An Israeli air strike has killed at least 33 people including 21 women at a refugee camp in northern Gaza, the strip’s Hamas-run authorities say.

There was no immediate comment on the reported attack at Jabalia from Israel, whose forces have been besieging the densely-populated camp for weeks.

The killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar this week raised hopes in some quarters of an end to the war but the group’s deputy leader said Hamas would only be strengthened.

US President Joe Biden has said there is a chance of “working towards a ceasefire” in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Hezbollah militants, but it will be “harder in Gaza”.

He was speaking as he left the German capital Berlin, where he had met German, French and British leaders.

According to a statement from Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office, Friday’s air strike also injured more than 85 people, some seriously, as homes belonging to three families in the camp were hit.

The final death toll could reach 50, it added, as people were buried under the rubble of buildings.

The report could not be verified independently. Local sources indicate that northern Gaza is effectively isolated, with telecommunications and internet services severed in the region.

A video circulating on social media – which the BBC has not verifed – appears to show bodies wrapped in white shrouds laid out in the courtyard of al-Awda Hospital.

The director of the hospital spoke to reporters about an overwhelming influx of casualties.

“Ambulance crews are still attempting to retrieve the martyrs and the wounded from Jabalia,” the director said.

“Our hospital wards are completely full and many injured individuals are receiving treatment on the floor.”

According to Reuters news agency, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said at least 39 Palestinians, many in Jabalia, had been killed by Israeli strikes on Friday before the latest attack.

About 400,000 people have been trapped inside the camp with little food or water for more than two weeks.

The head of the UN’s Office for Humanitarian Assistance, Georgios Petropoulos, told the BBC’s Newshour programme that families in Jabalia were enduring “atrocious conditions”.

“We can’t hit the alarm bell hard enough about how dire and dangerous the situation for civilians there is,” he said, speaking from Rafah in southern Gaza.

Israel said it had sent about 30 lorries of supplies into northern Gaza on Friday including food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment but local health officials told Reuters aid had not been reaching the worst-affected areas such as Jabalia.

Israel has repeatedly denied it is preventing humanitarian aid from entering Gaza but the US has told it to boost access or risk having some US military assistance cut off.

An Israeli minister, Amichai Chikli, told the BBC that Israel had “blockaded” parts of northern Gaza, which include Jabalia.

“We allowed the civilian population to escape into the safe zone, and we prevented supplies to enter the blockade region,” he told the Newshour programme.

He insisted this was “legal according to the international law”.

Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel just over a year ago, at least 42,500 people have been killed and tens of thousands injured in Gaza, the Hamas-run authorities say.

About 1,200 people were killed by Hamas and its allies in the 7 October 2023 attack and 251 others were taken to Gaza as hostages.

On Friday Hamas deputy leader Khalil al-Hayya said Israeli hostages would not be returned until Israel ended the war and withdrew from Gaza.

Sinwar was held responsible for the 7 October attack. According to the Israeli military, he was killed in a firefight after the building where he was hiding in the southern Gaza city of Rafah was struck with “tank fire”.

The pathologist in Israel who conducted his autopsy told US media he had been shot in the head.

Dr Chen Kugel also found injuries to his right forearm from “missile fire”, a damaged left leg from “fallen masonry” and shrapnel injuries.

• Who was Yahya Sinwar?
• Jeremy Bowen analysis: Sinwar’s death is serious blow to Hamas, but not the end of the war
• Explainer: What has happened to Hamas’ most prominent leaders?
• How much food is Israel letting into northern Gaza?

On Friday, fighting also continued in Lebanon, where Israel has been conducting a ground invasion against Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said it had killed about 60 Hezbollah fighters and destroyed the Iran-backed group’s regional command centre with an air strike.

Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at the Israeli city of Haifa and areas to its north.

“Get Ready, it’s about to get a little bumpy.”

That was the first sentence of a letter Liam Payne wrote to his 10-year-old self, which he read out on BBC radio in 2020.

“You’ll have the most amazing time of your life, travel the world and live a life you barely imagined,” he said.

“Then it will end for a while, and you will be left with nothing but the steering wheel. It will feel scary, like you’re alone, but you are not.”

The pop sensation died on Wednesday aged 31 after a fall from a hotel balcony in Argentina. The exact circumstances around his death, or what happened in the final weeks of his life, remain unknown.

But the star, who shot to global fame as a 16-year-old member of One Direction, had spoken for years about his struggles with mental health – and the challenges of adapting to stardom.

Runners-up on the 2010 series of The X Factor, One Direction were a new, different-style of boy band – approachable, relatable, and, apart from their musical talents, normal.

They were the boys-next-door, whose age and good looks made them heartthrobs to millions of young fans around the world.

They went on to sell more than 70 million albums, complete five world tours, produce a feature film and star in a charity music video alongside then-prime minister David Cameron.

All that – at an age when many young people are worrying about their exams, their first loves, or getting tickets to their next gig – let alone starring in it.

“I mean, it was fun,” Payne would later reflect in an interview with Men’s Health Magazine. “We had an absolute blast, but there were certain parts of it where it just got a little bit toxic.”

Paparazzi photographers. Tabloid newspapers. Night after night in hotel rooms, separated from family. Blacked-out tour buses. Fans screaming for autographs. And the new and rapidly growing world of social media.

Few, he felt, could understand the intense pressures of stardom at such a tender age.

‘It’s almost like putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage,” he said.

He also admitted he used alcohol to cope “because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on”.

By the time One Direction split in 2016, global fame was all the then 22-year-old Payne had known as an adult.

“It can be quite difficult to give up expectations of being a megastar,” says Prof John Oates, who was involved in the British Psychological Society’s consultations with the government on child performers and the duty of care for adult contributors.

“Being in a boy band ceases to become so possible when you’re no longer a boy. So there’s a need to become, in a sense, a different sort of famous person. So that’s a new challenge.”

Payne’s bandmate Harry Styles seemed more suited for that challenge.

His androgynous looks were more in harmony with the direction the music industry was progressing in 2016. He also began acting, featuring in Hollywood blockbuster Dunkirk the following year.

Payne, however, struggled to make the transition.

In 2019, he released a solo debut album, LP1. Eight tracks of R&B, it did not capture the One Direction fan base, and failed to take off.

The struggles of teenage stars have long been a topic of public discussion, from Britney Spears to Justin Bieber.

Reality TV stars have faced similar challenges, with both Love Island host Caroline Flack and contestant Mike Thalassitis tragically taking their own lives in recent years.

Speaking on the Diary of a CEO podcast in 2021, Liam Payne said of his own struggles: “I was worried how far my rock bottom was going to be. Where’s rock bottom for me? And you would never have seen it. I’m very good at hiding it. No-one would ever have seen it.”

A key challenge for young stars, according to Prof Oates, is managing the comedown after a long period of fame.

“If fame has been so important to them for their self-esteem, how can they be helped to manage the loss of that?” he asks.

“An important move in personal development is moving from external sources of self-esteem to internal sources. Part of this is to do with something called reflective functioning, that you’re able to reflect on yourself as a person and you may become less reliant on others for your sense of self.”

For those who have entered adulthood as a star, that process can be especially difficult, he says.

Shortly after Payne’s death, fellow 2010 The X Factor contestant Rebecca Ferguson wrote a tribute: “We both met at Euston station and shared the taxi together to X Factor. I can’t help but think of that boy who was hopeful and looking forward to his bright future ahead.

“If he hadn’t jumped on that train and jumped in that taxi I believe he would be alive today.”

Former X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne said: “We all let you down.”

“You were just a kid when you entered one of the toughest industries in the world. Who was in your corner?”

Hong Eunchae, the youngest member of K-Pop band Le Sserafim, is strutting through Seoul’s infamous Nakwon Instrument Arcade when she suddenly loses her footing.

With a crash, her drink flies into the air and the 17-year-old falls head-first down a metal staircase, landing with a sickening thud on a subway floor.

There’s a pause. Then she sits up with a shrug, completely unharmed, as though this is how she typically navigates the stairs.

Instantly meme-able, the scene features in the trailer for Le Sserafim’s third EP, Easy, which was released earlier this year. But Eunchae says it also carries a deeper meaning.

“When I’m following the path I want to follow, tumbling and falling down doesn’t matter,” she tells the BBC.

“I always start over like nothing has happened. That’s the message I wanted to deliver.”

Such defiance and persistence have helped Le Sserafim carve out a niche since they were thrust into the spotlight two years ago.

With the eccentric energy of Girls Aloud and the impeccable hooks of the Korean pop machine, they’ve released grungy, club-ready songs like Crazy and Antifragile, been nominated for multiple MTV Awards, and collaborated with Nile Rodgers and PinkPantheress.

To a casual observer, the quintet might seem like the prototype girl band: Coiffed, choreographed and bristling with confidence.

But they’re unusually forthright about the unrealistic standards the industry places on women.

On Eve, Psyche and Bluebeard’s Wife (a song named after three women who defied societal expectations), rapper and singer Kim Chaewon speaks about the pressure to perform, even when you’re not at your best.

.”

On Good Bones, Huh Yunjin snaps back at her critics.

she protests over a spiky rock riff.

“As a group, we’re always trying to show that duality of being strong but also being vulnerable,” Yunjin explains.

“But no matter what happens, we’ve got each other and that gives us resilience.”

Le Sserafim have an unusual origin story, with members drawn from all over the world at different ages and stages of readiness by their label Source Music.

Sakura Miyawaki is a showbusiness veteran, with experience in three other bands – KT48, AKB48 and Iz*One.

Aged 26, she’s the oldest Sserafim, and Yunjin calls her “a pillar” of strength who “always has good advice” about the industry.

Chaewon was also part of Iz*One, and acts as Le Sserafim’s leader, a role she characterises as being “a rock” who “makes everything smooth” when problems arise.

Yunjin was raised in New York and studied opera before entering the rigorous world of K-pop training. By contrast, Eunchae only had 15 months of preparation before making her official debut in 2022. Aged 17, she is nicknamed Manchae – a portmanteau of her name and (막내), the Korean word for “youngest member”.

Last to join was former ballerina Nakamura Kazuha, who was swept out of the Dutch National Ballet Academy five months before Le Sserafim’s first single. To this day, she feels like she’s playing catch-up with the rest of the team.

“It’s been two years but every day is a new challenge still,” she says.

There was originally a sixth member. Kim Garam appeared on the band’s debut EP, Fearless, but resigned shortly afterwards following accusations she had bullied students in high school.

That’s not the only bump in the road Le Sserafim have faced.

Earlier this year, the band apologised for perceived vocal weaknesses during their performance at Coachella in California. Responding to negative press, Chaewon said the group had simply “become excited and lost control of our pace” while playing their first outdoor festival.

A recent behind-the-scenes documentary, Make It Look Easy, exposed more about the pressures the band faced promoting their first album, Unforgiven, last year.

In one scene, Chaewon breaks down in tears and confesses: “I don’t really know how to be happy.”

“To be honest, I sometimes think about quitting,” she tells an off-camera interviewer.

Kazuha also confronts insecurities over her abilities as a performer.

“Sometimes I get super-confident and I’m like, ‘I should work harder. I can do this’,” she says. “But then I lose confidence and I’m like, ‘I can’t do anything. I have no charm’.”

Yunjin is more fiery. Her American upbringing gives her a different perspective on K-Pop’s “idol” industry, and she’s expressed a desire to change it from within.

“Idols need to do this, do that. There are all these unspoken rules,” she says in the documentary.

“I could feel it when I was a trainee, but back then I desperately wanted to [make my] debut, so I just conformed. But after debuting I was like, ‘Why does it have to be like this?'”

She pours those frustrations into a solo song called I-Doll, which explicitly criticises the way pop stars are treated as products.

,” she sings. “ [expletive] .”

In the past, the 23-year-old has declared she wants to “change the idol industry”, breaking down its “strict standards one by one”.

By being transparent about their struggles, Le Sserafim deliberately challenge a status quo that demands perfection – and their candour comes at a time when K-pop artists are increasingly willing to confront the system.

Earlier this week, a singer with girl group NewJeans testified to South Korea’s National Assembly about the bullying she has faced at work. Last year, the 11 members of Omega X won emancipation from their contract following allegations of “unwarranted treatment” by their label.

Le Sserafim – who have the full support of Source Music – put a more positive spin on their story.

“The message we wanted to deliver through the documentary was not that our job is hard and strenuous,” Chaewon says.

“Rather, we wanted to emphasise the fact that we have a lot in common with anyone who holds down a job.”

“We want to say that you don’t have to be perfect all the time,” adds Yunjin.

“Everyone faces difficulties,” Chaewon concludes. “So our message is, let’s overcome all those difficulties together.”

In a superficial industry, they make a virtue of their imperfections, projecting them as a strength.

Even the band’s name is an anagram of the phrase “I’m fearless”.

Their camaraderie is expressed in songs like Chasing Lightning – where Yunjin is teased for her obsession with Greek yoghurt, and Sakura describes her love of crochet – and their latest single, 1-800 Hot N Fun.

Powered by a sinuous bass guitar riff, it follows the band on a night out, kissing random strangers, demanding the DJ plays Beyoncé, and clinging to the dance floor until the break of dawn.

“I love that song,” says Yunjin. “It’s almost like a dialogue, we’re just all having a conversation.”

In the hook, the bandmates keep asking, “” – their nickname for Sakura – before someone responds, “.”

Does that mean Sakura’s always the first to be ready?

“Wow! Wow!” exclaims Yunjin. “That’s actually true! That’s the first time we’ve thought about it that way. That’s genius.”

There won’t be much time for partying this year, though. Le Sserafim have been speaking to the BBC in the middle of a long day of TV rehearsals, and fans have speculated they’re working on a new EP – completing a trilogy of releases called Easy, Crazy and Hot.

The title was hinted at in lyrics to Good Bones, but Yunjin skilfully avoids revealing any secrets.

“Will it even be called Hot? We don’t know?” she laughs.

“It might be cold, it might be warm. But whatever we come out with, it’ll be fire.”

Based on the evidence so far, there’s no reason to doubt it… as long as Eunchae avoids staircases.

Cuba is experiencing a nationwide blackout after its main energy plant failed, knocking out power to its 10 million people.

Its power grid collapsed at around 11:00 (15:00 GMT) on Friday, the energy ministry announced on social media.

Grid officials said they did not know how long it would take to restore power.

The island has suffered months of lengthy blackouts, prompting the prime minister to declare an “energy emergency” on Thursday.

Friday’s total blackout came after the Antonio Guiteras power plant in Matanzas – the largest on the island – went offline.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez said the situation was his “absolute priority”.

“There will be no rest until power is restored,” he wrote on X.

The head of electricity supply at the energy ministry, Lazara Guerra, was later quoted by AFP news agency as saying the process of restoring power was in its early stages.

There was, she added, “some level of electricity generation” that would be used to start up power plants in several regions of the country.

Earlier on Friday, officials announced that all schools and non-essential activities, including nightclubs, were to close until Monday.

Non-essential workers were urged to stay home to safeguard electricity supply, and non-vital government services were suspended.

Cubans have also been urged to switch off high-consumption appliances such as fridges and ovens during peak hours, according to local media.

“This is crazy,” Eloy Fon, an 80-year-old pensioner living in central Havana, told AFP.

“It shows the fragility of our electricity system… We have no reserves, there is nothing to sustain the country, we are living day to day.”

Bárbara López, 47, a digital content creator, said she had already “barely been able to work for two days”.

“It’s the worst I’ve seen in 47 years,” she said. “They’ve really messed up now… We have no power or mobile data.”

• Fuel in Cuba to become five times more expensive
• Cuba laments collapse of iconic sugar industry
• ‘The violence is getting out of hand’: Crime grips Cuba’s streets

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero addressed the public in a televised message on Thursday, blaming deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand for the electricity failures.

“The fuel shortage is the biggest factor,” he said.

The head of the National Electric Union (UNE) Alfredo López Valdés also acknowledged the island had been facing a challenging energy situation, with shortages chiefly to blame.

Extended blackouts – particularly one this widespread – are always a tense time in Cuba.

In part, because the ability to keep the lights on represents a potential public order issue for the Cuban Government.

In July 2021, thousands of protesters spilled into the streets in demonstrations sparked by days-long blackouts in much of the country.

The desperation caused by precious food stuffs going to waste in warm fridges and freezers was exacerbated by citizens going for days with no air-conditioning or ceiling fans in the island’s stifling heat.

In many buildings, electric pumps bring water to the taps, so no power also meant no water.

Furthermore, no petrol at the pumps mean that people can’t work or use their cars to solve basic problems or tend to urgent needs.

The Cuban Government has becoming increasingly aware that many on the island have lost a degree of fear over speaking out about the many daily problems they face on the island.

Some are even prepared to take to the streets and chant anti-government slogans, if conditions merit it.

In March, Hundreds of people in Cuba’s second-largest city, Santiago, staged a rare public protest over chronic power blackouts and food shortages.

Peering over her glasses, the French judge glanced sternly across the cavernous underground courtroom towards a notorious figure seated in a glass cage.

“There will be no more misbehaviour. No more threats. Is that understood?” asked Arabelle Bouts, the lead judge of a Europe-wide people smuggling trial so vast that it has generated 67 tonnes of paperwork.

“Yes,” replied Mirkhan Rasoul, 26, calmly.

Mr Rasoul, already convicted on prior smuggling charges and serving a separate eight-year sentence for attempted murder, had interrupted proceedings a few days earlier by threatening two of the translators working in the courtroom. Now he was flanked by two armed policemen.

Standing near the judge, the lead prosecutor, Julie Carros, leant in towards her microphone, glanced down at her notes, and began to set out her final arguments in a sprawling case that involves a total of 33 alleged members of a Kurdish smuggling gang, accused of responsibility for the bulk of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats between 2020 and 2022.

While Mr Rasoul remained behind a glass screen, approximately 10 other accused sat in the open courtroom surrounded by another 15 armed policemen, who only removed the men’s handcuffs when the court was in session.

“This is a tentacle-like case… involving merchants of death,” said Ms Carros, describing how the gang had overloaded the small boats, sometimes cramming up to 15 times more people on board than the boats are designed to carry.

