line assessment of costs, which will take place next spring at the earliest.

And it is still possible that Vardy will end up paying less than the estimated £1.6m she was instructed to pay, with some rulings yet to be made.

The irony is, as Coad notes, both sides will have invested even more money in this latest battle.

And the judge’s parting shot carried, perhaps, just a hint of exasperation.

“The parties need to get on with this and put it behind them,” he said.

“The drama of a player shouting and making a challenge, and the crowd watching the screen and waiting for Hawk-Eye to make a decision, all of that drama is now lost.”

David Bayliss is describing a scene he saw play out many times as a Wimbledon line judge – and one which the Championships won’t witness again.

Just as with the many other sports that have embraced technology, the All England Club is waving goodbye to human line judges from next summer, after 147 years, in the name of “maximum accuracy”.

But does this risk minimising the drama Mr Bayliss fondly remembers being involved in – and which so many of us love watching?

“It is sad that we won’t be going back as line judges,” he says. “The game has moved on, but never say never.”

He served as a line judge and umpire at Wimbledon for 22 years, calling the lines when Roger Federer won his first Grand Slam, in 2003. Being hit by the ball at over 100mph is, he jokes, “quite sore”.

While he’s sad to see line judges go, he says it’s hard to argue with the logic.

“Essentially, we have a human being and technology calling the same line. The electronic line call can overrule the human eye. Therefore, why do we need the line judge to make a call at all?”

Of course, even before Wimbledon’s announcement this week, technology played a big part at the tournament through Hawk-Eye, the ball-tracking system, and organisers are following the example set by others.

It was announced last year that the ATP tour would replace the human line judge with an electronic system from 2025. The US Open and the Australian Open have also scrapped them. The French Open will be the only major tournament left with human line judges.

As the BBC’s tennis correspondent Russell Fuller outlined, players will intermittently complain about electronic line calling, but there has been consensus for a while that the technology is now more accurate and consistent than a human.

Mr Bayliss acknowledges there is a “high degree of trust in the electronic line calling”.

He points out: “The only frustration the player can show is at themselves for not winning the point.”

Whether the tech works is one thing – but whether it’s worth it is another.

Dr Anna Fitzpatrick, who played at Wimbledon between 2007 and 2013, says her “first feeling on hearing the news about the Wimbledon line judges was of sadness”.

“A human element of sport is one of the things that draws us in,” the lecturer in sports performance and analysis at Loughborough University tells the BBC.

While she recognises technology can improve the performance of athletes, she hopes we always keep it in check.

Of course, tennis is far from alone in its embrace of tech.

Cricket is another sport where it plays a big role and – according to Dr Tom Webb, an expert in the officiating of sport at Coventry University – it has been driven by broadcasters.

He says that as soon as televised coverage showed sporting moments in a way that an umpire couldn’t see, it led to calls for change in the game.

“I think we need to be careful,” he tells the BBC.

In particular, he says, we need to think carefully about what aspect of human decision-making is automated.

He argues that in football, goal-line technology has been accepted because, like electronic line calls in tennis, it is a measurement – it’s either a goal or it’s not.

However, many people are frustrated with the video assistant referee (VAR) system, with decisions taking too long and fans in the stadium not being aware of what is happening.

“The issue with VAR is it’s not necessarily relying on how accurate the technology is. It’s still reliant on individual judgment and subjectivity, and how you interpret the laws of the game,” he adds.

Of course, there is a temptation to think of technology as something new in sport.

Anything but, according to Prof Steve Haake of Sheffield Hallam University, who says sport has always evolved with the tech of the day, with even the Greeks adapting the sprint race in the ancient Olympics.

“Right back from the very start of sports, it was a spectacle, but we also wanted it to be fair.

“That’s what these technologies are about. That’s the trick that we’ve got to get right.”

Technology is still adding to the spectacle of sport – think of the 360-degree swirling photography used to illustrate the dramatic conclusion to the men’s 100m final at this summer’s Olympics.

And while it is true that some traditional jobs, like line judges, may be disappearing, tech is also fuelling the creation of other jobs – particularly when it comes to data.

Take the example of sports analysis system Opta, which allows both athletes and fans to have streams of data to measure performance, a process which artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating.

While it might not be the same as a tennis player’s emotional outburst at a line judge, its advocates argue it allows a more intense connection of its own kind, as people are able to learn ever more about the sports and players they love.

And, of course, the frequent controversies over systems like VAR bring plenty of scope for tech to get the heart pumping.

“People love sport because of the drama,” says Patrick Lucey, chief scientist of Stats Perform, the company behind Opta.

“Technology is kind of making it stronger.”

The Piano Lesson has become the latest August Wilson play to be adapted for the screen by Denzel Washington and his family.

But while the Hollywood star has directed, starred in or produced film adaptations such as Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in recent years, it’s his two sons who are taking centre stage for the latest screen adaptation.

The Piano Lesson is directed by filmmaker Malcolm Washington, while his actor brother John David Washington plays one of the leading roles. Their father Denzel serves as producer.

Speaking ahead of the its UK premiere at the London Film Festival, John David Washington described the film’s team as “fearless” in their efforts to produce a unique interpretation of the 1987 play.

Malcolm and John David Washington’s two sisters are also involved in The Piano Lesson – Katia Washington is an executive producer, while Olivia Washington, who recently starred opposite Kit Harington in the West End show Slave Play, has an acting role.

Speaking at the Telluride Film Festival last month, actress and Denzel’s wife Pauletta Pearson Washington acknowledged the film was a family affair, joking: “All my babies are involved in this.”

The movie could also see actress Danielle Deadwyler join the Oscars race, two years after she was widely considered to have been unfairly snubbed following her acclaimed performance in Till.

Set in 1936 Pittsburgh in the aftermath of the Great Depression, the Netflix film follows a brother and sister who disagree about what to do with a family heirloom piano they have inherited.

Daughter Berniece (Deadwyler) has not played the piano since the siblings’ mother died. Instead, it sits in her living room and serves as a reminder of what her ancestors endured as slaves.

The faces of earlier generations of the family have been carved into the piano’s wood. But while Berniece refuses even to move the piano, her brother Boy Willie (John David Washington) wants to sell it in order to buy land.

Speaking at Deadline’s Contender’s London event, John David Washington described the cast and production team’s attitude as “fearless”.

“It was so fearless because, right away, we were like, OK, we’re making film,” he said. “There’s a lot of versions of this story that exist, and this one is ours.

“We’re going to pass it through our filter of honesty and truth and vulnerability, put ourselves on the line, and fine-tune it to the point that, when you get to the end, the spirit of it is still there.”

Deadwyler also praised Malcolm Washington, saying the director “gave us free rein, particularly during rehearsals, and those ideas and the way that we engaged each other enabled him to craft whatever he did with the camera”.

The new adaptation of The Piano Lesson could become part of the coming film awards race. Washington’s two other August Wilson adaptations, Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, were Oscar nominated in 2017 and 2021 respectively.

But while those two movies felt like filmed plays set largely in one location, The Piano Lesson has much more visual variety. Malcolm Washington has made efforts to make it a more cinematic adaptation.

Wilson was a US playwright known for chronicling the lives and experiences of black Americans. His other works include Jitney, Two Trains Running and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.

The Piano Lesson was revived on Broadway in 2022, and many of the actors who appeared in it on stage have transferred to the film.

However, Till star Deadwyler has joined the cast for the screen adaptation, and many critics have singled out her performance for praise.

“While most of the cast is the same that appeared on Broadway, the movie is undeniably Deadwyler’s show,” said Variety’s Peter Debruge.

The actress “anchors the film with a performance of tremendous courage and heft”, agreed Entertainment Weekly’s Maureen Lee Lenker.

Deadwyler was widely expected to take one of the five best actress slots when that year’s Oscar nominations were announced in January 2023.

However, a combination of events meant she missed out on a place in the category, such a successful grassroots campaign to score Andrea Riseborough a nomination and Michelle Williams’ decision to submit herself as a lead actress instead of supporting.

That means The Piano Lesson could be seen by Academy voters as a second chance to recognise Deadwyler’s work, potentially placing her in this year’s best supporting actress race.

As a whole, the film has received broadly positive review from critics at the festivals it has played so far, although some were more lukewarm in their response.

“It’s clear that Washington takes the task of adapting Wilson quite seriously, and there’s much to admire about The Piano Lesson,” said the Hollywood Reporter’s Lovia Gyarkye.

“But the duty can also be limiting, and there are times when The Piano Lesson is too faithful, struggling to shake the spectre of the stage.”

“Malcolm Washington shows himself to be a capable director, expanding this story in the ways he can while staying true to the source material,” wrote Collider’s Ross Bonaime.

The Wrap’s Carla Renata said the film “serves as a reminder that generational wealth is not just monetary, but emotionally and genetically tied to our ancestors”.