The result, she said, was a “phenomenal” profit margin for the gangs, who could make up to €60,000 ($65,000; £50,000) for each boat launched, with roughly half of those boats reaching UK waters, leading to an income for the gang of €3.5m ($3.8m; £2.9m) a year.

The gang itself was accused of controlling the lion’s share of all Channel crossings from the French coast – with its network delivering equipment from across Europe – until, in late 2021 and 2022, its members were arrested in France, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, as part of the largest international operation of its kind at the time against small-boat smugglers.

In all, 17 men and one woman are now on trial, 12 were found guilty earlier, and three more will be tried next year.

As Ms Carros set out the prosecution’s case against each of the accused, there were gasps of disappointment from at least two relatives seated in the courtroom, at the long sentences being demanded. The trial is expected to end in early November.

“We request a sentence of 15 years, a €200,000 fine and a permanent ban from French territory,” said Ms Carros in reference to Mirkhan Rasoul, who is accused of continuing to control the gang from a prison in central France.

“We found three mobile telephones in his cell,” she said, going on to describe an audio recording on which Mr Rasoul had boasted of the prison in Tours being “almost like a hotel… they searched the cell but never found my phones. The police are very kind”.

But will this huge trial, and the prospect of tough sentences, act as a serious deterrent for a smuggling industry that has, in terms of the sheer number of successful small boat crossings, continued to thrive in the years since these arrests?

The prosecutors directly involved in this trial were not willing to talk to the BBC, but Pascal Marconville, lead prosecutor at the regional Court of Appeal for northern France, suggested that the long sentences were part of a broader strategy to raise the cost of smuggling for the gangs and their customers.

“The action taken by French police, with the support of investigative judges, is designed not only to thwart their actions, but also to make such operations so expensive that they lose their appeal,” Mr Marconville told us.

He described how the gangs had evolved in recent years from informal groups supporting their own countrymen to “networks organised much like drug gangs”.

He went on to sketch out a fragmented network with different “sectors” focusing on separate parts of the smuggling industry.

“It’s like chess, and they have [the advantage] on the board. So they’re always one step ahead of us. We have to adapt and understand how we can counter these networks. We’ve struggled with the ringleaders because when they’re arrested and imprisoned they still manage to run their networks from inside,” he said.

Despite the difficulties for law enforcement officials working across different countries and, for instance, different laws related to bail and standards of evidence, Mr Marconville praised the collaboration between French and British officials, saying the UK was “very willing to come up with solutions to improve co-operation”.

The Germans, on the other hand “who we always think of as very efficient people, don’t make things easier [for us]”, he noted.

But one of the defence lawyers involved in this case played down its broader impact on the small boat crisis.

“The sentences are becoming much harsher now. That’s clear. And I think they will continue to toughen them. Unfortunately… I am pessimistic because I don’t think it will stop… because in these [smuggling] circles people think only about money,” said Kamal Abbas.

Mr Abbas, who is defending a man accused of acting as decoy driver for smugglers’ convoys, explained how three of the accused in this trial, who were released on bail last year after two years in detention, were arrested soon afterwards in Belgium on fresh smuggling charges.

“Nothing discourages them… they see imprisonment as just another bump on the road,” he said.

After more than a decade involved in smuggling trials, Mr Abbas had another concern about their impact.

“[The real leaders] always escape. If their leader is Iraqi, he’s in Iraq. If he’s Iranian, he’ll be in Iran. But the link is often in England, I’m sure of that. The British authorities should look harder at certain areas of London if they want to stop this phenomenon,” said Mr Abbas.

It was a case that made headlines globally and led to widespread condemnation.

A teenaged widow was burned on her husband’s funeral pyre under the Hindu practice of sati 37 years ago.

Now Roop Kanwar’s story has returned to headlines in India after a court acquitted eight men accused of glorifying her death, in the last of the remaining cases in the grisly saga.

Sati was first banned in 1829 by the British colonial rulers, but the practice had continued even after India’s independence in 1947. Kanwar is recognised as India’s last sati.

The outrage over her death forced the Indian government to introduce a tough new law – Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 – banning the practice and, for the first time, also its glorification. It mandated death or life term for those committing sati or abetting it. But over the years, everyone accused of involvement in Kanwar’s death and the glorification that followed has been cleared by courts.

Last week’s order has also led to outrage, with women’s organisations and activists expressing concern that no-one has been held accountable over her death.

Fourteen women’s groups in Rajasthan have written a letter to Chief Minister Bhajan Lal asking him to ensure the government challenges the order in the high court and also makes all attempts to prevent glorification of sati. Coming after such a long delay, these acquittals could “reinforce a culture of sati glorification”, they wrote.

A lawyer acting for the eight accused told BBC Hindi that they were acquitted because “no evidence was found against them”.

I asked Rajasthan’s Justice Minister Jogaram Patel whether the government planned to appeal the decision.

“We haven’t yet received a copy of the judgement. We will examine it on its merits and demerits and then decide whether to appeal or not,” he told me.

When asked about why the government hadn’t appealed the earlier acquittals, he said those cases had happened before his time and he was not aware of the details.

The death of the 18-year-old in Deorala village on 4 September 1987 was a huge public spectacle. Watched by hundreds of villagers, it was described as a blot on Rajasthan and India.

Her husband’s family and others from their upper-caste Rajput community said Kanwar’s decision had been in keeping with the tradition of sati and was voluntary.

They said she had dressed up in her bridal finery and led a procession around the village streets, before climbing into the pyre of Maal Singh, her husband of seven months. She then placed his head in her lap and recited religious chants while slowly burning to death, they added.

It was a claim contested by journalists, lawyers, civil society and women’s rights activists – and initially, even by Kanwar’s parents. They lived in the state capital, Jaipur, just two hours from the village, but learnt of their son-in-law’s death and their daughter’s immolation from the next day’s newspaper.

But they later said they believed their daughter’s act had been voluntary. Critics said the retraction had come under pressure from powerful politicians who used the incident to mobilise the Rajput community for “vote-bank politics”.

In the days following Kanwar’s death, both sides held high-decibel protests.

The incident sparked widespread condemnation, with activists protesting for justice, criticism of the Congress-led state government, and a letter to the Rajasthan chief justice calling for a ban on celebrations.

Despite the court ban, 200,000 people attended a ceremony 13 days after Kanwar’s death, where framed photos and posters of her were sold, transforming Deorala into a profitable pilgrimage site. Shortly after, two separate reports concluded that Kanwar “was hounded by villagers to commit sati” and her immolation was “far from voluntary”.

Journalist Geeta Seshu, who visited the village as part of a three-member team three weeks after the incident, told the BBC that “the situation on the ground was tense and fraught”.

“The Rajput Sabha had taken over the entire place and the atmosphere was very charged. The spot where Roop had died was surrounded by sword-wielding young men. They were going around it in circles and it was very difficult for us to speak to eyewitnesses.”

But the trio still managed to get some testimonies from villagers that went into Trial by Fire, their damning fact-finding report.

“Preparations for the sati began immediately after Maal Singh’s body was brought to the village in the morning. Roop, who got an inkling of this, escaped from the house and hid in the nearby fields,” they wrote.

“She was found cowering in a barn and dragged to the house and put on the pyre. On her way, she is reported to have walked unsteadily surrounded by Rajput youths. She was also seen to have been frothing at the mouth” – suggesting that she had been drugged.

“She struggled to get out when the pyre was lit, but she was weighed down by logs and coconuts and youths with swords who pushed her back onto the pyre. Eyewitnesses reported to the police that they heard her shouting and crying for help,” the report added.

Ms Seshu says “one may couch it in the language of valour and sacrifice, but it was nothing but a horrific murder”.

She says when she met Kanwar’s parents and brothers, “they were angry and willing to fight. But they later changed their stance under pressure from community leaders”.

Her eldest brother Gopal Singh disputes this, and told the BBC they initially suspected foul play. “But our aunts who lived in Deorala told us that it was Roop’s decision. So, the elders in the family decided to drop it. There was no pressure on us.”

Mr Singh later went on to join the Sati Dharma Raksha Samiti – a committee formed to valorise Kanwar’s immolation – and became its deputy chief. After its glorification was made illegal, the group dropped sati from its name. He said he had spent 45 days in prison on charges of sati glorification but was acquitted in January 2004 for “lack of evidence”.

Ms Seshu says the general consensus when they visited the village after the incident was that “sati happens, women do it. The police and administrations were so complicit in the celebrations that no genuine efforts were made to collect evidence or fix responsibility”.

What was most tragic, she adds, was that Kanwar’s death was used by the Rajput community as a mobilising force to benefit them politically and to make money.

“The supporters wanted to build a temple at the site but the new law which banned sati glorification also barred construction of temples or collection of money from visitors. Now this acquittal could open the gates for a revival of religious tourism to the place.”

It’s a legitimate concern.

In Deorala, the spot at the edge of the village where Kanwar died, still attracts some visitors all these years later.

A photograph taken a year back shows a family lighting a lamp before a framed picture of Kanwar and her husband, placed under a small brick structure draped with a red and gold scarf.

But despite Kanwar’s deification, chances of justice for India’s last sati remain dim.

Donald Trump has called a judge “the most evil person” as she released more than 1,800 pages of evidence in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election conspiracy case against him.

The Republican White House candidate said US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan’s rejection of his request to delay releasing the new evidence until after next month’s vote amounted to “election interference”.

Legal analysts have debated whether filings in the case breach a justice department internal rule that prosecutors avoid any investigative step that might affect an election within 60 days of voting.

But in her ruling, Judge Chutkan argued that if she had kept the files under wraps, that could itself have been construed as election interference.

“If the court withheld information that the public otherwise had a right to access solely because of the potential political consequences of releasing it, that withholding could itself constitute – or appear to be – election interference,” she wrote.

Last year, a Texas woman was charged with making death threats against Judge Chutkan, citing the Trump case.

The heavily redacted 1,889 pages of documents released on Friday mostly rehash information already available publicly, including parts of former Vice-President Mike Pence’s biography and his formal announcement that he would not overturn the 2020 election results.

The new evidence is a part of a motion filed by Mr Smith last month.

Appearing Friday during a podcast with right-wing media personality Dan Bongino, Trump lambasted Judge Chutkan and called the special counsel “a sick puppy”.

The indictment centres on the 6 January 2021 US Capitol riot and accuses Trump of illegally conspiring to overturn his election defeat three months earlier to Joe Biden.

During the interview, Trump also likened the detention of those charged with storming the Capitol to the US internment of Japanese Americans in World War Two.

“Why are they still being held? Nobody’s ever been treated like this,” he said. “Maybe the Japanese during Second World War, frankly.”

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump cannot be prosecuted for official acts carried out as president.

As a result, Mr Smith was forced to change the historic case brought against Trump and argue that he committed crimes while still in office, but as a private citizen.

He filed a new motion in September laying out the new case against the former president, which included allegations that Trump promoted false claims of election fraud despite believing them to be “crazy”.

The motion also included new details on how Trump’s relationship with Pence deteriorated, with the former vice-president telling Trump to stop repeating false election fraud theories and move on.

The documents released on Friday include transcripts of interviews with the 6 January House committee that investigated the US Capitol riot, parts of Pence’s autobiography and fundraising emails sent to voters.

It is unclear if the 6 January case will ever go to trial. Trump is expected to end the prosecution if he returns to the White House.

He is facing several other criminal cases. He already has been convicted on 34 felony counts in New York in relation to a hush-money payment.

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We are now in the era of weight-loss drugs.

Decisions on how these drugs will be used look likely to shape our future health and even what our society might look like.

And, as researchers are finding, they are already toppling the belief that obesity is simply a moral failing of the weak-willed.

Weight-loss drugs are already at the heart of the national debate. This week, the new Labour government suggested they could be a tool to help obese people in England off benefits and back into work.

That announcement – and the reaction to it – has held a mirror up to our own personal opinions around obesity and what should be done to tackle it.

Here are some questions I’d like you to ponder.

Is obesity something that people bring on themselves and they just need to make better life choices? Or is it a societal failing with millions of victims that needs stronger laws to control the types of food we eat?

Are effective weight-loss drugs the sensible choice in an obesity crisis? Are they being used as a convenient excuse to duck the big issue of why so many people are overweight in the first place?

• How do drugs like Wegovy and Mounjaro work?
• NHS needs better plan around weight loss jabs, warn experts
• Why weight-loss drugs may be no obesity silver bullet

Personal choice v nanny state; realism v idealism – there are few medical conditions that stir up such heated debate.

I can’t resolve all those questions for you – it all depends on your personal views about obesity and the type of country you want to live in. But as you think them over, there are some further things to consider.

Obesity is very visible, unlike conditions such as high blood pressure, and has long come with a stigma of blame and shame. Gluttony is one of Christianity’s seven deadly sins.

Now, let’s look at Semaglutide, which is sold under the brand name Wegovy for weight loss. It mimics a hormone that is released when we eat and tricks the brain into thinking we are full, dialling down our appetite so that we eat less.

What this means is that by changing only one hormone, “suddenly you change your entire relationship with food”, says Prof Giles Yeo, an obesity scientist at the University of Cambridge.

And that has all sorts of implications for the way we think about obesity.

It also means for a lot of overweight people there is a “hormonal deficiency, or at least it doesn’t go up as high”, argues Prof Yeo, which leaves them biologically more hungry and primed to put on weight than someone who is naturally thin.

That was likely an advantage 100 or more years ago when food was less plentiful – driving people to consume calories when they are available, because tomorrow there may be none.

Our genes have not profoundly changed in a century, but the world we live in has made it easier to pile on the pounds with the rise of cheap and calorie-dense foods, ballooning portion sizes and towns and cities that make it easier to drive than walk or cycle.

These changes took off in the second half of the 20th Century, giving rise to what scientists call the “obesogenic environment” – that is, one that encourages people to eat unhealthily and not do enough exercise.

Now one in four adults in the UK is obese.

Wegovy can help people lose around 15% of their starting body weight before the benefits plateau.

Despite constantly being labelled a “skinny drug” this could take someone weighing 20 stone down to 17 stone. Medically, that would improve health in areas like heart attack risk, sleep apnoea and type 2 diabetes.

But Dr Margaret McCartney, a GP in Glasgow, cautions: “If we keep putting people into an obesogenic environment, we’re just going to increase need for these drugs forever.”

At the moment the NHS is planning to prescribe the drugs only for two years because of the cost. Evidence shows that when the injections stop, the appetite comes back and the weight goes back on.

“My big concern is the eye is taken off the ball with stopping people getting overweight in the first place,” says Dr McCartney.

We know the obesogenic environment starts early. One in five children is already overweight or obese by the time they start school.

And we know that it hits poorer communities (in which 36% of adults in England are obese) harder than wealthier ones (where the figure is 20%), in part due to the lack of availability of cheap, healthy food in those less affluent districts.

But there is often a tension between improving public health and civil liberties. You can drive, but you have to wear a seatbelt; you can smoke, but with very high taxes alongside restrictions on age and where you can do it.

So here are some further things for you to consider. Do you think we should also tackle the obesogenic environment or just treat people when it’s starting to damage their health? Should government be far tougher on the food industry, transforming what we can buy and eat?

Should we be encouraged to go Japanese (a rich country with low obesity) and have smaller meals based around rice, vegetables and fish? Or should we cap the calories in ready meals and chocolate bars?

What about sugar or junk-food taxes? What about wider bans on where calorie-dense foods can be sold or advertised?

Prof Yeo says if we want change then “we’re going to have to compromise somewhere, we’re going to have to lose some liberties” but “I don’t think we’ve come to a decision within society, I don’t think we’ve debated it”.

In England, there have been official obesity strategies – 14 of them across three decades and with very little to show for it.

They included five-a-day campaigns to promote eating fruit and veg, food labelling to highlight calorie content, restrictions on advertising unhealthy food to children and voluntary agreements with manufacturers to reformulate foods.

But although there are tentative signs that child obesity in England may be starting to fall, none of these measures have sufficiently altered the national diet to turn the tide on obesity overall.

There is one school of thought that weight-loss drugs may even be the event that triggers the change in our meals.

“Food companies profit, that’s what they want – the only ray of hope I have is if weight-loss drugs help a lot of people resist buying fast foods, can that start the partial reversal of the food environment?” asks Prof Naveed Sattar from the University of Glasgow.

As weight-loss drugs become far more available, deciding how they will be used and how that fits into our wider approach to obesity will need to be addressed soon.

At the moment we are only dipping our toes in the water. There is limited supply of these drugs and because of their huge expense, they are available on the NHS to relatively few people and for a short time.

That is expected to change dramatically over the next decade. New drugs, such as tirzepatide, are on the way and the pharmaceutical companies will lose their legal protections – patents – meaning other companies can make their own, cheaper versions.

In the early days of blood-pressure-lowering medicines or statins to reduce cholesterol, they were expensive and given to the few who would benefit the most. Now around eight million people in the UK are taking each of those drugs.

Prof Stephen O’Rahilly, director of the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit, says blood pressure was tacked with using a combination of drugs and societal change: “We screened for blood pressure, we advised about lower sodium [salt] in foods and we developed cheap, safe and effective blood pressure drugs.”

That’s analogous, he says, to what needs to happen with obesity.

It is still not clear how many of us will end up on weight-loss medication. Will it only be for those who are very obese and at medical risk? Or will it become preventative to stop people becoming obese?

How long should people take weight-loss drugs for? Should it be for life? How widely should they be used in children? Does it matter if people using the drugs are still eating unhealthy junk food, just less of it?

How quickly should weight-loss medications be adopted when we still do not know the side-effects of long term use? Are we OK with healthy people taking them entirely for cosmetic reasons? Could their availability privately widen the obesity and health gap between rich and poor?

So many questions – but, as yet, few clear answers.

“I don’t know where this is going to land – we’re on a voyage of uncertainty,” says Prof Naveed Sattar.

North Korea has started sending troops to fight with Russia in Ukraine, South Korea’s spy agency has said as Seoul warned of a “grave security threat”.

The allegation comes a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he believed 10,000 North Korean soldiers could join the war, based on intelligence information.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called for a security meeting on Friday and said the international community must respond with “all available means”.

According to the spy agency, 1,500 troops have already arrived in Russia – with anonymous sources telling South Korean media the final figure could be closer to 12,000.