But IndieWire’s Caleb Hammond said: “While this version contains its fair share of standout sequences along with Oscar-ready performances, the film never fully coalesces into an effective, singular, emotional narrative.”

The Piano Lesson marks Malcolm Washington’s directorial debut. In an interview with Variety last month, his father Denzel said: “I’m extremely proud of Malcolm.

“From early on, I knew he had a vision. I’ve learned through my son the difference between making a film and being a filmmaker. I’ve directed four films… but I didn’t know what to do necessarily. Malcolm has studied filmmaking. He’s an academic.

“When he was younger, he would read my scripts and ask insightful questions. His mother is a huge film buff, so he – like all my kids – grew up watching movies. He always had a desire to make films, and now he’s doing it.”

While Malcolm has stayed behind the camera, viewers may be more familiar with John David Washington, the actor who played the lead role in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and has also appeared in Amsterdam, BlacKkKlansman and Malcolm & Marie opposite Zendaya.

Artist Natalie Chapman grew up feeling stigmatised that she lived in a council house, received free school meals and had a parent in and out of rehab.

“You face prejudice from people, people have ideas about people who live in in council houses,” she said.

In her most personal project to date, she has turned her childhood memories into a collection of bold, autobiographical portrait paintings called All The Stories I Could Never Tell.

“I don’t want my exhibition to be like poverty porn, because it’s not,” she said. “There’s a lot of love within those paintings and there’s a lot of support.”

Natalie, 43, grew up mostly on the mid Wales coast in Ceredigion, with “very, very loving” parents but money was scarce, her attendance at school was sporadic, and her late father’s drug addiction meant time in rehab.

Before getting social housing in the early 1980s the family lived in a home with no electricity, using paraffin lamps for light.

Later the large family bought a one-bedroom cottage where they all lived in one room before it was repossessed.

“When I was really little I remember friends being like, ‘my mum says that we’re not allowed to play with you because you’re a hippie and you can’t come round to our house’,” she said.

As a young teenager Natalie took part in a France exchange programme, but on her return home the French student wrote to her suggesting she was not going to be staying with her family when she came to Wales.

Natalie decided to ask a teacher about it.

“She sort of just blurted it out in front of everybody, ‘we’ve decided your family’s not suitable, so she won’t be coming stay with you’,” recalled Natalie.

Instead the student stayed with a child from a “well-to-do family”, she said.

“It relayed back to me ‘I’m not deserving of this chance’ and I think there’s so many situations and scenarios that actually still exist, a lot of those things haven’t changed.”

Natalie said only recently she saw another example of this kind of attitude towards people who live in social housing.

A family member posted on social media that she was looking for someone to swap council houses with her as she was looking for more space. She then received a barrage of negative responses.

“It was like, ‘you’ve got a council house, you should be grateful’,” said Natalie.

“It’s almost like you’re not allowed to want to better yourself and things are built to keep you there.”

One of her paintings is called ‘If only you baked cakes and I went to school’ and depicts a young Natalie in her childhood bedroom.

“I remember wanting those things when I was that age,” said Natalie.

“I remember thinking, ‘God, why isn’t my mum wearing an apron and making scones?,” she laughed.

“The pressure of the outside world was seeping in… but she didn’t make scones because we didn’t have money to do baking and I didn’t go to school because I didn’t feel nurtured there and I didn’t feel that there was a proper space for me there.”

Another of her paintings is called ‘Club Tropicana Dreams’ and is “kind of about mine and my mum’s relationship” and also is a reference to Club Tropicana, the hit by 1980s pop superstars Wham!.

“Dreams are important and if you lose your dreams you’re lost,” she said.

“When you’re having to think about where your next meal is coming from, how you’re going to survive next week until your next payment comes through, can you afford to run a car… you forget what you wanted your life to be or what you wanted it to feel like.”

Natalie said she was able to experience art as a child because of a man called Chris Robertson, who had a bus and would pick up her and other children living in difficult circumstances and take them to arts activities.

At 16 she left school with few GCSEs. She worked in a care home and a pub until she was 19, then got three A-levels at a further education college before having her four children, now aged 22, 17, 14, and six.

It was not until she was in her 30s that she went to University of Wales Trinity Saint David, where she gained a degree in fine art.

At the time she was a single parent with three children under the age of six.

“My friend who was living in a council house on the opposite side of the estate to me was like, ‘I’ll look after the kids for you’,” she said.

Her painting Sink or Swim depicts her and that best friend, who made getting her degree possible.

Today Natalie makes her living selling her art online, teaching and framing out of Gallery Gwyn in Aberaeron.

Her current show, which is at Canfas Art Gallery in Cardigan in Ceredigion until 30 November, is her ninth solo exhibition.

She said her career had been forged through “absolute perseverance”.

Using her living room as a studio, she creates her paintings using old photos which “get reimagined” using charcoal and acrylic and occasionally mixed media such as spray paint and pastels.

“My work is autobiographical because I don’t really know how not to be,” she said.

“But there’s that child that’s still in me that’s like, ‘oh, don’t tell anybody the truth because they’ll think you’re this or that’ – that doesn’t ever really leave you,” she said.

She hopes people recognise themselves in her art and wants it to spark conversation.

She is on a mission to “make the art world more inclusive and approachable” and works for a charity offering free art and music classes to 11-19-year-olds.

One way to achieve this, she believes, is ensuring all schools offer children the opportunity to study creative subjects at school, such as music, textiles and drama.

“The arts have become expensive hobbies for the rich when it should be accessible to all,” she said.

She also wants to see more galleries taking a risk on the art they show.

“There’s a lot of deprivation in Wales, there’s lots of stories that aren’t being told on gallery walls,” she said.

“Who better to have interesting stories about their lives than people who’ve gone through things – to me the most interesting thing is people who face challenges and come through them, that’s where the richness of life is.”

While millions of people in Florida fled Hurricane Milton, Mike Smalls Jr ventured into the violent winds in Tampa, Florida, holding a blow-up mattress, an umbrella and a pack of ramen noodles.

He went outside Wednesday evening as the storm pounded the US state and livestreamed on the platform Kick. He told his online audience if he reached 10,000 views, he would launch himself and his mattress into the water.

Once he hit the threshold, he took the plunge. Then he got worried: “The wind started picking up and I don’t know how to swim…so I had to grab on to the tree.”

The area was under an evacuation order – meaning residents had been advised by local officials to leave their homes, for their own safety.

Mike’s hour-long stream from Tampa Bay has more than 60,000 views on the streaming platform Kick, and has been seen by millions after being clipped up and posted on other social-media platforms, including X.

Live streaming – filming yourself in real time – has become increasingly lucrative for content creators looking to make quick money.

But these streams can involve dangerous stunts, as content creators try to stand out in an increasingly competitive environment.

Many people have criticised Mike’s behaviour on social media, suggesting he’s risking his life for clicks.

He made it safely – and told me he’d do the risky stunt again, “if the price is right”.

When asked about the backlash, he admits what he did was “controversial” and acknowledges that some might think he is risking not just his life, but the lives of those who might have to save him. But, he added: “From a content creator standpoint, people like to see kind of edgy things.”

• ‘The tornado was inside our house’ – Florida reels after Milton
• ‘It’s eerie to see its power’ – Florida woman documents 20 hours in hurricane’s path in messages to BBC
• Helene is deadliest mainland US hurricane since Katrina

The Tampa Police Department said in a statement: “Ignoring mandatory evacuation orders puts lives at risk. When individuals disregard these warnings, they not only jeopardise their own safety, but also create additional challenges for first responders who are working tirelessly to save lives.

“Intentionally placing oneself in harm’s way could divert critical resources and delay vital rescue operations for others.”

Hundreds of people have died during this year’s hurricane season, which has devastated parts of the US south-eastern coast.

Millions had been forced to evacuate as Hurricane Milton, which at its peak was measured as a category 5 storm, made landfall on Wednesday along Florida’s Gulf Coast. At least 16 people have died in the storm, millions are still without power and thousands had to be rescued by first responders as water overtook homes.

Hurricanes Helene and Milton have bookended an exceptionally busy period of tropical weather in the US. In less than two weeks, five hurricanes formed – not far off from what the Atlantic would typically see during an entire year.

Mike is one of a number of content creators on social media platforms, including Kick and TikTok, who have been livestreaming and making money from pulling reckless stunts and risking their lives in hurricanes.

Livestreaming content is Mike’s full-time job, he says.

Previous stunts posted on his profile include setting fireworks off inside a bedroom and winding up staff in fast-food restaurants.

His plan for livestreaming Hurricane Milton was: “Get some nice clips, and then, if things get too wild, I can, just, you know, track my little five, 10-minute walk back home,” he added.

This wasn’t the first time he’d exposed himself to danger.

A few weeks before Milton struck, he went out into Hurricane Helene – which also hit Florida – carrying a tent as a prop and livestreamed for more than five hours.

He filmed himself on his phone holding up the tent in an underpass, saying he was “going to survive the hurricane. Why? To entertain the people”.

Just metres away, the ocean was crashing over barriers.

“It’s my job just to entertain and think of creative things to entertain my chat. And if people want to, you know, if they’re inspired by what I do, I respect it,” he said, adding you have to gauge and “do things at your own risk”.

Platforms like Kick offer incentives: money for the number of views streamers get and donations from people who like what they’re doing.

Smalls Jr did not specify how much money he earned from this particular livestream, but said the metrics vary from streamers, with some making $300 to $400 per hour. He added he made enough from his latest stream to pay a few bills.

• No, Hurricane Milton was not ‘engineered’
• Explainer: Why is Hurricane Milton causing so many tornadoes in Florida

It might appear, Mike says, that he’s doing anything for views, but he says he takes safety very seriously. Despite not knowing how to swim, he insists that he assessed the risks.

He speaks with bravado after surviving the natural disaster: “I stayed here, and I didn’t die and I’m chilling.”

When asked to respond to specific questions on Smalls Jr and the platform’s responsibility, Kick said it is “a fiercely creator-first platform, and we do not influence the content our creators chose to stream. However, if that content breaches our Terms of Service, or is in any way illegal, then we can impose a ban or suspension”.

They did not comment when asked about whether Smalls Jr’s action breach their specific community guidelines which detail: “Safety First: Prioritise safety for yourself, your audience, the public and anyone else involved.”

TikTok told the BBC that their monetisation guidelines lay out how some content is not eligible to earn money through LIVE features, including “content that tricks or manipulates others… exploits controversial issues to bait engagement, or exploits the suffering of vulnerable people”.

Mike’s profile – and his hurricane content – is still available.

When asked about endangering the lives of emergency workers, Smalls Jr said he knows what he’s getting himself into.

“Don’t save me,” he said. “If I do another hurricane? All right. You ain’t got to say nothing. I do not want to put your life at risk. No.”

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A 300-year-old gravestone commemorating a woman who was mauled to death by a tiger has been restored.

Hannah Twynnoy was living in Malmesbury in the 18th Century when the animal, thought to have been part of a travelling menagerie housed in a pub yard, escaped and attacked her.

Her gruesome death, aged just 33, has attracted visitors to her grave in the grounds of Malmesbury Abbey ever since.

The inscription on her headstone had become so illegible that, prompted by a local campaign, masonry restorers were brought in to spruce it up.

Hannah Twynnoy was working as a servant in the White Lion Inn when she died on 23 October 1703.

Believed to be the first person to be killed by a tiger in England, the exact nature of her death is unknown as nothing was written about it until about 100 years later.

However, according to local history, the pub accommodated wild beasts for exhibition, one of which was a tiger.

Despite being told regularly not to tease the animals, it is believed that Hannah taunted the tiger, which lunged at her, pulled its fixing from the wall and “tore her to pieces”.

Local historian Christina Staff told BBC Wiltshire that it was unlikely Hannah’s family would have been able to afford an elaborate headstone and somebody else would have paid for her burial.

“It would have cost a fair bit to put that (the headstone) there, but maybe the people who were responsible for her dying, through their guilt, could have supplied it,” she said.

A poem carved on the stone includes the line, “For tyger fierce took life away”; a detail which has regularly drawn curious onlookers to the graveyard.

“(Her headstone) might not be contemporary; it could have been a bit later when people realised the story brought trade to the town,” added Ms Staff.

Malmesbury undertaker Chris Brooks said: “The restoration all came about because you couldn’t really make out the inscription properly.

“Somebody wrote into the community magazine, the Jackdaw, and then everyone became involved.

“All the letters have been repainted by hand. We wanted to protect the lichen and to make sure the stone was still in keeping with the surroundings.”

US singer and actress Selena Gomez joined her co-stars on the red carpet at the London Film Festival on Friday, for the UK premiere of her Oscar-tipped film Emilia Pérez.

The Spanish-language musical was one of the breakout hits of the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, where Gomez and three of her co-stars were jointly named best actress.

The others – Zoe Saldaña, Adriana Paz, Karla Sofía Gascón – appeared alongside Gomez in London, where the film hopes to continue its momentum in the awards race.

Emilia Pérez follows a Mexican Cartel leader (played by Gascón), who asks a high-powered lawyer named Rita (Saldaña) to help him fake his own death.

But the reason he wants to retire and disappear from the world of crime isn’t what you might expect – the cartel leader wants to change gender and live a new life as a woman.

The rest of the film focuses on four women, including the newly-transitioned Emilia Pérez, as they each pursue their own version of happiness in modern-day Mexico.

Pérez is portrayed by Spanish trans actress Gascón, who has been tipped as a possible best actress contender in the forthcoming awards race.

Gomez plays the drug lord’s wife, who is kept in the dark about her former lover’s new identity, while Paz portrays Emilia’s new romantic interest after transitioning.

All four of the film’s stars walked the red carpet ahead of the film’s UK premiere at the Royal Festival Hall as part of the London Film Festival on Friday.

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French director Jacques Audiard came up with the idea for the film after reading a chapter in Boris Razon’s 2018 novel Écoute about a drug lord who changes identity.

Audiard went one step further for the film, and made it a story of changing gender.

“I was less interested in a change of identity to evade competitor drug barons, and more interested in the change of identity for the sake of the person she was and is,” the director told BBC News. “I was more interested in the past and what led to that transition.”

The role required someone very specific – a trans actress, who was a Spanish speaker, who could also sing and dance.

Recalling the casting process, Gascón tells BBC News: “I was contacted when I was in Mexico by a production team, and was told ‘We need an actress as crazy as you – you’re the only one who can do this role, but you need to learn five songs for tomorrow!’

“And I was like ‘OK, let’s record the whole album and we’ll go on tour as soon as you want!’” she joked. “But I did say, ‘this is going to be difficult, I’m not a singer’. But the team in the film, they worked with me incredibly, they really helped me with all the songs and made it so that we could do the best work possible.”

Asked about Gascón’s casting, Audiard added simply: “Without her there would be no film.”

Interestingly, the actress campaigned to play both the male and female roles – in other words, the character both before and after transition.

Audiard had originally intended for a different actor to play the male drug lord Manitas, because, the director explained, he was “uncomfortable asking [Gascón] to revisit something she was moving away from”.

But, Gascón recalled: “I said to Jacques, I want to play this role in the complete arc, because for me it is important to do the full part. It wouldn’t be the same film if another actor played [Manitas].”

That meant using effects and make-up such as a fake beard, she explained, so she could play the drug baron in the first section of the musical.

“This film is this film because the same actress played the complete performance,” Gascón continued. “It’s that kind of role you have once in your life and I didn’t want to lose the opportunity to play this.”

Reviews of Emilia Pérez, which is released on Netflix next month, have been generally positive so far.

“It’s a wild, gritty, glitter-soaked ride that defies convention and classification,” said Entertainment Weekly’s Maureen Lee Lenker.

She praised the film’s performances, commenting: “Selena Gomez is a welcome surprise, shedding any remaining hints of her Disney Channel origins in her portrayal of a hard-loving wife of a narco.

“The film’s climax in particular allows Gomez to shine as a dramatic actress in new ways. She conveys heartache and anguish through a tortured physicality that propels her into the unpredictable state of a woman on the verge of something dangerous.”

Asked by the BBC’s Graham Norton if it was comfortable going back to the world of singing and dancing for the musical, Gomez said: “No, because this was completely different.

“It was intricate dance moves I never knew my body could do, and it was also me playing a character so if anything I tried to avoid what I was comfortable with.”

There has also been praise for Gascón, a “wonderful discovery” who gives “a magnificent performance”, according to the Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney.

The Telegraph’s Tim Robey described the film as “amazingly confident – it’s clever, earnest, ridiculous, knowing, forceful and absolutely bonkers”, while Hoai-Tran Bui of Inverse said it was “an emotionally fulfilling triumph”.

Not all critics were as enthusiastic about the film, however.

“Emilia Pérez was originally intended to be an opera, which perhaps partly explains its saccharine sentimentality, repetitive lyrics, and diverging story branches. But that doesn’t excuse its almost random, whiplash-inducing tonal pivots,” said Slant’s Kyle Turner.

However, Lauren Bradshaw of Fangirl Freakout said: “Emilia Pérez is a magnificent, genre-bending thrill ride that transcends the typical movie construct, breathing a fresh burst of excitement into the way we think about film.”

As an actress, Gomez is best known for starring in Only Murders in the Building, but also has a successful singing career with hits including Back To You, Wolves and Love You Like a Love Song.