This comes as evidence mounts that North Korea is supplying Russia with ammunition, as recently demonstrated by the recovery of a missile in Ukraine’s Poltava region.

Moscow and Pyongyang have also been deepening their cooperation in recent months. Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin on his birthday, calling him his “closest comrade”.

Friday’s security meeting was attended by key officials from South Korea’s National Security Office, the Ministry of National Defence, and the National Intelligence Service, Yoon’s office said.

“[The participants] decided not to ignore the situation and to jointly respond to it with the international community using all available means,” it said.

The allegation from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) comes days after Ukrainian military intelligence sources said that Russia’s army is forming a unit of North Koreans.

The BBC has asked the NIS for comment.

On Thursday, Ukraine’s spy chief Kyrylo Budanov claimed that there were nearly 11,000 North Korean infantry troops training in eastern Russia to fight in Ukraine.

“They will be ready [to fight in Ukraine] on 1 November,” Lt Gen Budanov, who heads the Ukrainian Defence Intelligence Directorate, told The Warzone website.

He added that the North Koreans would be using Russian equipment and ammunition, and the first group of 2,600 soldiers would be sent to Russia’s western Kursk region, where Ukraine holds a number of settlements after launching its incursion in August.

Earlier this week, Putin introduced a bill to ratify a military pact he made with Kim, which pledges that Russia and North Korea will help each other in the event of “aggression” against either country.

South Korea’s spy agency, the NIS, said North Korean troops are training in Russian bases in Vladivostok, Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk, and Vlagoveshensk.

This appears to confirm information from a military source in Russia’s Far East, who told BBC Russian this week that “a number of North Koreans have arrived” and were stationed in one of the military bases near Ussuriysk.

Seoul’s spy agency also released aerial photographs of Ussuriysk and Khabarovsk, where they say hundreds of North Korean troops have gathered, and another photo of North Korea’s Chongjin port, where a Russian ship was reportedly shown carrying North Korean soldiers.

The NIS said it found that since August, North Korea has sent 13,000 shipping containers carrying shells, missiles, and anti-armour rockets to Russia.

As many as eight million 122-mm and 152-mm shells have been supplied to Russia, it said.

However, some military experts believe the Russian military units will have difficulties incorporating North Korean troops into their frontlines.

Apart from the language barrier, the North Korean army has no recent experience of combat operations, they said.

“They could guard some sections of the Russian-Ukrainian border, which would free Russian units for fighting elsewhere,” said Valeriy Ryabykh, editor of the Ukrainian publication Defence Express.

“I would rule out the possibility that these units will immediately appear on the front line.”

Many Israelis cheered and danced on the streets at the news that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar – chief architect of the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel – had been killed.

But his death at the hands of Israeli forces in Gaza on Wednesday has raised anxieties for families of the 101 hostages still held by Hamas.

Meanwhile, few Palestinians believed Sinwar’s killing would bring an end to the devastating year-old war in Gaza.

Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 42,500 Palestinians, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says. It followed Hamas’s attack on Israeli communities on 7 October last year, which killed about 1,200 people and saw the group take 251 hostages.

• Follow live updates on this story
• Who was Yahya Sinwar?
• Jeremy Bowen analysis: Sinwar’s death is serious blow to Hamas, but not the end of the war
• Watch: BBC Verify analyses footage of Sinwar’s killing

People in Israel were overwhelmingly supportive of Sinwar’s killing in a chance encounter with Israeli troops.

In Tiberias in northern Israel, several hundred people danced, waved flags and played loud music at the news.

“It’s very good“, Nissim Weizmann told the BBC as he sat outside a grocery shop in the town.

“He’s a bad man and his time has come. This is a present for everyone. Both Palestinians who are with us and the Jews.”

At a beach just south of Tel Aviv, bathers cheered and applauded when a lifeguard first announced rumours of the death over a loudspeaker.

But others were more circumspect, wondering how Sinwar’s killing would affect prospects for the release of Israeli hostages who continue to be held by Hamas in Gaza.

“To be honest, I feel a bit numb,” Anat Ron Kandle in Tel Aviv told the Reuters news agency.

“I have a deep concern for the hostages, and it’s very difficult to find faith and hope.

“And I always think about, what if that could have been me, [it] could have been my son that was with me?”

Family members of the remaining 101 hostages still in Gaza gathered in Tel Aviv after the news broke.

They have been demonstrating for months, urging the Israeli government to reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas to get their relatives home.

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan was taken hostage, urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Don’t bury the hostages.”

“Go out now to the mediators and to the public and lay out a new Israeli initiative,” she said to Reuters.

“If Netanyahu doesn’t use this moment and doesn’t get up now to lay out a new Israeli initiative – even at the expense of ending the war – it means he has decided to abandon the hostages in an effort to prolong the war and fortify his rulership.”

In Gaza, some Palestinians said they believed Sinwar’s death could open a path towards ending the war, saying it left Israel with “no reason to continue this genocide”.

“They always said they wanted to eliminate Sinwar to stop this war,” Ali Chameli told Reuters.

But the reality on the ground since his killing was “quite the opposite”, said Jemaa Abou Mendi.

Speaking to the AFP news agency, he said: “the war has not stopped, and the killings continue unabated.”

Speaking in the city of Khan Younis, which has been largely left in ruins by a year of bombardment and fighting, Dr Ramadan Faris said the outcome of the war did not depend on any single person’s fate.

“It’s a war of extermination against the Palestinian people, as we all know and understand,” he said.

Also in Khan Younis was Lina Anuni, who fled Gaza City with her three children a year ago.

“I opposed [Sinwar] while he was alive and hold him equally responsible, alongside the Israeli occupation, for my suffering and that of 2.3 million Palestinians,” she told the BBC.

“Yet, I felt a sense of sadness at his passing,” she added.

One man, who chose not to be identified, told the BBC World Service’s Gaza Today programme that though there were “differing opinions” about the former Hamas leader, his death would not change things for people in Gaza.

“I don’t believe this will change the dynamics of the conflict,” he said, citing how the deaths of other senior Hezbollah and Hamas figures – like Hassan Nasrallah last month – had resulted in “nothing fundamentally” shifting.

“Instead, tensions escalated further, raising concerns for us as Palestinians,” he said.

Some Palestinians described Sinwar as a martyr.

Yousef Jamal, who said he supported the 7 October attack on Israel, said: “He [Sinwar] did not hide among the displaced, seek refuge with enemy prisoners, or retreat into tunnels.”

Yahya Sinwar, 61, was said to have spent much of his time hiding in tunnels along with a small team of bodyguards and a “human shield” of hostages seized from Israel.

But reports indicate he met his end in an encounter with an Israeli patrol in southern Gaza. No hostages were found with him.

Israeli troops had for more than a year hunted the leader of Hamas, who disappeared in Gaza soon after masterminding the 7 October attacks.

Yahya Sinwar, 61, was said to have spent much of his time hiding in the tunnels under the Strip, along with a cadre of bodyguards and a “human shield” of hostages seized from Israel.

But ultimately, it appears he met his end in a chance encounter with an Israeli patrol in southern Gaza. His guard detail was small. No hostages were found.

Details are still emerging, but here’s what we know so far about Sinwar’s killing.

• Follow live updates on this story
• Who was Yahya Sinwar?
• Jeremy Bowen analysis: Sinwar’s death is serious blow to Hamas, but not the end of the war
• Watch: Netanyahu says focus on hostages after Sinwar death
• Explainer: What has happened to Hamas’ most prominent leaders?

The Israel Defense Forces says a unit from its 828th Bislamach Brigade was patrolling Tal al-Sultan, an area of Rafah, on Wednesday.

Three fighters were identified and engaged by the Israeli troops – and all were eliminated.

At that stage nothing seemed particularly remarkable about the firefight and the soldiers did not return to the scene until Thursday morning.

It was then, as the dead were inspected, that one of the bodies was found to bear a striking resemblance to the leader of Hamas.

The corpse however remained at the site due to suspected booby traps and instead, part of a finger was removed and sent to Israel for testing.

His body was finally extracted and brought to Israel later that day as the area was made safe.

Daniel Hagari, the IDF’s spokesman, said his forces “didn’t know he was there but we continued to operate”.

He said his troops had identified the three men running from house to house, and engaged them before they split up.

The man since identified as Sinwar “ran alone into one of the buildings”. After being located by a drone, he was killed when a tank launched a shell at the building.

Sinwar’s body was found with a flak jacket, a gun and 40,000 shekels (£8,240).

None of the hostages Sinwar was believed to be using as a human shield were present and his small retinue suggests either he was trying to move unnoticed, or had lost many of those protecting him.

Hagari also said the IDF had gained an indication of Sinwar’s previous movements when they found his DNA in a tunnel close to where the bodies of six hostages were recovered around six weeks ago.

Israel is now searching for Sinwar’s brother, Muhammad Sinwar, and all Hamas military commanders, Hagari said.

Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, said: “Sinwar died while beaten, persecuted and on the run – he didn’t die as a commander, but as someone who only cared for himself. This is a clear message to all of our enemies.”

Drone footage released by the Israeli military late on Thursday was said to show Sinwar’s final moments before he was killed.

The video appears to be shot from a drone flying through the open window of a mostly destroyed building.

It approaches a man, with his head covered, sitting in an armchair on the first floor of a house that is littered with debris.

The man, who seems to be injured, then throws what appears to be a stick at the drone and the video ends.

Israel first announced it was “investigating the possibility” that Sinwar had been killed in Gaza on Thursday afternoon local time.

Within minutes of the announcement, pictures posted to social media showed the body of a man with very similar features to the Hamas leader, who had suffered catastrophic head wounds. The images are too graphic to republish.

However, officials warned “at this stage” the identity of any of the three men killed could not be confirmed.

Not long after that, Israeli sources told the BBC leaders were “increasingly confident” they had killed him. However, they said all necessary tests must be carried out before the death could be confirmed.

Those tests did not take long. By Thursday evening, Israel had announced they had been completed and that Sinwar was confirmed “eliminated”.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said “evil” had been “dealt a blow”, but warned the Israeli war in Gaza had not been completed.

While Sinwar was not killed during a targeted operation, the IDF said that it had for weeks been operating in areas where intelligence indicated his presence.

In short, Israeli forces had narrowed Sinwar’s rough location to the southern city of Rafah, and were slowly moving in to get him.

Sinwar had been on the run for more than a year. He had undoubtedly felt the Israeli pressure growing as other Hamas leaders, such as Mohammad Dief and Ismail Haniyeh, were killed, and as Israel destroyed the infrastructure he had used to prosecute the atrocities of 7 October.

In a statement, the IDF said its operations in recent weeks in the south had “restricted Yahya Sinwar’s operational movement as he was pursued by the forces and led to his elimination”.

Killing Sinwar was a major goal for Israel, which marked him for death soon after the 7 October attacks. But his end does not end the war in Gaza.

On Friday, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, Basem Naim, said in a statement that it seems “Israel believes that killing our leaders means the end of our movement and the struggle of the Palestinian people”, but said Hamas as a movement could not be eliminated.

Naim did not directly name Sinwar or confirm his death, but said “it is very painful and distressing to lose beloved people”.

While Netanyahu said he had “settled the score”, he insisted the war would continue – not least to save the 101 hostages still held by Hamas.

“To the dear hostage families, I say: this is an important moment in the war. We will continue full force until all your loved ones, our loved ones, are home.”

In Israel, families of hostages said they hoped a ceasefire could now be reached that would bring home the captives.

Killing Yahya Sinwar is Israel’s biggest victory so far in the war against Hamas in Gaza.

His death is a serious blow for Hamas, the organisation he turned into a fighting force that inflicted the biggest defeat on the state of Israel in its history.

He was not killed in a planned special forces operation, but in a chance encounter with Israeli forces in Rafah in southern Gaza.

A photo taken at the scene shows Sinwar, dressed in combat gear, lying dead in the rubble of a building that was hit by a tank shell.

• Follow live updates on this story
• Who was Yahya Sinwar?
• Explainer: How Israel killed Hamas leader Sinwar in a chance encounter
• Watch: Netanyahu says focus on hostages after Sinwar death
• Explainer: What has happened to Hamas’ most prominent leaders?

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, praised the soldiers and made clear that however big a victory, it was not the end of the war.

“Today we made clear once again what happens to those who harm us. Today we once again showed the world the victory of good over evil.

“But the war, my dear ones, is not over yet. It is difficult, and it is costing us dearly.”

“Great challenges still lie ahead of us. We need endurance, unity, courage, and steadfastness. Together we will fight, and with God’s help – together we will win.”

Netanyahu and the overwhelming proportion of Israelis who support the war in Gaza needed a victory.

The prime minister has repeated his war aims many times – destroying Hamas as a military and political force and bringing the hostages home.

Neither has been achieved, despite a year of war that has killed at least 42,000 Palestinians and left much of Gaza in ruins.

But the remaining hostages are not free and Hamas is fighting and sometimes killing Israeli troops.

Killing Sinwar was the victory Israel wanted. But until Netanyahu can claim that the other war aims have been accomplished, the war, as he says, will go on.

Yahya Sinwar was born in 1962 in a refugee camp in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. He was five years old when it was captured by Israel from Egypt in the 1967 Middle East war.

His family were among more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes by Israeli forces in the 1948 war in which Israel won its independence.

His family came from the town now known as Ashkelon, which is close to the northern border of the Gaza Strip.

In his 20s, he was convicted by Israel of killing four Palestinian informers. During 22 years in jail he learnt Hebrew, studied his enemy and believed that he worked out how to fight them. His time in jail also meant Israel had his dental records and a sample of his DNA, which meant that they could identify his body.

Sinwar was released as one of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners who were swapped in 2011 for a single Israel soldier, Gilad Shalit.

On 7 October last year, in a meticulously planned series of attacks, Sinwar and his men inflicted Israel’s worst-ever defeat – and a collective trauma that is still deeply felt.

The killing of around 1,200 Israelis, the hostage-taking and the celebrations of their enemies recalled for many Israelis the Nazi holocaust.

Sinwar’s own experience in a prisoner swap must have convinced him of the value and power of taking hostages.

In Tel Aviv families of the remaining 101 hostages in Gaza – Israel says half of them might already be dead – gathered in the square in which they have been gathering for a year, urging the Israeli government to launch a new negotiation to get their people home.

Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker appealed to the prime minister.

“Netanyahu, don’t bury the hostages. Go out now to the mediators and to the public and lay out a new Israeli initiative.”

“For my Matan and the rest of the hostages in the tunnels, time has run out. You have the victory pictures. Now bring a deal!”

“If Netanyahu doesn’t use this moment and doesn’t get up now to lay out a new Israeli initiative – even at the expense of ending the war – it means he has decided to abandon the hostages in an effort to prolong the war and fortify his rulership.

“We will not give up until everyone returns.”

Many Israelis believe that Netanyahu wants to prolong the war in Gaza to put off the day of reckoning for his share of the security failures that allowed Sinwar and his men to break into Israel, and to postpone perhaps indefinitely the resumption of his trial on serious corruption charges.

He denies those accusations, insisting that only what he calls ‘total victory’ in Gaza over Hamas will restore Israeli security.

Like other news organisations, Israel does not let the BBC cross into Gaza except on rare, supervised trips with the army.

In the ruins of Khan Yunis, the birthplace of Sinwar, Palestinians interviewed for the BBC by local trusted freelancers were defiant. They said the war would go on.

“This war is not dependent on Sinwar, Haniyeh, or Mishal, nor on any leader or official,” said Dr Ramadan Faris.

“It’s a war of extermination against the Palestinian people, as we all know and understand. The issue is much bigger than Sinwar or anyone else.”

Adnan Ashour said some people were saddened, and others were indifferent about Sinwar.

“They’re not just after us. They want the entire Middle East. They’re fighting in Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen… This is a war between us and the Jews since 1919, over 100 years.”

He was asked whether the death of Sinwar would affect Hamas.

“I hope not, God willing. Let me explain: Hamas is not just Sinwar… It’s the cause of a people.”

The war goes on in Gaza. Twenty five Palestinians were killed in a raid on northern Gaza. Israel said it hit a Hamas command centre. Doctors at the local hospital said the scores of wounded that they treated were civilians.

Parachute drops of aid resumed after the Americans said Israel had to allow in more food and relief supplies.

Every leader of Hamas since the 1990s bar one has been killed by Israel, but there’s always been a successor. As Israel celebrates killing Sinwar, Hamas still has its hostages and is still fighting.

Hong Eunchae, the youngest member of K-Pop band Le Sserafim, is strutting through Seoul’s infamous Nakwon Instrument Arcade when she suddenly loses her footing.

With a crash, her drink flies into the air and the 17-year-old falls head-first down a metal staircase, landing with a sickening thud on a subway floor.

There’s a pause. Then she sits up with a shrug, completely unharmed, as though this is how she typically navigates the stairs.

Instantly meme-able, the scene features in the trailer for Le Sserafim’s third EP, Easy, which was released earlier this year. But Eunchae says it also carries a deeper meaning.

“When I’m following the path I want to follow, tumbling and falling down doesn’t matter,” she tells the BBC.

“I always start over like nothing has happened. That’s the message I wanted to deliver.”

Such defiance and persistence have helped Le Sserafim carve out a niche since they were thrust into the spotlight two years ago.

With the eccentric energy of Girls Aloud and the impeccable hooks of the Korean pop machine, they’ve released grungy, club-ready songs like Crazy and Antifragile, been nominated for multiple MTV Awards, and collaborated with Nile Rodgers and PinkPantheress.

To a casual observer, the quintet might seem like the prototype girl band: Coiffed, choreographed and bristling with confidence.

But they’re unusually forthright about the unrealistic standards the industry places on women.

On Eve, Psyche and Bluebeard’s Wife (a song named after three women who defied societal expectations), rapper and singer Kim Chaewon speaks about the pressure to perform, even when you’re not at your best.

.”

On Good Bones, Huh Yunjin snaps back at her critics.

she protests over a spiky rock riff.

“As a group, we’re always trying to show that duality of being strong but also being vulnerable,” Yunjin explains.

“But no matter what happens, we’ve got each other and that gives us resilience.”

Le Sserafim have an unusual origin story, with members drawn from all over the world at different ages and stages of readiness by their label Source Music.

Sakura Miyawaki is a showbusiness veteran, with experience in three other bands – KT48, AKB48 and Iz*One.

Aged 26, she’s the oldest Sserafim, and Yunjin calls her “a pillar” of strength who “always has good advice” about the industry.

Chaewon was also part of Iz*One, and acts as Le Sserafim’s leader, a role she characterises as being “a rock” who “makes everything smooth” when problems arise.

Yunjin was raised in New York and studied opera before entering the rigorous world of K-pop training. By contrast, Eunchae only had 15 months of preparation before making her official debut in 2022. Aged 17, she is nicknamed Manchae – a portmanteau of her name and (막내), the Korean word for “youngest member”.

Last to join was former ballerina Nakamura Kazuha, who was swept out of the Dutch National Ballet Academy five months before Le Sserafim’s first single. To this day, she feels like she’s playing catch-up with the rest of the team.

“It’s been two years but every day is a new challenge still,” she says.

There was originally a sixth member. Kim Garam appeared on the band’s debut EP, Fearless, but resigned shortly afterwards following accusations she had bullied students in high school.

That’s not the only bump in the road Le Sserafim have faced.

Earlier this year, the band apologised for perceived vocal weaknesses during their performance at Coachella in California. Responding to negative press, Chaewon said the group had simply “become excited and lost control of our pace” while playing their first outdoor festival.

A recent behind-the-scenes documentary, Make It Look Easy, exposed more about the pressures the band faced promoting their first album, Unforgiven, last year.

In one scene, Chaewon breaks down in tears and confesses: “I don’t really know how to be happy.”

“To be honest, I sometimes think about quitting,” she tells an off-camera interviewer.

Kazuha also confronts insecurities over her abilities as a performer.

“Sometimes I get super-confident and I’m like, ‘I should work harder. I can do this’,” she says. “But then I lose confidence and I’m like, ‘I can’t do anything. I have no charm’.”

Yunjin is more fiery. Her American upbringing gives her a different perspective on K-Pop’s “idol” industry, and she’s expressed a desire to change it from within.

“Idols need to do this, do that. There are all these unspoken rules,” she says in the documentary.

“I could feel it when I was a trainee, but back then I desperately wanted to [make my] debut, so I just conformed. But after debuting I was like, ‘Why does it have to be like this?'”

She pours those frustrations into a solo song called I-Doll, which explicitly criticises the way pop stars are treated as products.

,” she sings. “ [expletive] .”

In the past, the 23-year-old has declared she wants to “change the idol industry”, breaking down its “strict standards one by one”.

By being transparent about their struggles, Le Sserafim deliberately challenge a status quo that demands perfection – and their candour comes at a time when K-pop artists are increasingly willing to confront the system.

Earlier this week, a singer with girl group NewJeans testified to South Korea’s National Assembly about the bullying she has faced at work. Last year, the 11 members of Omega X won emancipation from their contract following allegations of “unwarranted treatment” by their label.

Le Sserafim – who have the full support of Source Music – put a more positive spin on their story.

“The message we wanted to deliver through the documentary was not that our job is hard and strenuous,” Chaewon says.

“Rather, we wanted to emphasise the fact that we have a lot in common with anyone who holds down a job.”

“We want to say that you don’t have to be perfect all the time,” adds Yunjin.

“Everyone faces difficulties,” Chaewon concludes. “So our message is, let’s overcome all those difficulties together.”

In a superficial industry, they make a virtue of their imperfections, projecting them as a strength.

Even the band’s name is an anagram of the phrase “I’m fearless”.

Their camaraderie is expressed in songs like Chasing Lightning – where Yunjin is teased for her obsession with Greek yoghurt, and Sakura describes her love of crochet – and their latest single, 1-800 Hot N Fun.

Powered by a sinuous bass guitar riff, it follows the band on a night out, kissing random strangers, demanding the DJ plays Beyoncé, and clinging to the dance floor until the break of dawn.

“I love that song,” says Yunjin. “It’s almost like a dialogue, we’re just all having a conversation.”

In the hook, the bandmates keep asking, “” – their nickname for Sakura – before someone responds, “.”

Does that mean Sakura’s always the first to be ready?

“Wow! Wow!” exclaims Yunjin. “That’s actually true! That’s the first time we’ve thought about it that way. That’s genius.”

There won’t be much time for partying this year, though. Le Sserafim have been speaking to the BBC in the middle of a long day of TV rehearsals, and fans have speculated they’re working on a new EP – completing a trilogy of releases called Easy, Crazy and Hot.

The title was hinted at in lyrics to Good Bones, but Yunjin skilfully avoids revealing any secrets.

“Will it even be called Hot? We don’t know?” she laughs.

“It might be cold, it might be warm. But whatever we come out with, it’ll be fire.”

Based on the evidence so far, there’s no reason to doubt it… as long as Eunchae avoids staircases.

A selection of striking news photographs taken around the world this week.

On a Sunday morning in September, the air inside the historic Mt Lebanon AME Zion Church was filled with the sounds of gospel music, prayer – and politics.

“This is a… very, very important, very, very dangerous opportunity,” Reverend Javan Leach said.

“The reason why I say dangerous: because if we don’t participate with our voice, and our body, that’s just like casting a vote for the other side.”

“Amen,” the congregation shouted.

Located in Pasquotank County, where a third of the population is black, the church is in a rare Democratic stronghold on North Carolina’s north-east coast.

It was rural black voters, like those at Mt Lebanon church, who were credited with helping Barack Obama take the state in 2008, the only time a Democrat has won North Carolina since the 1970s. Donald Trump took the state in both 2016 and 2020.

But support for Democrats has been declining in Pasquotank, just as it has been in other rural areas across the country over the past few years. In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden won the county by just 62 votes – the party’s slimmest margin yet – barely bigger than Sunday’s congregation.

Trump beat Biden in the state by 1.3% in 2020, but polls now rate it as a “toss-up” between him and Kamala Harris, giving Democrats fresh hope in a state where losing has been the norm.

With margins razor-thin in not just North Carolina, but other battleground states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, Harris’s campaign will have to excite Democratic voters from across all corners of the state – not just the blue urban areas, but the deep-red countryside, too.

To do that, they’ve opened offices in places where Democrats have usually not campaigned but where strategists see new potential. The goal is to churn out as many votes as possible in the least likely places – even if it means venturing deep into politically unfriendly territory.

Onslow County, located along a rural stretch of the state’s south-eastern coastline, is one of those places.

Last month, a few dozen Democrats were gathered there at a local bed-and-breakfast to eat pulled pork and talk party strategy.

“We don’t have to be afraid to be Democrats in rural communities,” Anderson Clayton, North Carolina’s Democratic Party chairwoman, told the small crowd.

“We should be proud of that and wear it on our chest this year when we go to vote.”

As she spoke, she pointed to picnic tables smothered in Democratic paraphernalia: blue tablecloths, blue balloons, and rolls of blue stickers that said “I’m voting with Democrats”. A life-size cutout of Kamala Harris stood nearby.

It was a defiant display in a place like Onslow.

While Trump’s 2020 victory in the state overall was a narrow one, in Onslow County he won by an immense margin of 30%.

“It is really scary to get out and knock doors. I get that,” Clayton said.

While she was speaking, a large truck roared by with a Trump flag waving above its rear.

Her optimism didn’t waver.

“There is a political realignment happening in rural communities across North Carolina,” Clayton continued, her voice elevating.

“Whether or not people choose to realise it, they’re going to see it.”

The party has made big investments in the state, including signing up 32,000 volunteers, hiring over 340 staff members, and opening up 28 offices, including in rural Republican-led counties like Onslow.

Republicans have begun to notice.

Earlier this month, Senator Thom Tillis told media outlet Semafor “what we’re seeing in North Carolina that we haven’t seen for a time, though, is a really well organised ground game by the Democrats”.

Although Harris has little chance of winning a majority of votes in these deep-red parts of the country, this election will be won on the margins. And so Democrats are betting that a few extra votes in unexpected areas may make the difference in an extremely close race.

Near the end of the campaign event in Onslow County, the energy of the crowd began to fizzle as the sun dipped beyond the trees.

A few lingered, including a 14-year-old who walked up to Clayton to introduce himself.

“After hearing you speak, I decided I’m going to go door knock on Saturday,” Gavin Rohwedder said.

Clayton smiled – one more volunteer today in Onslow than yesterday.

“It’s piece by piece,” she told the BBC. “All people need is somebody to show up.”

But the Democrats’ plans were upended when Hurricane Helene hit in late September.

The storm wreaked havoc in North Carolina, killing at least 95 people. Nearly 100 are still missing.

As residents begin the lengthy process of rebuilding, both parties must also reassess their ground game.

In Buncombe County, where the Democratic stronghold of Asheville is located, some people are still living without internet connection, mobile phone service or clean water, said the county’s party chair, Kathie Kline.

“The typical way to win elections is to knock on doors and to have face-to-face conversations with people,” she told the BBC. “Of course, we had to stop that.”

When North Carolina residents began early voting on Thursday, Kline said some people waited in line at polls to vote, while others queued at government-provided trailers to shower.

It’s a chaotic set of circumstances that Kline agreed could hurt Democrats’ chances in November: “I don’t like saying it out loud, but yes.”

Republicans are not going to cede North Carolina without a fight.

Strategists say the state looks like a must-win for Donald Trump to take back the presidency. In 2020, it was the only one of the seven battleground states he won.

“It’s very hard for us to win unless we’re able to get North Carolina,” said Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, during a campaign stop last month.

The state’s pivotal role in the election is felt by Republicans on the grassroots level, too.

Adele Walker, who owns an antique store in Selma, North Carolina, is a lifelong Republican, but this is her first year volunteering to canvass.

“This is such an important election,” Walker said, noting her opposition to abortion and fears about illegal immigration.

While out canvassing backroads on foot, Walker passed a woman sitting on her porch and stopped to speak to her.

“Hola,” said Walker, who identifies as Hispanic, continuing the conversation in Spanish.

The woman told Walker she was from Honduras and answered “no” when asked if any political groups had previously approached her.

Walker then reached into a cardboard box she’d been carrying under her arm and handed the woman one of roughly a dozen copies of the Constitution translated to Spanish.

She left the encounter in slight astonishment.

“That’s interesting,” Walker said. “Someone said that Democrats were walking through here just last week.

“Guess they missed her.”

At Mt Lebanon church, Reverend Leach is ensuring everyone understands the urgency of voting.

The church’s origins date back to the mid-1800s, its original congregation composed of African-American slaves. Since then, it has evolved into a hub for social and political activity.

Now, the reverend implored his congregation: “Someone say mission possible.”

Possible, he said, if they – black, rural voters – showed up to the polls.

“Some of you who don’t think your vote matters… We can’t let them take us back 40, 50, 60 years,” Reverend Leach said, echoing a line often used in Harris’s stump speech.

His warning struck a personal chord with William Overton, who was in the crowd. The 85-year-old told the BBC he was voting for Harris and that his number one concern was protecting abortion rights.

“The laws now are worse than they were in the 1950s,” Overton said.

Abortion is an intimate issue for him. His wife had a miscarriage in South Carolina in 1964, he said, and relied on medical care that is now sometimes illegal in that state.

Democrats’ investments into rural areas are felt here, Overton said, adding that he’s been receiving daily campaign calls and texts.

“The excitement is up compared to 2020,” he said.

Michael Sutton, another Democratic voter and member of the church, agreed.

“The way things look even here, in North Carolina, in this small town, everybody is energised,” Sutton said. “It feels like we have a good chance.”

But energy is one thing – votes are another.

Standing outside of Mt Lebanon church was 25-year-old Justin Herman.

He told the BBC he voted for Joe Biden in 2020, but feels undecided about this election.

“I don’t know much about Kamala,” Herman said. “Trump, sometimes the stuff he says isn’t ideal. I don’t feel like I can relate to either candidate.”

Then, Herman said something that strikes to the heart of the challenge that Democrats are facing not just in this state, but nationally.

“I don’t know if I’m going to vote at all.”

Angelina Jolie walked the red carpet in London on Friday as her film about opera singer Maria Callas received its UK premiere.

Maria is the third in a trilogy of films about high-profile, complex women from director Pablo Larraín, following his movies about Jacqueline Kennedy and Princess Diana.

Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, the film focuses on Callas’s final years, in the 1970s, when she was living in Paris.

With Jolie taking on acting roles relatively rarely in recent years, the film has provided something of a comeback narrative for her and could lead to an Oscar nomination for best actress.

Callas was a US-born Greek soprano, and one of opera’s most well-known opera singers. She died in 1977 aged 53.

In Maria, a blend of Jolie’s own voice and original recordings by Callas are used in the singing scenes.

Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter about Callas in August, Jolie said: “I’m sure there’s a lot that will be read into it of our overlaps as women, but the one that’s maybe not the most obvious is I’m not sure how comfortable we both are with being public.

“And there was a pressure behind the working that wasn’t just the joy of the work.”

Asked why she had been taking on fewer film roles in recent years, Jolie explained: “I needed to be home more with my kids.”

But, she continued, she felt ready to return because her children are now “a bit older, getting more independent… I’m less needed and so able to go away for different periods of time”.

The film has received mixed reviews, although critics have generally praised its central performance.

“Jolie is absolutely spellbinding as Maria Callas, imbuing her with grace and resolve,” said Sophia Ciminello of AwardsWatch. “She doesn’t disappear into the role, she transcends.”

Thanks to a “virtuoso lead performance from Jolie and exceptional technical elements across the board”, Next Best Picture’s Ema Sasic wrote, “Maria is a triumphant high note for Larraín to close his trilogy on”.

“It is Jolie’s ability to depict a woman owning everything she is that makes her performance truly sing,” said Entertainment Weekly’s Maureen Lee Lenker.

“It’s a remarkable portrait of a woman reckoning with herself, even as her body fails her.”

Time’s Stephanie Zacharek was less keen on her performance, however, saying Jolie “plays her subject as haughtily cool and deeply insecure, but captures none of her imperious charisma”.

“Larraín does his movie no favours by using footage of the real Maria Callas in the closing credits sequence… [giving audiences] a jolt of all the vitality Jolie and Larraín have failed to capture.”

Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson was also a little cooler on the movie, writing: “There is something arbitrary, unspecific about the film.

“With a few details removed, Maria could be about any grand diva, this blurry picture of a woman swanning through the final week of her life.”

Jolie’s previous film credits include Changeling, Maleficent, Salt, Mr & Mrs Smith, The Bone Collector and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

Maria will be released in cinemas in the UK on 10 January.

Rumours of ill-health have engulfed two African presidents in recent weeks, sparking contrasting responses and exposing how the wellbeing of leaders is often treated as a state secret.

It started with Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, 91, whose ministers denied that he was sick, insisting he was in “excellent health”. However, the media in Cameroon was then banned from reporting on his condition.

Then, Malawi’s state house rebuffed gossip that President Lazarus Chakwera was unwell by posting videos of the leader jogging and doing press-ups in the capital, Lilongwe.

“You have to reflect a certain kind of man to dominate in politics – you can’t show weakness or vulnerability,” says Oxford University associate professor in African politics, Miles Tendi, of the pomp and secrecy that surrounds African leaders and their health.

Chakwera and Biya used very different approaches to tackle the rumours about illnesses, but they had a similar intent – to project, and protect, an image of strength and virility.

But perhaps most importantly, to keep rivals and opportunists at bay.

Prof Tendi says that the game of politics is a “performance of masculinity” that needs to be done to maintain power.

He adds that the masculine nature of politics makes it extremely difficult for women to succeed. There is currently only one female head of state in Africa, Samia Suluhu Hassan in Tanzania, and she inherited power as the deputy leader when her male boss died.

Political leaders, in Africa and beyond, are expected to be symbols of strength and resilience.

So, especially when the leader is ageing, their health becomes a highly sensitive matter of huge national importance, as we have seen in the US elections this year.

University of Johannesburg professor Adekeye Adebajo said leaders on the continent “give the impression that the health of their countries is tied to their own personal health”, and what is ailing a leader is often treated as a state secret.

If something happens to them, it can affect the economy, the markets and alter the political landscape, a security expert from Zimbabwe told the BBC, and this is why extra precautions are taken.

In countries where the political institutions are weak, procedures for political succession are often not well established, leading to fears that any leadership vacuum could lead to a power-struggle.

Over two decades ago, the Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent-Désiré Kabila was assassinated by one of his bodyguards.

The authorities refused to admit that he had been killed, maintaining the pretence that he had been sent to Zimbabwe for medical treatment, while they worked out what to do next.

In fact, it was his dead body that was flown across the continent in an elaborate charade.

His inexperienced son, Joseph, was eventually chosen as the country’s next leader.

In Malawi, the government delayed the announcement of President Bingu wa Mutharika’s death in 2012, sparking speculation that there was an effort to prevent the succession of his Vice-President Joyce Banda.

But in neighbouring Zambia, where two presidents have died in office, and in Ghana, where then President John Atta Mills died in 2012, the constitutional processes worked smoothly.

Over the years, various African leaders have met questions about their ailing health with either silence or anger.

In 2010, Zimbabwe’s former leader Robert Mugabe slammed years of speculation as “naked lies crafted by the Western-manipulated media”.

Three years ago, the announcement that Tanzania’s President John Magufuli had died came after weeks of denial that he was sick. People were even arrested for spreading false information about his health, only for them to be ultimately proven right.

One of the most extreme cases of a government concealing the health of its leader was in Nigeria, where President Umaru Yar’Adua wasn’t seen in public for five months.

His office said he was receiving treatment in January 2010 and that he was “getting better” however, there were numerous reports saying he was “brain-dead”.

Yar’Adua never appeared in public again, and his death was announced in May of that year.

“Some of these guys just want to hang onto power,” said Prof Tendi, even until the bitter end.

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Many leaders, beyond Africa as well, do not think their citizens have a right to know about their health, which is treated as highly confidential.

But there have been exceptions.

After seven weeks of official medical leave in 2017, Nigeria’s President Buhari revealed to his nation that he had never been “so sick” in his life, although he did not say what was wrong.