Her co-star Saldaña, meanwhile, has starred in a large number of blockbusters in the last two decades, with roles in the Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy franchises.

It remains to be seen whether Emilia Pérez could be a big awards player, but Academy voters may see an opportunity to recognise Saldaña’s box office success via this more critically acclaimed work.

Their co-star Adriana Paz is a Mexican actress whose credits include Not Forgotten, Hilda and La Caridad.

But the film’s breakout star is arguably Gascón, who already had a successful acting career before transitioning in 2018.

Praising her performance in his review, Rooney said: “The warmth, the joyous self-realisation, the complexity and authenticity… that illuminate [Gascón’s] characterisation no doubt owe much to the parallels in the Spanish star’s life – in her own words, she was an actor before becoming an actress, a father before becoming a mother.”

Emilia Pérez has already been selected as France’s entry for the best international feature category at the Oscars, which take place in March.

At least 200 creepy crawlies and some slitherers have accidentally made their way to the UK through parcels or luggage this year, according to an expert who rescues them.

Chris Newman, from the National Centre for Reptile Welfare (NCRW), told the BBC there seemed to be a “worrying” increase in cases, with three venomous scorpions appearing to have been shipped from China in the last month.

“We’ve had 200 stowaways this year. Twelve have been scorpions and three of those have been within the last month – the same species of scorpion from China,” he said.

It comes as a student from the University of Bristol discovered a live scorpion when she opened a clothing parcel from fast-fashion firm Shein, while a couple from Basingstoke told the BBC they were shocked to find a scorpion in a package ordered from Amazon last month.

Mr Newman said the apparent spike in cases reported to the charity has been concerning.

“In the scale of things, I’m sure there’s millions of packages coming in from China, but to have three in the last month is worrying,” he said.

However, he said it was important to see it in context, adding: “Overall, it’s a rare occurrence.”

Mr Newman described Chinese species of scorpion seen in Bristol, as “medically significant” and “very venomous”.

They could be “life threatening”, particularly for those more vulnerable, he said, but “an average adult would just have a really bad day”.

Claire and Joe Branscombe bought a treadmill from a third-party seller on Amazon with a warehouse address in China.

“Our cat was very interested in a package that had been delivered to us, we hadn’t had a chance to open it yet,” Mrs Branscombe said.

“She was scratching at the corners, so we took a closer look and to our horror a live scorpion crawled out of the box.

“We were screaming: ‘What is this?’

“We went into total shock.”

They said scientists they contacted after making the find had identified it as an scorpion.

“It’s funny, you wouldn’t bat an eyelid if one ran across you in a hot climate, but in our living room in Hampshire, we thought it was an alien,” Mrs Branscombe added.

Terrified that there could be more scorpions inside, the couple put the treadmill out in the garden as they “didn’t know what else was going to be there”.

The next morning, Mr Branscombe – armed with insect spray, gloves and other garden tools – checked it over and found no further stowaways.

The couple said they complained to both the company and to Amazon.

The company told them it had never happened before and said it was reviewing CCTV, while Amazon apologised to them for the situation and offered a partial refund on behalf of the seller.

An Amazon spokeswoman apologised and said: “Thankfully this is an incredibly rare case and we have apologised, refunded the customer, and are investigating with the third-party seller.”

Mr Newman said the three scorpions he was aware of had come from different companies.

“So it’s not the same company, but it seems to be a problem that’s occurring from China,” he said.

He said 12 scorpions which had come to the UK had been reported to NCRW this year with “most coming back in people’s luggage”.

“One lady went to Mexico and brought one back in her shoe by accident. It was a very dangerous scorpion too,” he said.

“It’s quite surprising what does actually come back. We’ve had a total of 127 different species of animals come back as stowaways.”

The centre has seen everything from a European tree frog in a home furnishings store, to a venomous spider in a case of Australian wine.

If someone finds a reptile or other exotic creature in their package or luggage, Mr Newman said “the most important thing to do is try not to touch it by hand”.

Instead, he advises people to get a glass or Tupperware to contain it. Then give them a call.

“Earlier this week, we’ve had a hermit crab that came back from Malta in a shell,” he said.

“We get lizards, scorpions, snakes, toads, frogs. We get all sorts of things come in.

“Quite often people would let them go, which is the worst thing you could do. Technically its illegal to release a non-native species in this country.”

On the scorpion found in Bristol, Mr Newman said: “They are not particularly aggressive but they will defend themselves if they feel threatened.

“And the poor little chaps just come all the way from China in a parcel so he’s been banged about so he’s probably not in the greatest mood if I’m honest.

“We are seeing more scorpions this year, from all over the world.

“If you find something in a parcel. Try to secure it, but work on the premise it could be harmful. Give us a call and we’ll give you advice on what to do from there and we’ll come to collect it.”

The centre’s emergency service operates 24/7 all year round and has 100 drop-off points across the UK. Alternatively, if it is a dangerous species, a collection service is offered.

Once the animal has been established, it is found a new home.

“Some will stay with us for education purposes, but mostly we find them new homes,” Mr Newman said.

“Those that are rare or endangered would go to zoos and institutions, others will go to private keepers.”

The service has seen a spike in the past month but this may be down to more people becoming aware of it after they signposted it on their website.

Mr Newman said he still thought “very few people find us”, adding: “I suspect we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg.”

It is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to release any creature not normally resident in Great Britain into the wild. The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology can be contacted if people find a creature they suspect is non-native.

A former Great Britain athlete has died at the age of 28, his running club has said.

Robbie Fitzgibbon, a middle distance runner, represented his country at several international events.

His club, Brighton Phoenix, described him as “one of our most cherished athletes”.

A statement said he was “a friend to many, and a source of motivation for all who had the privilege of knowing him”.

It added: “Robbie was the epitome of a runner’s runner, embodying everything we value at Phoenix.”

Robbie Fitzgibbon joined Brighton Phoenix as a junior, and through “dedication, relentless hard work, and determination”, he became a GB senior international-level athlete, the club said.

In 2019 he competed in the senior indoor European Championships, reaching the final, and went on to compete in several Diamond League races.

His coach and mentor Joel Kidger said: “Robbie was talented but, even more so, a hard worker.

“He was gritty, determined, and usually got to where he wanted.”

Charlie Grice, his training partner, paid tribute saying: “You were a true fighter who always gave your best.”

In recent years, Fitzgibbon took a step back from track running, moving from middle-distance to long distance races.

He had been preparing to run the 2025 Brighton Marathon in aid of the charity Mind.

His father Robin will now run in his place, the club has announced.

Josh Guilmant, vice chairman of Brighton Phoenix running club, said: “That is a really nice move.

“We think some of his former team mates will want to run with Robin – some of them have already said they do.”

He added that he will be looking to speak to the organisers of the marathon “to see what we can do”.

A GoFundMe that Robbie had set up to raise money for the charity Mind has now surpassed £10,000 in donations.

There has been a significant number of new donations since the club announced Robbie’s passing on Friday night.

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Kamala Harris has released her medical records, which concluded she is in “excellent health” and fit for the presidency.

Following the disclosure, the Democratic Party’s nominee to be the next US president accused Donald Trump of a lack of transparency over not releasing his own health records.

The vice-president also claimed her Republican rival “doesn’t want the American people to see whether or not he’s fit to become president”.

Without revealing Trump’s medical records, the former president’s team responded by quoting his doctor as saying that he was in “perfect and excellent health”.

The Trump campaign said the Republican nominee had a “extremely busy and active campaign schedule” and claimed Harris “does not have the stamina of President Trump”.

The trading of barbs came after the White House published a medical report that said Vice-President Harris “possesses the physical and mental resiliency” necessary to serve as president.

Dr Joshua Simmons, a US Army colonel who has been Harris’ physician for over three years, wrote that her most recent physical in April was “unremarkable” – adding that she maintains a healthy and active lifestyle.

He also noted she has a family history of colon cancer and suffers from allergies – going on to say she keeps up recommended preventative care, including having colonoscopy and annual mammograms.

Following the release of the medical records, a Harris campaign spokesman said in a post on social media: “your turn, Donald Trump”.

Ahead of a campaign event in North Carolina, Harris also sought to cast doubt on her rival’s mental acuity and how he “goes off on tangents”.

Democrats have been on the attack about the 78-year-old Trump’s age and mental fitness, after months of Republicans directing similar criticisms at President Joe Biden before he exited the race.

If elected president again in November, Trump would end his second term as the oldest serving president in US history at 82 – albeit a record that would be shared with Biden, who will be the same age when he leaves office in January.

In response to the pressure from the Harris camp, the Trump’s campaign’s communications director Steven Cheung said he had “voluntarily released” updates from his personal physician and the doctor who treated him after the assassination attempt against him this summer in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“All have concluded he is in perfect and excellent health to be Commander in Chief,” Cheung added.