Cameroon’s former President Ahmadou Ahidjo is believed to be the only African leader to resign due to ill health, in 1982, after ruling for 22 years.

This kind of transparency and relinquishing of power is rare. More than 20 African leaders have died in office, some without telling their country they were even unwell.

The example has not been adopted by Ahidjo’s successor, Paul Biya.

Leaders may fear that revealing health issues could embolden their rivals or even foreign powers seeking to influence or destabilise the country.

Some presidents have been toppled after news of their ill health was publicised.

In 1996, it was public knowledge that the kleptocratic leader of Zaire (now DR Congo) Mobutu Sese Seko, had been receiving treatment for prostate cancer.

This no doubt made it much easier for Laurent Kabila to lead a band of Rwanda-backed rebels across the vast country.

Mobutu was too sick to coordinate any resistance, and he fled to exile in Morocco, leaving Kabila to seize power.

“If you’re seen as weak, it’s a signal to your internal rivals,” said Prof Tendi.

But Nigerian farmer and teacher, Abeku Adams, 41, who has experienced two presidents dying in office, said the secrecy could also be a “cultural thing”.

“Being secretive about one’s health is something considered a part of the healing process in many African cultures. This could be the possible root of why they hide or lie about their health,” he said.

While private citizens have a right to keep their medical records confidential, it is argued that political leaders do not have this luxury because their health can have an impact on the whole country.

As more African countries establish stronger succession procedures, there are calls for greater transparency when it comes to the health of their leaders, especially from the continent’s increasingly youthful population.

“Governments owe it to their citizens to share such information,” said Mr Adams.

He insists that because citizens pay taxes, they should be privy to the health of their leaders.

It may be that Malawi’s intensely competitive political system, with elections due next year, is what pushed Chakwera into doing his public exercises – to show he is fitter than his main rival, Peter Mutharika, 15 years his senior.

In contrast, Biya faces little threat from elections – he has already won five, despite opposition complaints of rigging.

In a true democracy, the health of a leader should be transparent, one political analyst told the BBC.

But the nature of politics in much of Africa, where ruling parties are often accused of rigging elections, military coups are always a threat and even elected presidencies can become hereditary, transparency is not a practice that many leaders seem ready to adopt any time soon.

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It was a case that made headlines globally and led to widespread condemnation.

A teenaged widow was burned on her husband’s funeral pyre under the Hindu practice of sati 37 years ago.

Now Roop Kanwar’s story has returned to headlines in India after a court acquitted eight men accused of glorifying her death, in the last of the remaining cases in the grisly saga.

Sati was first banned in 1829 by the British colonial rulers, but the practice had continued even after India’s independence in 1947. Kanwar is recognised as India’s last sati.

The outrage over her death forced the Indian government to introduce a tough new law – Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 – banning the practice and, for the first time, also its glorification. It mandated death or life term for those committing sati or abetting it. But over the years, everyone accused of involvement in Kanwar’s death and the glorification that followed has been cleared by courts.

Last week’s order has also led to outrage, with women’s organisations and activists expressing concern that no-one has been held accountable over her death.

Fourteen women’s groups in Rajasthan have written a letter to Chief Minister Bhajan Lal asking him to ensure the government challenges the order in the high court and also makes all attempts to prevent glorification of sati. Coming after such a long delay, these acquittals could “reinforce a culture of sati glorification”, they wrote.

A lawyer acting for the eight accused told BBC Hindi that they were acquitted because “no evidence was found against them”.

I asked Rajasthan’s Justice Minister Jogaram Patel whether the government planned to appeal the decision.

“We haven’t yet received a copy of the judgement. We will examine it on its merits and demerits and then decide whether to appeal or not,” he told me.

When asked about why the government hadn’t appealed the earlier acquittals, he said those cases had happened before his time and he was not aware of the details.

The death of the 18-year-old in Deorala village on 4 September 1987 was a huge public spectacle. Watched by hundreds of villagers, it was described as a blot on Rajasthan and India.

Her husband’s family and others from their upper-caste Rajput community said Kanwar’s decision had been in keeping with the tradition of sati and was voluntary.

They said she had dressed up in her bridal finery and led a procession around the village streets, before climbing into the pyre of Maal Singh, her husband of seven months. She then placed his head in her lap and recited religious chants while slowly burning to death, they added.

It was a claim contested by journalists, lawyers, civil society and women’s rights activists – and initially, even by Kanwar’s parents. They lived in the state capital, Jaipur, just two hours from the village, but learnt of their son-in-law’s death and their daughter’s immolation from the next day’s newspaper.

But they later said they believed their daughter’s act had been voluntary. Critics said the retraction had come under pressure from powerful politicians who used the incident to mobilise the Rajput community for “vote-bank politics”.

In the days following Kanwar’s death, both sides held high-decibel protests.

The incident sparked widespread condemnation, with activists protesting for justice, criticism of the Congress-led state government, and a letter to the Rajasthan chief justice calling for a ban on celebrations.

Despite the court ban, 200,000 people attended a ceremony 13 days after Kanwar’s death, where framed photos and posters of her were sold, transforming Deorala into a profitable pilgrimage site. Shortly after, two separate reports concluded that Kanwar “was hounded by villagers to commit sati” and her immolation was “far from voluntary”.

Journalist Geeta Seshu, who visited the village as part of a three-member team three weeks after the incident, told the BBC that “the situation on the ground was tense and fraught”.

“The Rajput Sabha had taken over the entire place and the atmosphere was very charged. The spot where Roop had died was surrounded by sword-wielding young men. They were going around it in circles and it was very difficult for us to speak to eyewitnesses.”

But the trio still managed to get some testimonies from villagers that went into Trial by Fire, their damning fact-finding report.

“Preparations for the sati began immediately after Maal Singh’s body was brought to the village in the morning. Roop, who got an inkling of this, escaped from the house and hid in the nearby fields,” they wrote.

“She was found cowering in a barn and dragged to the house and put on the pyre. On her way, she is reported to have walked unsteadily surrounded by Rajput youths. She was also seen to have been frothing at the mouth” – suggesting that she had been drugged.

“She struggled to get out when the pyre was lit, but she was weighed down by logs and coconuts and youths with swords who pushed her back onto the pyre. Eyewitnesses reported to the police that they heard her shouting and crying for help,” the report added.

Ms Seshu says “one may couch it in the language of valour and sacrifice, but it was nothing but a horrific murder”.

She says when she met Kanwar’s parents and brothers, “they were angry and willing to fight. But they later changed their stance under pressure from community leaders”.

Her eldest brother Gopal Singh disputes this, and told the BBC they initially suspected foul play. “But our aunts who lived in Deorala told us that it was Roop’s decision. So, the elders in the family decided to drop it. There was no pressure on us.”

Mr Singh later went on to join the Sati Dharma Raksha Samiti – a committee formed to valorise Kanwar’s immolation – and became its deputy chief. After its glorification was made illegal, the group dropped sati from its name. He said he had spent 45 days in prison on charges of sati glorification but was acquitted in January 2004 for “lack of evidence”.

Ms Seshu says the general consensus when they visited the village after the incident was that “sati happens, women do it. The police and administrations were so complicit in the celebrations that no genuine efforts were made to collect evidence or fix responsibility”.

What was most tragic, she adds, was that Kanwar’s death was used by the Rajput community as a mobilising force to benefit them politically and to make money.

“The supporters wanted to build a temple at the site but the new law which banned sati glorification also barred construction of temples or collection of money from visitors. Now this acquittal could open the gates for a revival of religious tourism to the place.”

It’s a legitimate concern.

In Deorala, the spot at the edge of the village where Kanwar died, still attracts some visitors all these years later.

A photograph taken a year back shows a family lighting a lamp before a framed picture of Kanwar and her husband, placed under a small brick structure draped with a red and gold scarf.

But despite Kanwar’s deification, chances of justice for India’s last sati remain dim.

The man who was the face of the Kenyan government in the aftermath of the police’s deadly crackdown on recent anti-tax protests is set to become the country’s next deputy president.

Parliament has approved the nomination of the softly spoken Kithure Kindiki to fill the vacant role, after senators ousted Rigathi Gachagua in a dramatic series of impeachment votes on Thursday.

The 52-year-old former law professor has been serving as President William Ruto’s interior minister for the last two years.

In charge of the security services, he oversaw the response to the wave of protests that began in June.

More than 40 people died in clashes with the police and at least 300 others were wounded, but Kindiki lauded the officers for exercising “restraint” while enforcing law and order. He also denied any shoot-to-kill orders were issued.

His stance was met by public anger, with rights groups demanding justice for victims as well as individuals abducted under mysterious circumstances.

In his response to the demonstrations, Kindiki burnished his credentials as a supporter of the president and survived a cull of ministers.

This was not a surprise as he had long been a close ally of the president, having served as his lawyer more than a decade ago during a case before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Ruto, then an MP, had been accused of crimes against humanity over the violence that followed the 2007 election in which more than 1,200 people died.

The case was eventually dropped because of insufficient evidence, but prosecutors argued that witnesses had been intimidated.

Kindiki is, like Gachagua, from the Mount Kenya region and will be able to shore up the president’s support in that area in the wake of the impeachment.

Always smartly dressed with a neat close-cropped haircut, the father-of-two honed his deliberative style of speaking in the courts, but he also worked in academia.

With a master’s degree and a PhD from the University of Pretoria in South Africa, he has authored more than 30 publications – including books and articles in academic peer-reviewed journals, both locally and internationally.

He has vast experience in public policy, governance, public administration, law-making, constitutional affairs and giving legal advice at various levels.

He began his political career in March 2013 when he was elected senator for Tharaka-Nithi county and served as the Senate majority leader for five years.

Re-elected in 2017, he went on to serve as the chamber’s deputy speaker until 2020 when he was sacked in a purge of Ruto’s allies.

When Ruto won the 2022 presidential election, he appointed Kindiki to his first cabinet.

Since then, he has represented the authorities during traumatic incidents.

Last year, hundreds of bodies of people who had starved to death were uncovered in a remote forest. It is alleged that self-styled pastor Paul Mackenzie had encouraged them to stop eating. Currently on trial, he denies the charges.

In the wake of the grim discovery of the bodies, Kindiki was on site and describing the incident as a “massacre”.

Last month, he was at a school where 17 pupils had died after a dormitory fire. The minister promised “full accountability for all whose action or inaction contributed to this tremendous loss”.

In 2022, there were some who thought Kindiki would be named as Ruto’s deputy, but Gachagua clinched the position as he brought with him considerable influence and wealth.

Ruto later said that he “missed the chance to be deputy president by a whisker”.

For now the Nairobi High Court has suspended Kindiki’s swearing-in until it hears a case questioning Gachagua’s swift removal from office.

However should Gachagua’s sacking be upheld, Kindiki is likely to prove a more loyal deputy who will toe the line.

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The government has said there will not be an apology over Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, when King Charles and Sir Keir Starmer visit the Commonwealth summit in Samoa next week.

A Downing Street spokesperson had already ruled out financial reparations.

Last year, the King spoke of his “greatest sorrow and regret” at the “wrongdoings” of the colonial era on a visit to Kenya, but stopped short of an apology, which would have depended on the agreement of ministers.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, to be held in Samoa on 25 and 26 October, will bring together the leaders of 56 countries.

Even if the issue of historic links to slavery is raised at the summit, the UK government has told the BBC there are no plans for a symbolic apology.

There had already been a rejection of reparations over slavery, but 10 Downing Street also now says there won’t be an apology either.

Instead the focus will be on current issues, a government spokesperson said, such as “shared challenges and opportunities faced by the Commonwealth, including driving growth across our economies”.

Speeches from monarchs are made on the advice of ministers. This means the King would be unable to make an apology over the UK’s links to slavery unless he had the approval of the government.

Labour MPs including Bell Ribeiro-Addy had called for the UK government to officially apologise for its participation in the slave trade.

David Lammy, as an MP on the opposition benches in 2018, had said: “As Caribbean people we are not going to forget our history. We don’t just want to hear an apology, we want reparations.”

But with Labour now in power, Downing Street has ruled out an official apology over slavery and ended speculation of any statement at the Commonwealth meeting in Samoa, which might have been the international platform for such an apology.

It means that the policy of not apologising continues from the previous government, when prime minister Rishi Sunak last year rejected the idea and said “trying to unpick our history is not the right way forward”.

Opponents of an apology have pointed to Britain’s prominent role in ending slavery, including legislation in 1807 to abolish the slave trade.

Discussions of formal apologies or reparations could still be raised by other countries, with Caribbean leaders having argued for some financial recognition of the legacy of slavery, with figures of £200bn being quoted.

The Commonwealth summit will also vote on a new secretary-general and all three of the candidates are supporters of reparations for transatlantic slavery.

It is an issue which strongly divides the public, including readers of the BBC’s Royal Watch newsletter, who got in touch by email.

“Those of us living now should not be made to feel guilty or apologise for something that had absolutely nothing to do with us,” Ruth, from the UK, said.

“We don’t like what happened, but we weren’t around then, so why should we say sorry?”

Ronald, from Bristol in the UK, took the opposite view.

“A sincere apology would acknowledge that grievance and, in my view, would go some way to assuaging the sense of injustice,” he said.

Sarah, in Ghana, said it would be “humane” of the King to deliver an apology.

“I believe it will go a long way to healing wounds caused by the slave trade,” she said.

The King and Queen Camilla arrived in Australia on Friday to begin their six-day tour of the country, which will be followed next week by the Commonwealth summit in Samoa.

The United States has charged a former Indian intelligence officer for allegedly directing a foiled plot to assassinate an American citizen who advocates for Khalistan – an independent Sikh state that would be carved out of India.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said on Thursday that it had registered “murder-for-hire and money laundering charges” against Vikash Yadav for trying to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

The indictment of Yadav, for the first time, implicates the Indian government directly in the attempted assassination of a dissident.

The Indian government has said it is co-operating with the ongoing investigation in the US. It has not responded to the specific charges against Mr Yadav yet.

The development comes after Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national also charged in the case, was extradited to the US from a prison in Prague earlier this year.

The FBI has accused Indian agents of involvement in an assassination attempt on Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen, saying Pannun was targeted for exercising his “First Amendment rights” to free speech.

“The FBI will not tolerate acts of violence or other efforts to retaliate against those residing in the U.S. for exercising their constitutionally protected rights,” said FBI director Christopher Wray in a statement.

India has labelled Pannun a terrorist, though he denies the allegation, claiming to be an activist advocating for Khalistan.

According to the US indictment, Yadav was the mastermind behind the plot to murder Pannun and he recruited Gupta in May 2023 to orchestrate the assassination in exchange for getting a case against him in India dismissed.

“In or about June 2023, in furtherance of the assassination plot, Yadav provided Gupta with personal information about the victim, including the victim’s home address in New York City, phone numbers associated with the victim, and details about the victim’s day-to-day conduct,” the indictment states.

On Thursday, India’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, stated that the individual referred to as “CC-1” in the US Justice Department’s indictment is no longer employed by the Indian government.

However, he did not provide a specific name, leaving it unclear whether he was referring to Yadav, who is widely speculated to be the same person.

In response to Yadav’s indictment, Pannun said the attempt on his life on American soil was a “blatant case of India’s transnational terrorism, which has become a challenge to America’s sovereignty and threat to freedom of speech and democracy.”

Yadav’s indictment comes days after the Canadian police and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that Indian agents were involved in the killing of Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, setting off a new row that led to both countries expelling diplomats.

India has rejected the allegations as “preposterous”, accusing Trudeau of pandering to Canada’s large Sikh community for political gain.

Earlier this week, the US State Department urged India to co-operate in Canada’s investigation.

The indictment describes Yadav as a “citizen and resident of India”. He has also been referred to as Vikas and Amanat.

It states that he was part of the Government of India’s cabinet secretariat, under which the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) – the country’s top intelligence agency – operates. RAW falls under the authority of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

The indictment further states that Yadav had described his position as “Senior Field Officer” with responsibilities in “security management” and “intelligence”.

It adds that he has also served in India’s paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and had received training in “battle craft and weapons”.

The Washington Post reported that Yadav is still in India and that the US is expected to seek his extradition, citing US official sources.

The US State Department has said that it was satisfied with India’s co-operation in the investigation of the alleged murder plot.

Meanwhile, India’s relationship with Canada continues to deteriorate with both Delhi and Ottawa firing a salvo of accusations against each other.

Mr Jaiswal said on Thursday that India had repeatedly asked Canada to extradite individuals believed to be part of the group of jailed Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, but had received no response.

The Canadian police have alleged that agents of the Indian government were using members of Bishnoi’s gang to carry out “homicides, extortion and violent acts” and target supporters of the pro-Khalistan movement. India has denied the allegation saying that Canada has not provided any evidence regarding them.

India’s accusations came in response to Mr Trudeau’s claims that India had made a “massive mistake” if it was behind the death of a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil.

A Texas judge has blocked the execution of the first man to be put on death row in the US for murder charges related to “shaken baby syndrome”, less than two hours before the capital punishment was due to be carried out.

Robert Roberson, 57, was sentenced to death in 2003 for the death of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, after a post-mortem examination concluded she died of injuries from abuse.

Roberson and his lawyers have long maintained the child died of complications from pneumonia.

Following his stay of execution, Roberson voiced his shock and thanked his supporters, US media reported.

The prisoner was due to be executed at 18:00 local time (23:00 GMT) on Thursday.

But only 90 minutes beforehand, a Travis County judge issued a temporary restraining order to stop it going ahead, so that Roberson could testify in a hearing at the state legislature next week.

The decision came after a panel of the Texas House of Representatives issued a highly unusual subpoena for Roberson late on Wednesday, hoping that authorities would have to send him to appear at a hearing on 21 October.

A bipartisan group of 86 Texas lawmakers, dozens of medical and scientific experts, attorneys and others – including best-selling author John Grisham and pro-death penalty Republicans – have all called for Roberson to be pardoned.

The group argued that the conviction was based on outdated science, before authorities gained a proper understanding of “shaken baby syndrome”.

“In Robert’s case there was no crime and yet we’re about to kill somebody for it in Texas,” Grisham told reporters in September.