He also cited a November 2023 medical letter that said Trump’s “physical exams were well within the normal range and his cognitive exams were exceptional”.

National polls suggest Harris remains slightly ahead of Trump but the numbers in battleground states are extremely close.

On Saturday morning, a message was posted on social media by the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesman warning people living in the ‘D5’ area of northern Gaza to move south. D5 is a square on the grid superimposed over maps of Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It is a block that is split into several dozen smaller areas.

The message, the latest in a series, said: “The IDF is operating with great force against the terrorist organisations and will continue to do so for a long time. The designated area, including the shelters located there, is considered a dangerous combat zone. The area must be evacuated immediately via Salah al-Din Road to the humanitarian area.”

A map is attached with a large yellow arrow pointing from block D5 down to the south of Gaza. Salah al-Din Road is the main north-south route. The message is not promising a swift return to the places people have been living in, an area that has been pulverised by a year of repeated Israeli attacks. The heart of the message is that the IDF will be using “great force… for a long time”. In other words, don’t expect to come back any time soon.

The humanitarian area designated by Israel in the message is al-Mawasi, previously an agricultural area on the coast near Rafah. It is overcrowded and no safer than many other parts of Gaza. BBC Verify has tracked at least 18 airstrikes on the area.

Hamas has sent out its own messages to the 400,000 people left in northern Gaza, an area that was once the urban heartland of the Strip with a population of 1.4m. Hamas is telling them not to move. The south, they are told, is just as dangerous. As well as that, Hamas is warning them that they will not be allowed back.

Many people appear to be staying put, despite Israeli airstrikes and artillery bombardments. When I went down to an area overlooking northern Gaza I could hear explosions and see columns of smoke rising. The intensity reminded me of the first months of the war.

Some of the people who have stayed in northern Gaza when so many others have already fled south are doing so to remain with vulnerable relatives. Others are from families with connections to Hamas. Under the laws of war, that does not automatically make them belligerents.

One tactic that has been used over the last year by civilians who want to avoid IDF operations without taking their chances in the overcrowded and dangerous south of Gaza is to move elsewhere in the north, for example from Beit Hanoun to Gaza City, while the IDF is operating near their homes or shelters. When the army moves on, they return.

The IDF is trying to stop that happening, according to BBC colleagues who are daily contact with Palestinians in Gaza. It is channelling families who are moving in one direction only, down Salah al-Din, the main road to the south.

Israel does not allow journalists to enter Gaza to report the war, except for brief, rare and closely supervised trips with the IDF. Palestinian journalists who were there on 7 October still do brave work. The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 128 Palestinian media workers in Gaza have been killed since the war began. In northern Gaza, since Israel went back on the offensive, they have been filming panic-stricken families as they flee, often with small children helping out by carrying oversized backpacks.

One of them sent out a brief interview with a woman called Manar al-Bayar who was rushing down the street carrying a toddler. She was saying as she half-walked, half-ran on the way out of Jabalia refugee camp that “they told us we had five minutes to leave the Fallujah school. Where do we go? In southern Gaza there are assassinations. In western Gaza they’re shelling people. Where do we go, oh God? God is our only chance.”

The journey is hard. Sometimes, Palestinians in Gaza say, people on the move are fired on by the IDF. It insists that Israeli soldiers observe strict rules of engagement that respect international humanitarian law.

But Medical Aid for Palestinians’ head of protection, Liz Allcock, says the evidence presented by wounded civilians suggest that they have been targeted.

“When we’re receiving patients in hospitals, a large number of those women and children and people of, if you like, non-combatant age are receiving direct shots to the head, to the spine, to the limbs, very indicative of the direct targeted attack.”

Once again, the UN and aid agencies who work in Gaza are saying that Israeli military pressure is deepening what is already a humanitarian catastrophe.

Desperate messages are being relayed from the remaining hospitals in northern Gaza, saying that they are running low on fuel to power the generators that keep the hospitals going, and keep badly wounded patients alive. Some hospitals report that their buildings have been attacked by the Israelis.

The suspicion among Palestinians, the UN and relief agencies is that the IDF is gradually adopting some or all of a new tactic to clear northern Gaza known as the “Generals’ Plan”. It was proposed by a group of retired senior officers led by Maj-Gen (ret) Giora Eiland, who is a former national security adviser.

Like most Israelis they are frustrated and angry that a year into the war Israel still has not achieved its war aims of destroying Hamas and freeing the hostages. The Generals’ Plan is a new idea that its instigators believe can, from Israel’s perspective, break the deadlock.

At its heart is the idea that Israel can force the surrender of Hamas and its leader Yahya Sinwar by increasing the pressure on the entire population of the north. The first step is to order civilians to leave along evacuation corridors that will take them south of Wadi Gaza, an east-west stream that has become a dividing line in Gaza since the Israeli invasion last October.

Giora Eiland believes Israel should have done a deal straight away to get the hostages back, even if it meant pulling out of Gaza entirely. A year later, other methods, he says, are necessary.

In his office in central Israel, he laid out the heart of the plan.

“Since we already encircled the northern part of Gaza in the past nine or 10 months, what we should do is the following thing to tell all the 300,000 residents [that the UN estimates is 400,000] who still live in the northern part of Gaza that they have to leave this area and they should be given 10 days to leave through safe corridors that Israel will provide.

“And after that time, all this area will become to be a military zone. And all the Hamas people will still, though, whether some of them are fighters, some of them are civilians… will have two choices either to surrender or to starve.”

Eiland wants Israel to seal the areas once the evacuation corridors are closed. Anyone left behind would be treated as an enemy combatant. The area would be under siege, with the army blocking all supplies of food, water or other necessities of life from going in. He believes the pressure would become unbearable and what is left of Hamas would rapidly crumble, freeing the surviving hostages and giving Israel the victory it craves.

The UN World Food Programme says that the current offensive in Gaza is having a “disastrous impact on food security for thousands of Palestinian families”. The main crossings into northern Gaza, it says, have been closed and no food aid has entered the strip since 1 October. Mobile kitchens and bakeries have been forced to stop work because of air strikes. The only functioning bakery in the north, which is supported by WFP, caught fire after it was hit by an explosive munition. The position in the south is almost as dire.

It is not clear whether the IDF has adopted the Generals’ Plan in part or in full, but the circumstantial evidence of what is being done in Gaza suggests it is at the very least a strong influence on the tactics being used against the population. The BBC submitted a list of questions to the IDF, which were not answered.

The ultra-nationalist extremists in Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet want to replace Palestinians in northern Gaza with Jewish settlers. Among many statements he’s made on the subject, the finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has said “Our heroic fighters and soldiers are destroying the evil of Hamas, and we will occupy the Gaza Strip… to tell the truth, where there is no settlement, there is no security.”

It was a phone call that ended a decades-long wait – of 56 years and eight months, to be precise.

The caller, from a police station in Pathanamthitta district in the southern Indian state of Kerala, gave unexpected news to Thomas Thomas – the body of his elder brother, Thomas Cherian, had finally been found.

Cherian, an army craftsman, was among 102 passengers on board an Indian Air Force aircraft that crashed in the Himalayas in 1968 after encountering severe weather conditions.

The plane went off the radar while it was flying over the Rohtang pass, which links the northern state of Himachal Pradesh to Indian-administered Kashmir.

For years, the IAF AN-12 aircraft was listed as missing and its fate remained a mystery.

Then in 2003, a team of mountaineers found the body of one of the passengers.

In the years since then, army search expeditions discovered eight more bodies and in 2019, the wreckage of the plane was recovered from the mountains.

A few days ago, the 1968 crash once again made headlines when the army recovered four bodies, including that of Cherian.

When the news reached the family, it felt like “the suffocation of 56 years had suddenly evaporated”, Mr Thomas told BBC Hindi.

“I was finally able to breathe again,” he says.

Cherian, the second of five children, was just 22 years old when he went missing. He had boarded the aircraft to get to his first field posting in the Himalayan region of Leh.

It was only in 2003, when the first body was found, that his status was moved from missing to dead.

“Our father died in 1990 and our mother in 1998, both waiting for news about their missing son,” says Mr Thomas.

Altogether, only 13 bodies have been recovered until now from the site of the crash.

Harsh weather conditions and the icy terrain of the region make it hard for search teams to carry out expeditions there.

The bodies of Cherian and three others – Narayan Singh, Malkan Singh and Munshiram – were found 16,000ft above sea level near the Dhaka glacier. The latest operation was jointly conducted by the Dogra Scouts – a unit of the Indian army’s Dogra regiment – and members of the Tiranga Mountain Rescue.

Officials used satellite imagery, a Recco radar and drones to locate the bodies, says Colonel Lalit Palaria, commanding officer of the Dogra Scouts.

The Recco radar, which can detect metallic objects buried in the snow at depths of about 20m, identified debris from the aircraft in the area.

The team then manually dug through the wreckage and found one body.

Three more bodies were recovered from within the crevasses of the glacier.

It was the nametag on Cherian’s uniform – “Thomas C”, with only the C of his surname visible – along with a document in his pocket that helped officials identify him.

His family says that while the grief of losing him could never fade, they are relieved to finally get some closure.

On 3 October, officials handed over Cherian’s coffin, draped in the Indian flag, to his family. A funeral service was held at a church in their village Elanthoor, a day later.

Mr Thomas says that through all the years of waiting, army officials had told them that the search was still on and that they would let them know when they found Cherian’s body.

“We really appreciate that they kept us posted all these years,” he says, adding that many other members of the extended family had joined the armed forces even after Cherian’s disappearance.

Like the Odalil family, the relatives of the other soldiers whose bodies were found recently are also dealing with the grief and relief. Many of their closest relatives, including parents and spouses, died waiting for news of them.

In the northern state of Uttarakhand, Jaiveer Singh is still processing the news. He also received his uncle Narayan Singh’s body in early October.

Years after Narayan Singh went missing, his family lost hope. So with their consent, Singh’s wife, Basanti Devi, began a new life with one of his cousins. Jaiveer Singh was one of the children born of that relationship.

He says that for years, his mother held on to hopes of Narayan Singh’s return. She died in 2011.

“I don’t even have a photo of my uncle as a memory,” he says.

White blobs have been washing up on the beaches of Newfoundland recently, sparking an investigation by Canadian officials.

They have been described by resident Stan Tobin as doughy – “like someone had tried to bake bread and done a lousy job” – with an odour reminiscent of vegetable oil.

Beachcombers on the southern tip of the Canadian province began reporting the strange substance around early September.

The BBC has reached out to Ottawa officials for comment, but has not received a response.

Photos of the substance began cropping up on a beachcombers group online, prompting speculation that it was fungus or mold, palm oil, paraffin wax or even ambergris – a rare and valuable substance produced by whales and used in the perfume industry.

One poster suggested it looked like dough used to make ‘Toutons’ – a regional dish of dough often fried in pork fat.

A spokesperson for Environment and Climate Change Canada told the Globe and Mail that the substance was not a petroleum hydrocarbon, petroleum lubricant, biofuel or biodiesel.

While a marine ecologist for Fisheries and Oceans Canada told the newspaper it was not a sea sponge and contained no biological material.

The blobs were spotted along the shores of Placentia Bay, on Newfoundland’s southeast coast.

Mr Tobin, a local environmentalist, lives in Ship Cove, a tiny village on the bay, and regularly walks the beaches.

He discovered the mystery blobs one day last month, initially thinking it looked like Styrofoam.

He’s since come across “hundreds and hundreds of globs – big globs, little globs” with most about 6in (15cm) in diameter, he said.

But when he called the Canadian Coast Guard to report the findings, Mr Tobin was told that was ruled out as the base of the substance.

“Somebody or somebodies know where this came from and how it got there,” Mr Tobin said. “And knows damn well it’s not supposed to be here.”

Viktoriia Roshchyna disappeared in August 2023 in a part of Ukraine now occupied by Russian forces.

It took nine months for Russian authorities to confirmed the journalist had been detained. They gave no reason.

This week, her father got a terse letter from the defence ministry in Moscow informing him that Victoria was dead, aged 27.

The document said the journalist’s body would be returned in one of the swaps organised by Russia and Ukraine for soldiers killed on the battlefield. The death date was given as 19 September.

Again, there was no explanation.

This weekend, friends gathered to remember Viktoriia on the Maidan in central Kyiv. They shuffled into position on the steps holding her photograph, young face smiling out at the small crowd.

“She had huge courage,” one woman began the tributes.

“We will miss her enormously,” said another, turning away as her eyes filled with tears.

Viktoriia’s stories were snapshots of life that Ukrainians were not getting from anywhere else.

Reporting from occupied areas of Ukraine was extremely dangerous, but her colleagues remember how she was desperate to go there, even after she was detained and held in custody the first time, for ten days.

“Her parents used to call and tell us to stop deploying her, but we never did deploy her!” one of her former bosses recalled.

“All her editors tried to stop her. But it was impossible.”

The young reporter eventually went freelance in order to deploy herself and when she got back newspapers would buy her reports.

Most strikingly, she never used a pseudonym even though she wrote openly of “occupied” territory and referred to those who collaborated with the Russians as “traitors”.

“She wanted to provide information about how those cities live under siege by the Russian army,” Sevgil Musaieva, editor-in-chief at Ukrayinska Pravda, told the BBC.

“She was absolutely amazing.”

Viktoriia’s father has previously described how she set out via Poland and Russia last July, heading for occupied Ukraine.

It was a week before she called to say she’d been interrogated at the border for several days.

All we know for sure after that, is that by May she was in Detention Centre No. 2 in Taganrog, southern Russia – a facility so notorious for the brutal treatment of many Ukrainians that some dub it the “Russian Guantanamo”.

According to the Media Initiative for Human Rights, another Ukrainian citizen who was released from Taganrog last month has told Viktoriia’s family she saw the journalist on 8 or 9 September.

Then, there was cause for hope.

“I was 100% sure she’d be back on 13 September this year. My sources gave me 100% guarantees,” Musaieva, from Ukrayinska Pravda, says.

She had been told Viktoriia would be included in one of the periodic prisoner-of-war swaps that Ukraine and Russia carry out, planned for the middle of last month.

“So what happened with her in prison? Why didn’t she come home?”

Viktoriia was moved, with another Ukrainian woman, but neither were included in the prisoner exchange.

“That means she was taken somewhere else,” says Media Initiative director Tetyana Katrychenko. “They say to Lefortovo. Why there? We don’t know.”

She says it’s not normal practice ahead of a swap.

Lefortovo prison in Moscow is run by the FSB security service and used for those accused of espionage and serious crimes against the state.

“Maybe they took her there to start some kind of court proceeding or investigation. That’s happened to other civilians taken from Kherson and Melitopol,” Tetyana says.

The BBC understands that Viktoriia’s father had spoken to her in prison on 30 August.

At some point, she had called a hunger strike, but that day her father urged her to start eating again and she agreed.

“That needs investigating. It also means we’d be blaming her, partially, and not the Russian Federation, as we should,” Tetyana cautions.

Ukraine’s intelligence service has confirmed Viktoriia’s death and the General Prosecutor’s office has changed its criminal case from illegal detention to murder.

In Russia, Viktoriia was never charged with any crime and the circumstances of her detention are not known.

“A civilian journalist … captured by Russia. Then Russia sends a letter that she died?” Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn told the BBC in Kyiv.

“It’s killing. Just the killing of hostages. I don’t know other word.”

Russia hasn’t commented.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, huge numbers of civilians have been taken from areas of Ukraine that Moscow has overrun and now controls.

Like Viktoriia’s family, desperate relatives are left with little or no information on their whereabouts or wellbeing, and no idea whether they’ll ever get home.

So far, the Media Initiative has collated a list of 1,886 names.

“There’s all sorts of people, including ex-soldiers and police officers and local officials like mayors,” Tetyana says.

“And of course there may be many more we don’t know about.”

Neither lawyers nor the Red Cross get access and even if someone’s location can be confirmed, getting them back home is almost impossible: civilians are rarely swapped.

Viktoriia’s friends and colleagues say they won’t rest until they’ve investigated what happened.

“Her life was her work,” Angelina Karyakina, a former editor at Hromadske says. “It’s a rare type of people who are so determined.”

“I’m pretty sure the way she would want us to remember her is not to stand here and cry, but to remember her dignity,” she says.

“And I think what’s important for us journalists, is to find out what she was working on – and to finish her story.”

A man has described how he helped expose “seismic” rape and sexual assault allegations about Mohamed Al Fayed after his fiancee told him she was a victim of the Harrods billionaire.

Keaton Stone spent years speaking to women around the world, gathering a “damning” dossier of evidence.

He took that to the BBC in 2023 and helped to make the documentary, Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods.

His now wife, Sophia Stone, had been a personal assistant to the businessman after joining Harrods at 19.

Mrs Stone revealed to her husband in 2018 that she had been groomed, sexually assaulted, and almost raped by Al Fayed.

It emerged as he helped rewrite his wife’s CV. After realising that she had worked for Al Fayed, he put it at the top of her resume.

“Harrods to me, I guess we all thought it was this amazing, prestigious store, so I made a huge deal of that,” Mr Stone said.

“When I finally presented that to her thinking she’s going to be absolutely made up with this – it wasn’t the reaction I expected.