Roberson’s lawyers have also argued that his autism – which was undiagnosed at the time of Nikki’s death – was used against him after police and medical staff became suspicious at the lack of emotion he displayed.

Autism can affect how a person communicates with others.

In a statement reported by the BBC’s US partner CBS News, Roberson gave his reaction to the judge’s intervention, praising God and thanking his supporters.

“He was shocked, to say the least,” Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Amanda Hernandez told the Associated Press.

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Shortly after the Travis County judge issued the last-minute reprieve on Thursday, the US Supreme Court declined to intervene to cancel the execution outright.

In a statement about the decision, Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor, a liberal, said it was up to Texas Governor Greg Abbott whether to stop the execution.

Meanwhile, the Texas attorney general has filed an appeal against the temporary restraining order.

Roberson’s supporters include Brian Wharton, the lead detective who investigated the incident in Palestine, Texas.

“I will forever be haunted by the role I played in helping the state put this innocent man on death row,” Mr Wharton was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

“Robert’s case will forever be a burden on my heart and soul.”

Earlier this week, Texas’s Board of Pardon and Paroles denied Roberson’s clemency petition, voting 6-0 against recommending that his death sentence be delayed or commuted to life in prison.

Governor Abbott could have also granted a one-time 30-day reprieve. He has only done so once in nearly a decade in office. Roberson recently urged Abbott to “do the right thing” because “I’m innocent”.

Roberson was one of two prisoners scheduled to be executed in the US on Thursday. In Alabama, 36-year-old Derrick Dearman was put to death after admitting to killing five people with an axe and gun in 2016.

According to Roberson’s account, his daughter fell out of bed on 31 January 2002.

Hours later, he said he realised she was not breathing and took her to an emergency room, where she was pronounced dead.

Court documents show medical staff immediately suspected abuse, because of bruises on her head, brain swelling and bleeding behind her eyes.

He was arrested and charged with capital murder the next day. An autopsy determined she died of blunt-force head trauma and her death was ruled a homicide.

Roberson’s lawyers have noted that Nikki was prescribed medicines that are no longer given to children because they can cause serious complications.

They have argued that the medication, and her fall, could have ultimately killed her.

“Shaken baby syndrome” – now called abusive head trauma – is usually diagnosed after finding evidence of retinal haemorrhage, brain swelling and bleeding in the brain.

While the diagnosis is broadly accepted by the medical community, a recent report highlighted the need to thoroughly examine other causes before concluding injuries were due to abuse.

In 2023 an appeals court agreed there was insufficient evidence to overturn Roberson’s conviction. The Supreme Court declined to hear his case.

Former Fulham Ladies captain Ronnie Gibbons alleges she was “groped” on two occasions by the football club’s late owner Mohamed Al Fayed.

The former Harrods boss tried to “forcefully” kiss her at his department store in 2000, when she was 20, she told The Athletic website.

“Speaking my truth and finally telling my story will hopefully help me heal and be rid of the shame, embarrassment and pain I have carried for years,” she said.

Lawyers from the Justice for Harrods Survivors group said they were representing four former players of the club.

Fulham FC told the BBC it was trying to establish whether anyone at the club “had been impacted” by Al Fayed.

“The club is profoundly troubled to learn of the experiences told today by former Women’s Team captain, Ronnie Gibbons,” Fulham said.

“She has our deepest empathy and support.”

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Al Fayed owned Fulham between 1997 and 2013.

In 2000, Fulham’s women’s team – known at the time as Fulham Ladies – became the first female football team in Europe to turn professional.

Gibbons, who was captain at the time, said she was driven to Harrods by club staff. Once at the luxury department store, she said she was left alone with Al Fayed, who was then in his 70s.

“He pulled me in close and tried to kiss me on the mouth,” she said of their first meeting.

“He had his arms holding my arms, like at my side, so I couldn’t push him away or anything like that. It was a real kind of control stance, like ‘I’m dominating you’.

“I was just like, ‘What do I do here?’ I just felt like a huge responsibility on my shoulders at that point because we’d just turned professional.”

Gibbons said that Al Fayed tried to forcefully kiss her again: “He even may have stuck his tongue on me or something. I just remember feeling sick, just really physically feeling sick, when I left there.”

Later that summer, she said a member of staff told her she had been summoned to Harrods again by Al Fayed.

In the interview with The Athletic, she recalled: “This time he groped me. As he was saying goodbye, he was sort of grabbing me, trying to sort of hold on to me and kiss me. He was like, ‘You’re not scared are you? You don’t need to be scared, I’m not going to do anything like that, you’re very precious, you’re a very special girl’.”

Fulham FC told the BBC: “We unequivocally condemn all forms of abuse. We remain in the process of establishing whether anyone at the Club is or would have been impacted by Mohamed Al Fayed in any manner as described in recent reports.”

Last week, the Metropolitan Police said it had received 40 new allegations from people that included sexual assault and rape against Al Fayed.

The allegations follow a BBC documentary and podcast, containing testimony from former Harrods employees who said the billionaire sexually assaulted or raped them.

Since the documentary first aired in September, a further 65 women have contacted the BBC saying they were abused by Al Fayed, with allegations stretching beyond Harrods and as far back as 1977.

Last month, the former manager of Fulham’s women’s team Gaute Haugenes told the BBC that extra precautions had been put in place to protect female players from Al Fayed.

Haugenes, who managed the team from 2001 to 2003, said members of staff became aware that the late billionaire “liked young, blonde girls”.

Gibbons was reported to be angered by these comments.

Speaking to the BBC on Friday, Haugenes, who is Norwegian, said he could completely understand her frustration.

“All I can say is I am really sorry for saying something that could have put more wood on the fire. I honestly thought we protected the players,” he said.

“I knew that he liked Ronnie because all the girls, they joked about it. But I thought he was an old man, she was a young woman. I was 30 at the time, I didn’t think people his age were thinking about sex.

“I might have been naive, it might have been some of the language barriers that I didn’t pick up details in their joking.”

He added that he had not been aware she had been told to go to Harrods.

Asked whether club staff could have done more, he said it was difficult to know what could have been done differently.

“But you should have had a system that picked up things like that,” he said. “It was before I was a manager that she went there.”

He added: “It is sad to hear she had those kind of experiences as a professional player.”

The CEO of Women in Football (WIF) told the BBC there are “significant challenges” in the female football environment.

“It brings to the fore the prevalence of power in balances and the risk towards women in the industry working both on and off the pitch,” Yvonne Harrison said.

“For players it is really important that they are protected, they are safeguarded and that their voices are first and foremost listened to – and that is the same off the pitch as well.”

The Justice for Harrods Survivors group said the abuse Gibbons had endured from Al Fayed was “yet another horrible example of the monstrous abuse aided and abetted by the businesses he owned”.

They added: “We salute our client’s bravery and are proud to advocate for Ronnie and others at Fulham who are searching for justice. We will do whatever we can to lift the lid on abuse, no matter where it was perpetrated, or who it was perpetrated by, including any enablers of Al-Fayed’s abhorrent behaviour.”

A spokesperson for Harrods said it was “utterly appalled” by the allegations of abuse perpetrated by Al Fayed.

It said: “These were the actions of an individual who was intent on abusing his power wherever he operated and we condemn them in the strongest terms.

“We also acknowledge that during this time his victims were failed and for this we sincerely apologise.”

Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods

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

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

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

Venezuelan authorities have arrested five foreign nationals in connection with an alleged anti-government plot, the latest in a wave of arrests following July’s contested presidential election.

The country’s interior minister Diosdado Cabello said on Thursday that the five – three Americans, a Bolivian and a Peruvian – had engaged in a plan to destabilise the country.

Cabello claimed that US intelligence agencies were involved in the plot, though he provided no evidence for the allegation.

The CIA previously denied a claim it was involved in an alleged plot to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro.

The US State Department condemned the latest arrests and said that the “safety and security of American citizens anywhere around the world is our first priority”.

Electoral authorities loyal to Maduro announced him the victor in the July election, but the claim has been widely rejected by the international community.

After Maduro claimed victory, anti-government protests erupted.

More than 2,400 people have been detained for protesting against the election result. Hundreds have been charged with crimes including terrorism, incitement to hatred and resistance to authority, according to Human Rights Watch.

Cabello did not disclose when the latest arrests took place, but said that one of the Americans was detained in the border state of Zulia. He offered no details about the circumstances that led to the arrests of the foreign nationals.

“The detained foreigners speak Spanish perfectly, a necessary requirement for them to involve themselves in communities,” Cabello said in a televised address.

Since Maduro claimed victory in July, his allies have made frequent accusations that the US has been sponsoring plots to undermine the leftist government.

Last month, Cabello announced the arrest of three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech national who he accused of travelling to the country to assassinate Maduro.

Calling the detainees “mercenaries”, the interior minister claimed the CIA was “leading the operation” and that hundreds of weapons had been seized.

The US denied the accusations.

Venezuela has often accused the CIA of undermining it.

The most recent incident marked the latest deterioration in relations, which have been at a low ebb for years as Venezuela has grown increasingly close to Russia and China.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), which is closely aligned with the government, declared Maduro the winner of July’s vote, but has not published detailed voting tallies.

Data published by the opposition suggests its candidate, Edmundo González, was the true winner, and international observers said that the election was seriously flawed. The Carter Centre said the poll “did not meet international standards of electoral integrity”.

There was a time when an invitation to a party hosted by Sean “Diddy” Combs was one of the most sought-after tickets in the entertainment industry.

With guest lists that included Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton and Jennifer Lopez, it was a chance to rub shoulders with some of the biggest celebrities. Jay-Z and Beyoncé even released new music at his events.

“When Diddy winked at you and said come into the VIP section, you knew you were going to have a really good night,” Rob Shuter, who worked as a publicist for the rapper at the height of his fame, told BBC News in an exclusive interview.

Now Mr Shuter’s former star client is sitting in a Brooklyn jail cell, a short drive away from the Hamptons, where he once presided over decadent celebrity bashes.

Mr Combs’s fall from grace has been swift, with an extensive federal criminal case charging him in a sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. More than a dozen civil lawsuits have also been filed, accusing the music mogul of assaults, rape and sexual extortion. One lawyer said he represents more than 100 alleged victims who claim they were sexually abused.

The Harlem-born rapper has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, whether in relation to the criminal or civil allegations.

A spokesperson denied the allegations against Diddy and told BBC News for this story that “Mr Combs remains strong, healthy, and disciplined, fully committed to his defence with the unwavering support of his family, legal team, and the truth”.

He is set to go on trial in May 2025.

Mr Shuter, who worked for Diddy from 2002-04, said Mr Combs was at a pivotal moment in his career when he started working for the rapper.

Mr Combs had founded Bad Boy Records in 1993, a label that represented some of the biggest names in hip hop – including artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Usher. In 1998, he created the Sean John clothing line that later became a cultural phenomenon. From there, he dipped into fragrances, alcohol and even set up a media company, becoming the host of multiple reality shows where he would discover new talent and make people stars.

Mr Shuter said that when he first joined the rapper’s world, Mr Combs wanted to transform his persona and elevate his career, looking to use his parties to keep himself at the centre of the entertainment industry.

“He was just figuring out that how he could get the most attention was to become the party king of New York.”

Mr Shuter said Mr Combs was obsessed with power and a deep desire to remain famous, explaining the star loved to have his photo taken and wanted to show off his lifestyle. It was Mr Shuter’s job to help keep “Diddy” at the top. Being part of his entourage, he said, was like being part of a circus – the rapper was the “ringmaster”.

He said he never witnessed any sexual misconduct. “I’ve seen the imbalance of power,” he said. “What I haven’t seen is what is now alleged, which is just horrific.”

“The reason he was such a superstar is because all he thinks about is Diddy. From the minute he wakes up until the minute he goes to bed,” Mr Shuter told BBC News. “Diddy’s hobby is Diddy.”

He also claims Mr Combs also held a deep fascination with the British royal family. Mr Shuter said he remembers being asked more than 10 times to call Prince Harry and Prince William with invites to parties, offering to cover their travel, lodging and even pay for their security.

In his lavish New York apartment, the rapper kept framed pictures of the princes, Mr Shuter said, explaining: “He thought of himself as a king so it makes perfect sense that he would like to have two princes in his entourage.”

Both Harry and William never accepted an invite from Mr Combs, he added.

But saying “no” to the music mogul wasn’t something many others did.

“There were always guns around Diddy,” Mr Shuter said, describing metal detectors in his apartment that resembled those at an airport. “It was strange.”

Mr Shuter described firearms all over the rapper’s home. In his private living quarters, security guards had guns strapped to their ankles. Mr Combs held a close circle and was serious about both his security and his image.

“You don’t get to be Diddy… unless the people around you were buttoned up. There was nobody around him sloppy.”

In the Los Angeles area, the rapper lived on what has become known as Beverly Hills’s most expensive street.

The high fences allow celebrities to hide from prying eyes. Hugh Hefner’s Playboy mansion sits a few doors down.

The towering gates of Mr Combs’ estate have flaming torches burning day and night.

Neighbours told the BBC they often called police over his parties.

A freedom of information request by the BBC has revealed that officers were dispatched to parties at the P Diddy mansion 14 times over seven years.

On a street where discretion and privacy are of the utmost importance, no-one wished to be named, but neighbours described privately to the BBC what they witnessed, saying they were fed up and disturbed by what they saw.

“For six or seven years it was just parties, parties, parties,” one neighbour said, adding she saw females at all hours “coming out and sitting down on the street, they didn’t know where they were”.

She said they appeared “lost” and “their underwear was showing”.

Mr Combs’s mansion in Beverly Hills was one of several venues he used to host his annual “White Party”, a flagship event which he held from 1998 to 2009.

He began the parties in New York’s exclusive Hamptons area with a strict all-white dress code, bringing together East Hampton’s old-money elite and the rising stars of hip hop.

Mr Combs once described the parties as a way to break down racial and generational barriers.

But the hottest party of the year was a “facade” that allowed “sinister” conduct, a recent lawsuit alleges.

In a lawsuit filed this week, a man – who was 16 years old at the time – described the thrill of getting to attend Mr Combs’s first “White Party” in 1998. Walking into the Hamptons mansion, he saw celebrities and entertainment executives left and right. In the lawsuit, he said he believed the party could open doors to a music career.

He said he was on his way to the bathroom when he ran into the rapper. They started talking and then moved to another, more private area. That’s when Mr Combs said the teen had the right “look” and he could turn anyone into a star, the lawsuit states.

Then things took a turn. Mr Combs abruptly ordered the then-teenage boy to drop his pants so that Mr Combs could examine and touch him, the lawsuit alleges.

According to the lawsuit, Mr Combs said it was “a rite of passage” and “the route to becoming a star”. It also claims that he said it was a way for him to prove himself, asking the teen: “Don’t you want to break into the business?”

At least two other lawsuits centre on the parties.

Former adult film star Adria English claimed she was “groomed into sex trafficking over time” after working at multiple White Party events, where she alleges the alcohol was laced with drugs. Another lawsuit, filed anonymously this week by a man, makes allegations about a 2006 White Party. He said in the lawsuit that he was working security at the event, where drinks were allegedly laced with drugs, and said he was raped by Mr Combs.

More than a dozen civil lawsuits in total have been filed accusing the music mogul of assaults, rape and sexual extortion. In these lawsuits, both men and women say they were coerced or forced into sex, either by Mr Combs or those in his entourage. Others say they obliged because they were intimidated by Mr Combs and the power he held in the entertainment industry. Some described having their careers derailed or opportunities taken from them when they did not cave to Mr Combs’s whims.

Mr Combs’ legal team has dismissed the lawsuits as “clear attempts to garner publicity”. In response to this story, a spokesperson for the rapper told BBC News that allegations of wrongdoing at his notorious parties were unfounded.

“Sean Combs’ white parties and other events were iconic, a true convergence of hip-hop, Hollywood, and Black excellence,” the statement reads.

“It’s disappointing to see the media and social commentators twist these cultural moments into something they were not. Shaming celebrities who attended, taking video clips and photos out of context, and trying to link these events to false allegations is simply untrue.”

Singer Cassie, who dated the rapper off-and-on for nearly a decade starting in 2007, accused the mogul in a lawsuit of controlling every aspect of her life, forcing her to take excessive amounts of drugs, have sex with other men, beating her for years and threatening her – and those in her circle – when she tried to leave the relationship.

In a lawsuit – which started an avalanche of accusations against the rapper – the singer said while dating Mr Combs she realised he had a “tremendously loyal network” that would do anything he asked.

“She recognized that she was powerless, and that reporting Mr Combs to the authorities would not alter Mr Combs’s status or influence but would merely give Mr Combs another excuse to hurt her,” the lawsuit stated.

Cassie, whose full name is Casandra Ventura, said at one point after she attempted to leave Mr Combs, his record label threatened “her single would not be released if she did not answer Mr Combs’s phone calls”, the lawsuit states.

Lawyers for Mr Combs have again denied the allegations, saying in a statement to the BBC earlier this week that he “has never sexually assaulted anyone – adult or minor, man or woman”.

While various lawsuits detail alleged sexual assaults at parties held at Mr Combs’s properties, so-called “Freak-off” parties at hotel rooms appear to be a focus for federal authorities. The Department of Justice charged him with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution in a 14-page indictment last month.

Prosecutors have accused Mr Combs of recording sex acts during “Freak Offs”, which federal authorities describe as days-long sex parties involving multiple sex workers.

The indictment alleged that Mr Combs and his associates booked hotel rooms and stocked them with narcotics like ketamine, lubricant, extra linens and lighting so that they could record the orgies.

During the “Freak Offs,” Mr Combs allegedly “hit, kicked, threw objects at victims”, which led to injuries that would sometimes take weeks to heal, the court documents state.

According to the indictment, participants were allegedly coerced with drugs and threats to remain “obedient and compliant”. Afterwards, those involved would take IV fluids to recover, prosecutors allege.

Ms Ventura’s lawsuit, filed in November 2023 – almost a year before his indictment in New York – includes graphic details of these alleged “Freak-Off” parties. The lawsuit states Mr Combs would host these events weekly in hotels in New York and Los Angeles, flying in sex workers, supplying drugs that included ecstasy, cocaine and ketamine and forcing the singer to perform sex acts.

During a raid on Mr Combs’s Los Angeles and Miami mansions, law enforcement officers seized AR-15-style guns, large-capacity magazines, thousands of bottles of lube and baby oil.

Mr Combs’s arrest and the fallout surrounding his career have sparked hope among activists and survivors of sexual violence that his case could drive meaningful change within the music industry.

Gloria Allred, a prominent women’s rights lawyer who has defended a number of women throughout the #MeToo movement, believes the world is finally seeing a “reckoning” in the music industry.

She’s representing Thalia Graves, who alleges she was drugged and violently raped by the rapper in 2001. She said she was threatened by Mr Combs and did not speak out, fearing he would “ruin her life”, Allred said.

But Ms Allred told the BBC she thinks the fallout from Diddy’s arrest is far from over.

“Courage is contagious,” she said.

And prosecutors and lawyers for the growing list of Mr Combs’s accusers have hinted there is more to come.

“Combs did not do this all on his own,” Damian Williams, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said. “He used his business and employees of that business and other close associates to get his way.”

The investigation into the case is still open, authorities say.

As Mr Combs left his most recent court appearance in a beige prison jumpsuit, he mouthed to his family “I love you” and repeatedly put his hands to his heart, making a prayer sign.

As the hearing ended, a group of fans huddled by the courtroom doors on their tiptoes hoping to catch sight of him and show support for the rapper.

For his former assistant, the media storm that now surrounds the rapper is not without a hint of irony.

“He wanted to make himself the most famous person in the world, and ironically, now he is,” Mr Shuter said.

A baby has died after a boat attempting to cross the English Channel sank on Thursday night, French authorities said.

Officials said the overloaded boat carrying migrants started sinking off the coast of Wissant in northern France.

Rescuers called to the scene saved dozens of people, including some who were in the water.

Searches to find more people at sea found an unconscious baby boy, who was later declared dead, officials said.

Boulogne-Sur-Mer prosecutor Guirec Le Bras said the child was believed to be of Iraqi-Kurdish nationality, and had been on the boat with his parents and two other children.

Giving an update on the situation, he said: “The group of migrants of 68 people included 52 men, 12 women and four children.

“Among them, the lifeless body of a four-month-old baby was found.

“They were mainly of Iranian, Iraqi, Albanian and Eritrean nationality.”

He said the city’s public prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal investigation.

The local prefecture said earlier that when rescuers first arrived at the scene they found a heavily-loaded boat in difficulty, with some people in the water.

As the rescue was under way, a search of the area was carried out to find anyone who may be stranded at sea, and it was then that the baby was discovered, the prefecture said.

A French navy patrol boat and a helicopter were used during the rescue and recovery operations.

2024 is already the deadliest year for migrant crossings of the English Channel since 2018.

Dinghies often now carry 50 or more migrants, far more than in previous years. Many do not wear life jackets for the dangerous crossing.

On 3 September, six children and a pregnant woman were among 12 people who died after a boat carrying dozens of people sank off the French coast.

A month later, four people, including a two-year-old boy, died after seemingly being “trampled to death” on two separate boats.

The latest sinking brings the total number of deaths from migrants attempting to cross the Channel this year to at least 53.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he is “absolutely determined” to tackle the smuggling gangs facilitating the crossings.

Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said: “We are heartbroken that a baby has died in yet another devastating and depressingly preventable tragedy in the Channel.

“People who make the crossing are fleeing war, conflict and persecution and simply want to be safe.

“Seeking to disrupt the smuggling gangs alone will never be enough” he said, adding that the government should provide “safe and legal routes” for refugees.

According to Home Office figures, more than 26,000 migrants have arrived in Britain on small boats since the start of the year.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has said deaths in the Channel are “preventable”.

South Korean football player Hwang Ui-jo has apologised for secretly filming sexual encounters with his partners.

Prosecutors say the 31-year-old striker filmed sexual encounters with two of his partners without their consent on four occasions between June and September 2022.

In his first court appearance in Seoul on Wednesday, Hwang said he was “deeply sorry” for causing “disappointment”.

The former striker had just last month left England’s Nottingham Forest for Turkey’s Alanyaspor.

The videos came to light after Hwang’s sister-in-law shared them on social media last June, in an attempt to blackmail him.

She was sentenced to three years in prison in September for the blackmail after Hwang sued her.

However, the charges against him proceeded as prosecutors said he filmed the videos illegally.

Prosecutors refused to provide details on the women in the videos to prevent further harm.

“I will not do anything wrong in the future and will do my best as a footballer,” Hwang told the court in Seoul.

“I sincerely apologise to the victims who have been affected by my actions, and I am deeply sorry for the disappointment I have caused to all those who have cared and supported me,” he added.

“Get Ready, it’s about to get a little bumpy.”

That was the first sentence of a letter Liam Payne wrote to his 10-year-old self, which he read out on BBC radio in 2020.

“You’ll have the most amazing time of your life, travel the world and live a life you barely imagined,” he said.

“Then it will end for a while, and you will be left with nothing but the steering wheel. It will feel scary, like you’re alone, but you are not.”

The pop sensation died on Wednesday aged 31 after a fall from a hotel balcony in Argentina. The exact circumstances around his death, or what happened in the final weeks of his life, remain unknown.

But the star, who shot to global fame as a 16-year-old member of One Direction, had spoken for years about his struggles with mental health – and the challenges of adapting to stardom.

Runners-up on the 2010 series of The X Factor, One Direction were a new, different-style of boy band – approachable, relatable, and, apart from their musical talents, normal.

They were the boys-next-door, whose age and good looks made them heartthrobs to millions of young fans around the world.

They went on to sell more than 70 million albums, complete five world tours, produce a feature film and star in a charity music video alongside then-prime minister David Cameron.

All that – at an age when many young people are worrying about their exams, their first loves, or getting tickets to their next gig – let alone starring in it.

“I mean, it was fun,” Payne would later reflect in an interview with Men’s Health Magazine. “We had an absolute blast, but there were certain parts of it where it just got a little bit toxic.”

Paparazzi photographers. Tabloid newspapers. Night after night in hotel rooms, separated from family. Blacked-out tour buses. Fans screaming for autographs. And the new and rapidly growing world of social media.

Few, he felt, could understand the intense pressures of stardom at such a tender age.

‘It’s almost like putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage,” he said.

He also admitted he used alcohol to cope “because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on”.

By the time One Direction split in 2016, global fame was all the then 22-year-old Payne had known as an adult.

“It can be quite difficult to give up expectations of being a megastar,” says Prof John Oates, who was involved in the British Psychological Society’s consultations with the government on child performers and the duty of care for adult contributors.

“Being in a boy band ceases to become so possible when you’re no longer a boy. So there’s a need to become, in a sense, a different sort of famous person. So that’s a new challenge.”

Payne’s bandmate Harry Styles seemed more suited for that challenge.

His androgynous looks were more in harmony with the direction the music industry was progressing in 2016. He also began acting, featuring in Hollywood blockbuster Dunkirk the following year.

Payne, however, struggled to make the transition.

In 2019, he released a solo debut album, LP1. Eight tracks of R&B, it did not capture the One Direction fan base, and failed to take off.

The struggles of teenage stars have long been a topic of public discussion, from Britney Spears to Justin Bieber.

Reality TV stars have faced similar challenges, with both Love Island host Caroline Flack and contestant Mike Thalassitis tragically taking their own lives in recent years.

Speaking on the Diary of a CEO podcast in 2021, Liam Payne said of his own struggles: “I was worried how far my rock bottom was going to be. Where’s rock bottom for me? And you would never have seen it. I’m very good at hiding it. No-one would ever have seen it.”

A key challenge for young stars, according to Prof Oates, is managing the comedown after a long period of fame.

“If fame has been so important to them for their self-esteem, how can they be helped to manage the loss of that?” he asks.

“An important move in personal development is moving from external sources of self-esteem to internal sources. Part of this is to do with something called reflective functioning, that you’re able to reflect on yourself as a person and you may become less reliant on others for your sense of self.”

For those who have entered adulthood as a star, that process can be especially difficult, he says.

Shortly after Payne’s death, fellow 2010 The X Factor contestant Rebecca Ferguson wrote a tribute: “We both met at Euston station and shared the taxi together to X Factor. I can’t help but think of that boy who was hopeful and looking forward to his bright future ahead.

“If he hadn’t jumped on that train and jumped in that taxi I believe he would be alive today.”

Former X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne said: “We all let you down.”

“You were just a kid when you entered one of the toughest industries in the world. Who was in your corner?”

It was a case that made headlines globally and led to widespread condemnation.

A teenaged widow was burned on her husband’s funeral pyre under the Hindu practice of sati 37 years ago.

Now Roop Kanwar’s story has returned to headlines in India after a court acquitted eight men accused of glorifying her death, in the last of the remaining cases in the grisly saga.

Sati was first banned in 1829 by the British colonial rulers, but the practice had continued even after India’s independence in 1947. Kanwar is recognised as India’s last sati.

The outrage over her death forced the Indian government to introduce a tough new law – Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 – banning the practice and, for the first time, also its glorification. It mandated death or life term for those committing sati or abetting it. But over the years, everyone accused of involvement in Kanwar’s death and the glorification that followed has been cleared by courts.

Last week’s order has also led to outrage, with women’s organisations and activists expressing concern that no-one has been held accountable over her death.

Fourteen women’s groups in Rajasthan have written a letter to Chief Minister Bhajan Lal asking him to ensure the government challenges the order in the high court and also makes all attempts to prevent glorification of sati. Coming after such a long delay, these acquittals could “reinforce a culture of sati glorification”, they wrote.

A lawyer acting for the eight accused told BBC Hindi that they were acquitted because “no evidence was found against them”.

I asked Rajasthan’s Justice Minister Jogaram Patel whether the government planned to appeal the decision.

“We haven’t yet received a copy of the judgement. We will examine it on its merits and demerits and then decide whether to appeal or not,” he told me.

When asked about why the government hadn’t appealed the earlier acquittals, he said those cases had happened before his time and he was not aware of the details.

The death of the 18-year-old in Deorala village on 4 September 1987 was a huge public spectacle. Watched by hundreds of villagers, it was described as a blot on Rajasthan and India.

Her husband’s family and others from their upper-caste Rajput community said Kanwar’s decision had been in keeping with the tradition of sati and was voluntary.

They said she had dressed up in her bridal finery and led a procession around the village streets, before climbing into the pyre of Maal Singh, her husband of seven months. She then placed his head in her lap and recited religious chants while slowly burning to death, they added.

It was a claim contested by journalists, lawyers, civil society and women’s rights activists – and initially, even by Kanwar’s parents. They lived in the state capital, Jaipur, just two hours from the village, but learnt of their son-in-law’s death and their daughter’s immolation from the next day’s newspaper.

But they later said they believed their daughter’s act had been voluntary. Critics said the retraction had come under pressure from powerful politicians who used the incident to mobilise the Rajput community for “vote-bank politics”.

In the days following Kanwar’s death, both sides held high-decibel protests.

The incident sparked widespread condemnation, with activists protesting for justice, criticism of the Congress-led state government, and a letter to the Rajasthan chief justice calling for a ban on celebrations.

Despite the court ban, 200,000 people attended a ceremony 13 days after Kanwar’s death, where framed photos and posters of her were sold, transforming Deorala into a profitable pilgrimage site. Shortly after, two separate reports concluded that Kanwar “was hounded by villagers to commit sati” and her immolation was “far from voluntary”.

Journalist Geeta Seshu, who visited the village as part of a three-member team three weeks after the incident, told the BBC that “the situation on the ground was tense and fraught”.

“The Rajput Sabha had taken over the entire place and the atmosphere was very charged. The spot where Roop had died was surrounded by sword-wielding young men. They were going around it in circles and it was very difficult for us to speak to eyewitnesses.”

But the trio still managed to get some testimonies from villagers that went into Trial by Fire, their damning fact-finding report.

“Preparations for the sati began immediately after Maal Singh’s body was brought to the village in the morning. Roop, who got an inkling of this, escaped from the house and hid in the nearby fields,” they wrote.

“She was found cowering in a barn and dragged to the house and put on the pyre. On her way, she is reported to have walked unsteadily surrounded by Rajput youths. She was also seen to have been frothing at the mouth” – suggesting that she had been drugged.

“She struggled to get out when the pyre was lit, but she was weighed down by logs and coconuts and youths with swords who pushed her back onto the pyre. Eyewitnesses reported to the police that they heard her shouting and crying for help,” the report added.

Ms Seshu says “one may couch it in the language of valour and sacrifice, but it was nothing but a horrific murder”.

She says when she met Kanwar’s parents and brothers, “they were angry and willing to fight. But they later changed their stance under pressure from community leaders”.

Her eldest brother Gopal Singh disputes this, and told the BBC they initially suspected foul play. “But our aunts who lived in Deorala told us that it was Roop’s decision. So, the elders in the family decided to drop it. There was no pressure on us.”

Mr Singh later went on to join the Sati Dharma Raksha Samiti – a committee formed to valorise Kanwar’s immolation – and became its deputy chief. After its glorification was made illegal, the group dropped sati from its name. He said he had spent 45 days in prison on charges of sati glorification but was acquitted in January 2004 for “lack of evidence”.

Ms Seshu says the general consensus when they visited the village after the incident was that “sati happens, women do it. The police and administrations were so complicit in the celebrations that no genuine efforts were made to collect evidence or fix responsibility”.

What was most tragic, she adds, was that Kanwar’s death was used by the Rajput community as a mobilising force to benefit them politically and to make money.

“The supporters wanted to build a temple at the site but the new law which banned sati glorification also barred construction of temples or collection of money from visitors. Now this acquittal could open the gates for a revival of religious tourism to the place.”

It’s a legitimate concern.

In Deorala, the spot at the edge of the village where Kanwar died, still attracts some visitors all these years later.

A photograph taken a year back shows a family lighting a lamp before a framed picture of Kanwar and her husband, placed under a small brick structure draped with a red and gold scarf.

But despite Kanwar’s deification, chances of justice for India’s last sati remain dim.

An Israeli air strike has killed at least 33 people including 21 women at a refugee camp in northern Gaza, the strip’s Hamas-run authorities say.

There was no immediate comment on the reported attack at Jabalia from Israel, whose forces have been besieging the densely-populated camp for weeks.

The killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar this week raised hopes in some quarters of an end to the war but the group’s deputy leader said Hamas would only be strengthened.

US President Joe Biden has said there is a chance of “working towards a ceasefire” in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Hezbollah militants, but it will be “harder in Gaza”.

He was speaking as he left the German capital Berlin, where he had met German, French and British leaders.

According to a statement from Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office, Friday’s air strike also injured more than 85 people, some seriously, as homes belonging to three families in the camp were hit.

The final death toll could reach 50, it added, as people were buried under the rubble of buildings.

The report could not be verified independently. Local sources indicate that northern Gaza is effectively isolated, with telecommunications and internet services severed in the region.

A video circulating on social media – which the BBC has not verifed – appears to show bodies wrapped in white shrouds laid out in the courtyard of al-Awda Hospital.

The director of the hospital spoke to reporters about an overwhelming influx of casualties.

“Ambulance crews are still attempting to retrieve the martyrs and the wounded from Jabalia,” the director said.

“Our hospital wards are completely full and many injured individuals are receiving treatment on the floor.”

According to Reuters news agency, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said at least 39 Palestinians, many in Jabalia, had been killed by Israeli strikes on Friday before the latest attack.

About 400,000 people have been trapped inside the camp with little food or water for more than two weeks.

The head of the UN’s Office for Humanitarian Assistance, Georgios Petropoulos, told the BBC’s Newshour programme that families in Jabalia were enduring “atrocious conditions”.

“We can’t hit the alarm bell hard enough about how dire and dangerous the situation for civilians there is,” he said, speaking from Rafah in southern Gaza.

Israel said it had sent about 30 lorries of supplies into northern Gaza on Friday including food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment but local health officials told Reuters aid had not been reaching the worst-affected areas such as Jabalia.

Israel has repeatedly denied it is preventing humanitarian aid from entering Gaza but the US has told it to boost access or risk having some US military assistance cut off.

An Israeli minister, Amichai Chikli, told the BBC that Israel had “blockaded” parts of northern Gaza, which include Jabalia.

“We allowed the civilian population to escape into the safe zone, and we prevented supplies to enter the blockade region,” he told the Newshour programme.

He insisted this was “legal according to the international law”.

Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel just over a year ago, at least 42,500 people have been killed and tens of thousands injured in Gaza, the Hamas-run authorities say.

About 1,200 people were killed by Hamas and its allies in the 7 October 2023 attack and 251 others were taken to Gaza as hostages.

On Friday Hamas deputy leader Khalil al-Hayya said Israeli hostages would not be returned until Israel ended the war and withdrew from Gaza.

Sinwar was held responsible for the 7 October attack. According to the Israeli military, he was killed in a firefight after the building where he was hiding in the southern Gaza city of Rafah was struck with “tank fire”.

The pathologist in Israel who conducted his autopsy told US media he had been shot in the head.

Dr Chen Kugel also found injuries to his right forearm from “missile fire”, a damaged left leg from “fallen masonry” and shrapnel injuries.

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On Friday, fighting also continued in Lebanon, where Israel has been conducting a ground invasion against Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said it had killed about 60 Hezbollah fighters and destroyed the Iran-backed group’s regional command centre with an air strike.

Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at the Israeli city of Haifa and areas to its north.

North Korea has started sending troops to fight with Russia in Ukraine, South Korea’s spy agency has said as Seoul warned of a “grave security threat”.

The allegation comes a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he believed 10,000 North Korean soldiers could join the war, based on intelligence information.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called for a security meeting on Friday and said the international community must respond with “all available means”.

According to the spy agency, 1,500 troops have already arrived in Russia – with anonymous sources telling South Korean media the final figure could be closer to 12,000.

This comes as evidence mounts that North Korea is supplying Russia with ammunition, as recently demonstrated by the recovery of a missile in Ukraine’s Poltava region.

Moscow and Pyongyang have also been deepening their cooperation in recent months. Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin on his birthday, calling him his “closest comrade”.

Friday’s security meeting was attended by key officials from South Korea’s National Security Office, the Ministry of National Defence, and the National Intelligence Service, Yoon’s office said.