“She absolutely just completely broke down crying, shaking, [saying] ‘why have you got his name on there, get him off, get him off’. This horrible visceral upset distraught reaction.

“So that’s when I knew something’s not right here.”

Her description of what happened became the catalyst for a six-year-long journey, ultimately resulting in an expose and the documentary.

Mr Stone, who acted as a consultant for the programme, said: “It was very hard for her to tell me. She still finds it so traumatic.”

She told her fiance that Al Fayed tried to rape her several times while she worked for the firm between 1988 and 1991, almost succeeding on one occasion.

There was also “constant harassment and sexual assault” both in the office and everywhere she went with him, including private helicopters and planes.

Mr Stone added: “I’m keen to make the point: Why didn’t these people leave? They couldn’t, they could not leave, they were threatened, they were silenced, they were terrified.

“That’s why [Sophia] wasn’t able to leave.

“It wasn’t a lucky escape, because what happened happened and he’s traumatised her to this day.”

He added that Al Fayed’s actions against the numerous women who have shared their experiences were “absolutely beyond despicable and depraved”.

The couple have moved around, living in Birmingham and London before finally settling in the small town of Lichfield, in Staffordshire.

It was there, first in a spare room, then in an office in their garden that Mr Stone began piecing the evidence together.

He said his wife had buried what had happened to her for a long time, which he says is the case for many survivors around the world.

“The majority of them have deeply, deeply put this in a box and buried it away,” he said.

When he contacted former employees of Al Fayed, he said: “I can’t tell you how many times I had someone say something like, ‘you’ve no idea how long I’ve waited for this email or this text. I’ve waited 25 years for someone to ask me about this.’

“Things had tried to come out about him before, [but] they never landed and he was able to swat them away.”

Since the documentary, the team have been “inundated” with more survivors coming forward, and Mr Stone believes there are now more than 100 of them.

Al Fayed died in August 2023.

“He knew something was happening, he was aware,” Mr Stone said.

“The overwhelming desire was to expose him and to hold him to account whilst he was alive.

“We desperately didn’t want another [Jimmy] Savile situation – we wanted him in jail.

“How big it was meant that it took as long as it did, and sadly he did die, but it’s still of overwhelming importance to the survivors that the world knows the truth about him.”

Mr Stone also hopes the revelations will help ensure those who facilitated Al Fayed’s actions will be held to account.

In a statement last month, Harrods acknowledged that at the time of Al Fayed’s ownership it had “failed our employees who were his victims and for this we sincerely apologise”.

It added “the Harrods of today is a very different organisation”.

“Sophia is tired, she’s had to live with this all day every day for six years,” he said.

“She is deeply still traumatised and she just wants it over with. She wants to put it behind her, but she’s adamant and so staunch in her belief that this should be exposed.

“It needs to be, for the greater good and for all the other survivors – it must continue to be investigated and exposed.”

A woman has died after she went overboard from a cruise ship near the Channel Islands, say rescue services.

An alert was sent out at about 02:00 BST for a search for the woman in her 20s north of Les Casquets rocks, west of Alderney.

The French search and rescue service said the casualty from the MSC Virtuosa was winched from the sea by a helicopter crew and was later pronounced dead by doctors.

One passenger told the BBC an alarm rang three times to signal a person had gone overboard.

The passenger, who only wanted to be called Neil, said those on board were asked to pray for their fellow passenger.

“I went up along with lots of other passengers to have a look,” he said.

“About half an hour later the cruise director told us they were looking for a missing passenger so we would be delayed into Southampton.”

The ship’s owner MSC Cruises said in a statement: “A guest on board MSC Virtuosa went overboard on 12 October, while the ship was sailing to Southampton.

“The body was later recovered with the involvement of the authorities.

“We are deeply saddened by this tragic event, and our thoughts are with the family during this difficult time.

“Out of respect for their privacy, we will not be providing further details.”

The investigation into the death is being led by French police.

A plane from Channel Islands Air Search was sent to the scene from Guernsey, along with lifeboat crews from Alderney and France and the French helicopter crew based near Cherbourg.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said officers were assisting with inquiries.

“It has been reported that the woman went overboard the MSC Virtuosa during the early hours… and subsequently died,” the force said.

The Maltese-flagged cruise ship is 331m (1,086ft) long and 43m (141ft) wide, according to MarineTraffic, with accommodation for up to 6,334 passengers and 1,704 crew.

The vessel is 19 decks tall, according to MSC, and was built in France in 2020.

It is currently berthed at Southampton docks, having arrived at about 08:00 from Cartagena Port in Spain.

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Virginia McCullough knew why the police had smashed through her front door, but part of her wondered why it took them so long to discover she had murdered her parents. “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy,” she calmly told the officers handcuffing her. Neighbours thought John and Lois McCullough had retired to the seaside, but the reality was they were callously poisoned by their daughter. Why did she do it?

The goings-on inside the McCullough family home in Great Baddow near Chelmsford, Essex, were becoming increasingly secretive in 2019.

Relatives were asked to stay away and friends were told Mr and Mrs McCullough had retired to the Clacton area on Essex’s sunshine coast.

The gruesome reality was very different. It would be four years before anyone found out the horrors that took place behind closed doors on Pump Hill.

John McCullough, a retired business studies lecturer, had been fatally poisoned and the 70-year-old’s body was hidden in a crudely-built tomb made out of breeze blocks and blankets.

The corpse of his 71-year-old wife, Lois, was stashed behind sleeping bags and duvets in an upstairs wardrobe.

Mrs McCullough had been battered with a hammer and stabbed, but she too had also been poisoned with prescription medication administered by her daughter.

Virginia McCullough, 36, was handed a life sentence at Chelmsford Crown Court for their murders, to serve a minimum of 36 years, on Friday.

“The curtains were always drawn and you couldn’t see if anybody was in the house,” said Phil Sargeant, who lived next door to the McCulloughs for 20 years.

“They were just like shadows, they’d move very quickly from A to B.”

Mr Sargeant now knows why there was such secrecy at his neighbours’ house.

“I find it quite difficult even to say that Virginia murdered her parents or killed her parents,” he added.

“She’d come across as quite pleasant; she was funny, she was irreverent as well. She had a dark sense of humour.”

In September 2023, Essex Police took a call from Essex County Council’s safeguarding team.

A GP at Mr and Mrs McCullough’s registered practice had raised a concern for their welfare, having not seen them for some time.

Their absences had been explained by their daughter, who offered a range of excuses for each appointment she cancelled on her parents’ behalf.

Conveniently for her, the country had been in Covid-enforced lockdowns for a large period of time they had not been seen.

But when police spoke to McCullough, it became clear something was not adding up – why were her parents always out of the area?

Alan Thomson, who rented a television to the McCulloughs, also had his suspicions.

It followed a phone call from McCullough, abruptly cancelling the rental on her parents’ behalf.

When Mr Thomson’s staff arrived at the family home to pick it up, they were told they could not enter the property – and the TV was already prepared by the front door.

“I got the feeling perhaps she was a bit of a fantasist, but no way would I have thought she’d be a murderer,” he said.

When police raided the property, it was not the first time they had visited.

Weeks prior to the discovery of the bodies, McCullough invited officers inside to discuss an allegation of an assault against her.

Only she knew the intent of this call, but some believed she was testing the water.

Ultimately, the assault allegation came to nothing.

McCullough was more forthcoming when officers returned in September 2023.

“I did know that this day would come eventually,” she confessed.

“I deserve to get what’s coming, sentence-wise, because that’s the right thing to do and then that might give me a bit of peace.”

Documents recovered inside the property painted a picture of a woman desperately trying to keep her parents from discovering a financial black hole she had dug.

Abusing their goodwill, she had been living rent free, spending their money and racking up large credit card debts in their names.

Forged letters showed McCullough had been tricking her parents into thinking they had lost money through scams. In reality, it was money “frittered away” by their daughter.

To them, she was well-qualified, suitably employed and working hard towards becoming an artist – a future she claimed would also bring financial benefits for her parents.

Instead, she was reaping the financial rewards of manipulating, abusing and taking advantage of her parents’ kindness.

In total, McCullough benefited from £149,697 as a result of murdering her parents – combined from their pensions and spending on their credit cards, as well as selling assets.

The court also heard she spent £21,000 on online gambling between 2019 and 2023.

Her lies – and the fear of being exposed – ultimately led to her cruelly killing her parents.

Paul Hastings, a greengrocer at the Vineyards shopping centre near their home, had also noticed their disappearance.

He was told by McCullough that her parents, who used to purchase goods from his shop, were no longer living in Great Baddow.

Mr Hastings said her peculiar nature meant she could say things without arousing much suspicion.

“She came in to the shop and said ‘The police are after me, they think I killed my mum and dad’,” Mr Hastings said.

“I thought ‘That’s a bit odd’ but didn’t think anything else of it, I just thought it was her eccentric nature.”

He explained McCullough would sometimes visit his shop four times a day, before disappearing for the next fortnight.

Debbie Pollard said McCullough would visit the flower shop she ran and bombard her with food and presents.

“We knew she was odd but I would never have dreamt she would ever be capable of doing what she actually did,” she said.

“She’s actually lived in that house all those years with her mum and dad’s remains in there – that horrifies me. Horrifies me.”

Both Mr Hastings and Ms Pollard both said McCullough had also pretended to be pregnant, even creating a fake bump under her clothing.

Throughout her sentencing on Friday, McCullough stared at the floor, emotionless.

It was only when she listened back to her interview with police, describing how she murdered her mother, that she began to weep.

“She looked so innocent; she was just sat there listening to the radio,” McCullough told the officers.

“I did go in three times to build up some gumption but I knew I had to get it done and can’t hesitate.

“She was just staring at me in disbelief.”

Det Supt Rob Kirby, from Essex Police, said her otherwise composed reaction in court was typical of the “considered, meticulous” murderer she was.

“Throughout the course of our investigation, we have built a picture of the vast levels of deceit, betrayal and fraud she engaged in,” he said.

“It was on a shocking and monumental scale.

“McCullough lied about almost every aspect of her life, maintaining a charade to deceive everyone close to her and clearly taking advantage of her parents’ good will.

“She is an intelligent and adept manipulator who chose to kill her parents callously and without a thought for them or those who continue to suffer as a result of their loss.”

Scotland’s former First Minister Alex Salmond has died suddenly at the age of 69.

The former MP and MSP, who led the country between 2007 and 2014, became ill while attending an international conference in North Macedonia.

The North Macedonian government said Mr Salmond had lost consciousness at the Inex Olgica hotel, near the city of Ohrid, at about 15:30 local time on Saturday.

Local media reports said he collapsed during a lunch and was pronounced dead at the scene. The Alba party, which he led, believe the cause of death to be a heart attack, according to the Press Association news agency.

Tributes have poured in from across the policital spectrum, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer describing him as being a “monumental figure of Scottish and UK politics”.

Salmond’s succcessor as first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said he had been her mentor and that “for more than a decade we formed one of the most successful partnerships in UK politics”.

King Charles said he and the Queen were “greatly saddened” to hear of Salmond’s sudden death, adding: “His devotion to Scotland drove his decades of public service

“We extend our deep condolences to his family and loved ones at this time”.

Salmond led the pro-independence side ahead of the referendum in 2014, and resigned as first minister after Scottish voters backed remaining in the UK by 55% to 45%.

He had led the SNP to power when they won the Scottish Parliament election in 2007, having previously been the party’s leader between 1990 and 2000.

Salmond, Scotland’s first pro-independence first minister, then led the SNP to an unprecedented majority in the election four years later – which paved the way for the referendum to be held.

Under his leadership, the Scottish government also introduced popular policies including free NHS prescriptions and free university tuition fees for Scottish students.

After quitting as first minister, he had a spectacular fallout with Sturgeon over her government’s mishandling of harassment complaints against him.

Salmond was also cleared of serious sexual offence charges after a trial in Edinburgh in 2020.

He had been charged with 13 offences, including attempted rape, but was acquitted of all of the charges against him after two weeks of evidence at the High Court.

The women who made the allegations against Salmond – which dated back to his time as first minister – had included an SNP politician, a party worker and several current and former Scottish government civil servants and officials.

During his evidence to the court, he said the claims made about his alleged conduct were “deliberate fabrications for a political purpose” or “exaggerations”.

In his closing speech to the jury, Salmond’s lawyer said the former first minister “could certainly have been a better man” but had not committed any crimes.

After quitting the SNP, Salmond set up an alternative independence supporting party, called Alba, of which he was the leader.

He also hosted his own show on the controversial Russian broadcaster RT, but suspended it following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Alba has approached the UK foreign office for help in returning Salmond’s body to the UK.

Its deputy leader Kenny MacAskill described Salmond as being “the outstanding Scottish politician not just of his generation but for generations far before” and said he had “possessed extraordinary charm and a common touch which endeared him to so many in Scotland”.

Paying tribute to her former political mentor, Sturgeon said she was “shocked and sorry” to learn of Salmond’s death.

She added: “Obviously, I cannot pretend that the events of the past few years which led to the breakdown of our relationship did not happen, and it would not be right for me to try.

“However, it remains the fact that for many years Alex was an incredibly significant figure in my life.

“He was my mentor, and for more than a decade we formed one of the most successful partnerships in UK politics.”

First Minister John Swinney said he was “deeply shocked and saddened” at the news and extended his condolences to Salmond’s wife Moira and his family.

Swinney added: “Alex worked tirelessly and fought fearlessly for the country that he loved and for her Independence.

“He took the Scottish National Party from the fringes of Scottish politics into government and led Scotland so close to becoming an independent country.”

Former First Minister Humza Yousaf said he and Salmond had “obviously had our differences in the last few years”, but praised the “enormous contribution he made to Scottish and UK politics”.

The Scottish Parliament has lowered its flags as a mark of respect to Salmond.

Salmond was born on Hogmanay 1954 in Linlithgow and went on to study economic and medieval history at the University of St Andrews, where he joined the SNP almost immediately after arriving in 1973.

He later worked as an assistant economist for the UK government’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland before moving on to the Royal Bank of Scotland, where he worked for seven years as an economist, eventually coming to specialise in oil and gas.

He served as the SNP MP for Banff and Buchan between 1987 and 2010 and was elected as party leader in 1990.

Salmond was elected to the Scottish Parliament when it was created in 1999, but stood down as party leader a year later before returning as leader in 2004.

Sir Keir Starmer described Salmond as being a “monumental figure of Scottish and UK politics”.

The prime minister added: “As first minister of Scotland he cared deeply about Scotland’s heritage, history and culture, as well as the communities he represented as MP and MSP over many years of service.

“My thoughts are with those who knew him, his family and his loved ones. On behalf of the UK government, I offer them our condolences today.”

Starmer’s predecessor as prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said: “Alex Salmond was a huge figure in our politics.

“While I disagreed with him on the constitutional question, there was no denying his skill in debate or his passion for politics. May he rest in peace.”

King Charles has confirmed that it is up to the Australian people to decide whether the country remains a constitutional monarchy or becomes a republic.

Ahead of the King’s visit to Australia next week, the Australian Republic Movement exchanged letters with Buckingham Palace officials, writing on the King’s behalf.

Correspondence from the palace, first revealed by the Daily Mail, says that “whether Australia becomes a republic” is a “matter for the Australian public to decide”.

The future of the monarchy in Australia is likely to be an issue during the royal visit by King Charles and Queen Camilla, which includes events in Sydney and Canberra.

• King’s Australia trip is biggest since cancer diagnosis
• Australia puts republic referendum plan on hold

The letter sent by palace officials restates the existing position, rather than marking any new change in policy – and Buckingham Palace is not saying anything further to the letter’s contents.

But it is an amicable exchange, following a request by a group campaigning for a republic to have a meeting with the King during his visit.

“The King appreciated that you took the time to write and asked me to reply on his behalf,” says the letter from Buckingham Palace to the Australian Republic Movement, written in March.

“Please be assured that your views on this matter have been noted very carefully.

“His Majesty, as a constitutional monarch, acts on the advice of his Ministers, and whether Australia becomes a republic is therefore a matter for the Australian public to decide.”

The letter adds that the King and Queen have a “deep love and affection” for Australia and “your thoughtfulness in writing as you did is warmly appreciated”.

A referendum on the issue was held in Australia in 1999, where people voted to remain a constitutional monarchy.

Earlier this year Australia’s government said plans for another referendum were “not a priority”.

But campaigners for a republic argue that Australia’s head of state shouldn’t be the monarch but someone chosen by Australians.

When the King’s visit was announced, Isaac Jeffrey of the Australian Republic Movement said: “While we respect the role the royals have played in the nation to date, it’s time for Australia to elect a local to serve as our head of state. Someone who can work for Australia full time.”

It is a campaign that has commended King Charles as an individual but is opposed to the role of the monarchy in Australia.

“We’re keen to tell him we’ll stay in the Commonwealth and a republic is about us, not about him or his family,” said Mr Jeffrey.

The visit to Australia will be the King’s biggest trip since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year. His only other international trip since then has been to France for D-Day commemorations.

His treatment is expected to be paused during the trip, which after Australia will include attending a Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Samoa.

The visit, from 18 to 26 October, will include a review of the Australian naval fleet in Sydney harbour, attending a community barbecue, supporting environmental projects and meeting two award-winning cancer experts.

This week it was also announced that in December King Charles will host a two-day state visit to the UK by the Amir of Qatar.