“[The participants] decided not to ignore the situation and to jointly respond to it with the international community using all available means,” it said.

The allegation from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) comes days after Ukrainian military intelligence sources said that Russia’s army is forming a unit of North Koreans.

The BBC has asked the NIS for comment.

On Thursday, Ukraine’s spy chief Kyrylo Budanov claimed that there were nearly 11,000 North Korean infantry troops training in eastern Russia to fight in Ukraine.

“They will be ready [to fight in Ukraine] on 1 November,” Lt Gen Budanov, who heads the Ukrainian Defence Intelligence Directorate, told The Warzone website.

He added that the North Koreans would be using Russian equipment and ammunition, and the first group of 2,600 soldiers would be sent to Russia’s western Kursk region, where Ukraine holds a number of settlements after launching its incursion in August.

Earlier this week, Putin introduced a bill to ratify a military pact he made with Kim, which pledges that Russia and North Korea will help each other in the event of “aggression” against either country.

South Korea’s spy agency, the NIS, said North Korean troops are training in Russian bases in Vladivostok, Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk, and Vlagoveshensk.

This appears to confirm information from a military source in Russia’s Far East, who told BBC Russian this week that “a number of North Koreans have arrived” and were stationed in one of the military bases near Ussuriysk.

Seoul’s spy agency also released aerial photographs of Ussuriysk and Khabarovsk, where they say hundreds of North Korean troops have gathered, and another photo of North Korea’s Chongjin port, where a Russian ship was reportedly shown carrying North Korean soldiers.

The NIS said it found that since August, North Korea has sent 13,000 shipping containers carrying shells, missiles, and anti-armour rockets to Russia.

As many as eight million 122-mm and 152-mm shells have been supplied to Russia, it said.

However, some military experts believe the Russian military units will have difficulties incorporating North Korean troops into their frontlines.

Apart from the language barrier, the North Korean army has no recent experience of combat operations, they said.

“They could guard some sections of the Russian-Ukrainian border, which would free Russian units for fighting elsewhere,” said Valeriy Ryabykh, editor of the Ukrainian publication Defence Express.

“I would rule out the possibility that these units will immediately appear on the front line.”

Liam Payne’s former partner Cheryl has said her seven-year-old son Bear has to “face the reality of never seeing his father again”.

Payne, 31, died on Wednesday when he fell from the balcony of the third-floor hotel room where he had been staying in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The Girls Aloud singer, who was in a relationship with Payne from 2016 to 2018, also criticised “abhorrent” media coverage following his death.

Posting on Instagram, Cheryl said: “As I try to navigate this earth shattering event, and work through my own grief at this indescribably painful time, I’d like to kindly remind everyone that we have lost a human being.”

Along with her statement Cheryl shared a black and white image of Payne with their son Bear and a broken heart emoji.

Cheryl also said she was troubled her son could access “abhorrent reports and media exploitation” and she cannot protect him from it in the future.

“What is troubling my spirit the most is that one day Bear will have access to the abhorrent reports and media exploitation we have seen in the past two days,” she added.

“It is breaking my heart further that I cannot protect him from that in his future.

“I am begging you to consider what use some of these reports are serving, other than to cause further harm to everyone left behind picking up the pieces.

“Before you leave comments or make videos, ask yourself if you would like your own child or family to read them.”

Ending her statement, the 41-year-old urged people to give Payne “the little dignity he has left in the wake of his death to rest in some peace at last”.

Cheryl’s social media post comes after Simon Cowell earlier paid his own tribute, saying he is “heartbroken” and feels “empty” following the singer’s death.

Cowell, who put the group together on The X Factor in 2010, remembered Payne as “kind, funny, sweet, thoughtful [and] talented”.

“Liam, I am devastated. Heartbroken. And I feel empty,” he wrote.

In a post on Instagram, Cowell added: “And I want you to know how much love and respect I have for you. Every tear I have shed is a memory of you.”

The talent show judge also said he had been thinking about the time they had spent together.

“I wanted to let you know what I would always say to the thousands of people who would always ask me. What is Liam like?

“And I would tell them you were kind, funny, sweet, thoughtful, talented, humble, focused. And how much you loved music. And how much love you genuinely had for the fans.”

Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy has also paid tribute to the star who she called “my angel”, adding she was “at a complete loss”.

“You are everything,” she said in a statement.

“I want you to know I loved you unconditionally and completely. I will continue to love you for the rest of my life.”

It comes as Payne’s father, Geoff Payne, visited the hotel where his son died, pausing to read tributes and say thank you to gathered fans.

He had earlier visited the morgue in Buenos Aires to officially identify his son, so that arrangements can be made for his body to be flown back to the UK.

A federal prosecutor told the BBC that Payne’s body has been “released”, meaning no further tests were being carried out and that identification could take place. An investigation into his death continues.

It is not yet known when Payne’s body will be repatriated to the UK.

In Cowell’s statement, he also recalled Payne’s first X Factor audition in 2008, at the age of 14, when Cowell told the budding singer he was not ready and to come back in two years.

“A lot of people would have given up. You didn’t. You came back and within months the whole world would know Liam.

“And you never forgot the fans. I watched you spending so much time with people who had wanted to meet you. You really cared.”

Cowell eventually signed One Direction to his label and masterminded their global success before they split in 2016.

The music mogul also revealed that Payne had visited him last year.

“Not for a meeting. Just to sit and talk. And we reminisced about all of the fun times we had together. And how proud you were to be a Dad,” he wrote.

“After you left, I was reminded that you were still the sweet, kind boy I had met all of those years ago.”

He added: “I have met your son, Bear. He has your smile and that twinkle in his eye that you have. And he will be so proud of everything that you have achieved. And how you achieved it.”

Cowell’s tribute came after Payne’s former bandmates posted their own heartfelt memories.

“I always thought the five of you in the band as brothers,” Cowell continued. “And regarding their messages today I believe you were.

“And now Liam, I can see the effect you had on so many people. Because you left us too soon.”

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Also on Friday, Payne’s bandmate Niall Horan posted a tribute, saying he was “absolutely devastated” by the “passing of his amazing friend”.

Harry Styles earlier said his “heart breaks” for Payne’s family. He added: “His greatest joy was making other people happy, and it was an honour to be alongside him as he did it.”

Louis Tomlinson echoed Styles’ sentiments, describing Liam as “the most vital part of One Direction” who had a “gift for writing”.

Zayn Malik spoke to Payne directly in his statement, praising him for his “positive outlook and reassuring smile”.

Others posting their reactions included another former X Factor judge, Sharon Osbourne, whose message to Payne said the music business “let you down”.

“Where was this industry when you needed them?” she wrote.

“You were just a kid when you entered one of the toughest industries in the world. Who was in your corner? Rest in peace my friend.”

Fans gathered in the singer’s home city of Wolverhampton for a vigil on Friday evening.

Many Israelis cheered and danced on the streets at the news that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar – chief architect of the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel – had been killed.

But his death at the hands of Israeli forces in Gaza on Wednesday has raised anxieties for families of the 101 hostages still held by Hamas.

Meanwhile, few Palestinians believed Sinwar’s killing would bring an end to the devastating year-old war in Gaza.

Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 42,500 Palestinians, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says. It followed Hamas’s attack on Israeli communities on 7 October last year, which killed about 1,200 people and saw the group take 251 hostages.

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People in Israel were overwhelmingly supportive of Sinwar’s killing in a chance encounter with Israeli troops.

In Tiberias in northern Israel, several hundred people danced, waved flags and played loud music at the news.

“It’s very good“, Nissim Weizmann told the BBC as he sat outside a grocery shop in the town.

“He’s a bad man and his time has come. This is a present for everyone. Both Palestinians who are with us and the Jews.”

At a beach just south of Tel Aviv, bathers cheered and applauded when a lifeguard first announced rumours of the death over a loudspeaker.

But others were more circumspect, wondering how Sinwar’s killing would affect prospects for the release of Israeli hostages who continue to be held by Hamas in Gaza.

“To be honest, I feel a bit numb,” Anat Ron Kandle in Tel Aviv told the Reuters news agency.

“I have a deep concern for the hostages, and it’s very difficult to find faith and hope.

“And I always think about, what if that could have been me, [it] could have been my son that was with me?”

Family members of the remaining 101 hostages still in Gaza gathered in Tel Aviv after the news broke.

They have been demonstrating for months, urging the Israeli government to reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas to get their relatives home.

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan was taken hostage, urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Don’t bury the hostages.”

“Go out now to the mediators and to the public and lay out a new Israeli initiative,” she said to Reuters.

“If Netanyahu doesn’t use this moment and doesn’t get up now to lay out a new Israeli initiative – even at the expense of ending the war – it means he has decided to abandon the hostages in an effort to prolong the war and fortify his rulership.”

In Gaza, some Palestinians said they believed Sinwar’s death could open a path towards ending the war, saying it left Israel with “no reason to continue this genocide”.

“They always said they wanted to eliminate Sinwar to stop this war,” Ali Chameli told Reuters.

But the reality on the ground since his killing was “quite the opposite”, said Jemaa Abou Mendi.

Speaking to the AFP news agency, he said: “the war has not stopped, and the killings continue unabated.”

Speaking in the city of Khan Younis, which has been largely left in ruins by a year of bombardment and fighting, Dr Ramadan Faris said the outcome of the war did not depend on any single person’s fate.

“It’s a war of extermination against the Palestinian people, as we all know and understand,” he said.

Also in Khan Younis was Lina Anuni, who fled Gaza City with her three children a year ago.

“I opposed [Sinwar] while he was alive and hold him equally responsible, alongside the Israeli occupation, for my suffering and that of 2.3 million Palestinians,” she told the BBC.

“Yet, I felt a sense of sadness at his passing,” she added.

One man, who chose not to be identified, told the BBC World Service’s Gaza Today programme that though there were “differing opinions” about the former Hamas leader, his death would not change things for people in Gaza.

“I don’t believe this will change the dynamics of the conflict,” he said, citing how the deaths of other senior Hezbollah and Hamas figures – like Hassan Nasrallah last month – had resulted in “nothing fundamentally” shifting.

“Instead, tensions escalated further, raising concerns for us as Palestinians,” he said.

Some Palestinians described Sinwar as a martyr.

Yousef Jamal, who said he supported the 7 October attack on Israel, said: “He [Sinwar] did not hide among the displaced, seek refuge with enemy prisoners, or retreat into tunnels.”

Yahya Sinwar, 61, was said to have spent much of his time hiding in tunnels along with a small team of bodyguards and a “human shield” of hostages seized from Israel.

But reports indicate he met his end in an encounter with an Israeli patrol in southern Gaza. No hostages were found with him.

Former One Direction star Liam Payne died at the age of 31 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday after falling from a balcony.

Many details about the British singer’s death still remain unclear, but information from emergency services and other authorities has started to build a picture of the events.

Payne was a global star and part of the much-loved boyband, which was created on The X factor TV show in 2010.

His bandmates have released a series of heartfelt statements, saying they are “completely devastated” by his death.

Payne was staying in a hotel in the upmarket neighbourhood of Palermo in the Argentine capital.

He had been at the hotel for two or three days, according to staff, and had been in the country to visit his former bandmate Niall Horan.

Horan was in Argentina on tour and the pair had remained friendly since One Direction’s 2016 split.

Payne posted on Snapchat earlier this month that he was visiting Horan for a catch-up, saying: “It’s been a while since me and Niall have spoken, we’ve got a lot to talk about.”

He added: “No bad vibes or anything like that, but we need to talk.”

• His final Snapchats from last few days in Argentina

Payne attended the show, again posting social media videos of himself and girlfriend Kate Cassidy singing and dancing at the concert.

The BBC also spoke to fan Noelia Verón – who saw him on 30 September and then again at the concert on 2 October.

She said “He was fine. Later people said he was either drunk or on drugs. But that wasn’t the case at all. He talked to us, hugged us and even made jokes.”

When Veron saw him at Niall’s show, she said he was “dancing, waving and cheering” and “seemed to be enjoying himself”.

We also know the pop star had visited a friend’s house in Argentina in the days before he died, again with Cassidy.

But when Payne fell to his death on Wednesday, Cassidy had already left the country.

Payne had been documenting much of his trip on Snapchat, including pictures of food, plans to play polo, and jokes about his hair.

But none of his posts featured the CasaSur hotel, where he had been staying shortly before his death.

We know a call was made to emergency services around 17:00 local time (21:00 BST) on Wednesday by hotel staff, with requests to respond to a hotel guest “who is overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol” and “destroying his room”.

“I don’t know if the guest’s life is in danger. But he has a room with a balcony and we’re a little afraid that he might do something life-threatening,” said the hotel’s front desk manager in a second call.

• Read the full transcript of the hotel’s emergency call

Payne’s room was on the third floor and had a balcony about 14m (45ft) above an interior courtyard.

It is thought he fell from the balcony at about 17:07 local time.

Police arrived minutes later. Hotel staff told them a loud sound had been heard in the courtyard, where Payne’s body was discovered.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, with the emergency services saying there had been “no possibility of resuscitation”.

Payne’s body was removed from the hotel at about 20:30 local time and an autopsy was carried out that evening.

It established that he had suffered “multiple traumas” and “internal and external haemorrhaging” according to the public prosecutor’s office.

A preliminary report stated he had 25 injuries, which were “consistent with a fall from a great height”.

It also added that he may have been fully or partially unconscious when he fell.

It is yet to be established whether alcohol or drugs were in Payne’s system at the time of death.

Authorities also interviewed five witnesses to help piece together Payne’s final hours, including three hotel workers as well as two women who had been with the singer but had left the hotel before his death.

Investigators also want to establish the “possible involvement of third parties in the events prior to the victim’s death”.

Hotel staff on the emergency call highlighted that Payne was “destroying his room”, and police say they found the room in “total disorder”.

A bottle of whiskey, a lighter, a passport and a mobile phone were found.

The room was said to have “various broken items” and medication was found, including anxiety drug Clonazepam and other over-the-counter medications.

Evidence and fingerprints were also collected to be analysed in a lab.

Local media also published pictures purportedly from his room, showing a TV with a broken screen, multiple bottles, cans, candles, aluminium foil and a half-full glass of champagne.

The prosecutor’s office said substances that appeared to be “narcotics and alcoholic beverages” were found in the room with pieces of furniture and other objects broken.

Payne’s death is being treated as suspicious by prosecutors, which means more needs to be established about what happened before his death and who he was in contact with.

A toxicology report is also yet to be published and will determine whether he was drinking alcohol and using drugs before his death.

It could take several days for this to come back.

Police have also seized the star’s laptop and phone, which could provide evidence, and eyewitness reports could help establish what led to his death.

The force said on Friday that Payne’s close family would have to travel to Argentina to identify his body before it is released.

Full coverage of the death of Liam Payne:

• Niall Horan says death ‘doesn’t feel real’
• ‘Struggling to say goodbye’ – One Direction’s tributes in full
• ‘I was a Directioner – here’s what he meant to me’
• ‘We all let you down Liam’, says Sharon Osbourne
• ‘He was a big piece of my life’: Your tributes to Liam
• Obituary: Boy band star who had the X factor

Cuba is experiencing a nationwide blackout after its main energy plant failed, knocking out power to its 10 million people.

Its power grid collapsed at around 11:00 (15:00 GMT) on Friday, the energy ministry announced on social media.

Grid officials said they did not know how long it would take to restore power.

The island has suffered months of lengthy blackouts, prompting the prime minister to declare an “energy emergency” on Thursday.

Friday’s total blackout came after the Antonio Guiteras power plant in Matanzas – the largest on the island – went offline.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez said the situation was his “absolute priority”.

“There will be no rest until power is restored,” he wrote on X.

The head of electricity supply at the energy ministry, Lazara Guerra, was later quoted by AFP news agency as saying the process of restoring power was in its early stages.

There was, she added, “some level of electricity generation” that would be used to start up power plants in several regions of the country.

Earlier on Friday, officials announced that all schools and non-essential activities, including nightclubs, were to close until Monday.

Non-essential workers were urged to stay home to safeguard electricity supply, and non-vital government services were suspended.

Cubans have also been urged to switch off high-consumption appliances such as fridges and ovens during peak hours, according to local media.

“This is crazy,” Eloy Fon, an 80-year-old pensioner living in central Havana, told AFP.

“It shows the fragility of our electricity system… We have no reserves, there is nothing to sustain the country, we are living day to day.”

Bárbara López, 47, a digital content creator, said she had already “barely been able to work for two days”.

“It’s the worst I’ve seen in 47 years,” she said. “They’ve really messed up now… We have no power or mobile data.”

• Fuel in Cuba to become five times more expensive
• Cuba laments collapse of iconic sugar industry
• ‘The violence is getting out of hand’: Crime grips Cuba’s streets

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero addressed the public in a televised message on Thursday, blaming deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand for the electricity failures.

“The fuel shortage is the biggest factor,” he said.

The head of the National Electric Union (UNE) Alfredo López Valdés also acknowledged the island had been facing a challenging energy situation, with shortages chiefly to blame.

Extended blackouts – particularly one this widespread – are always a tense time in Cuba.

In part, because the ability to keep the lights on represents a potential public order issue for the Cuban Government.

In July 2021, thousands of protesters spilled into the streets in demonstrations sparked by days-long blackouts in much of the country.

The desperation caused by precious food stuffs going to waste in warm fridges and freezers was exacerbated by citizens going for days with no air-conditioning or ceiling fans in the island’s stifling heat.

In many buildings, electric pumps bring water to the taps, so no power also meant no water.

Furthermore, no petrol at the pumps mean that people can’t work or use their cars to solve basic problems or tend to urgent needs.

The Cuban Government has becoming increasingly aware that many on the island have lost a degree of fear over speaking out about the many daily problems they face on the island.

Some are even prepared to take to the streets and chant anti-government slogans, if conditions merit it.

In March, Hundreds of people in Cuba’s second-largest city, Santiago, staged a rare public protest over chronic power blackouts and food shortages.

There was a time when an invitation to a party hosted by Sean “Diddy” Combs was one of the most sought-after tickets in the entertainment industry.

With guest lists that included Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton and Jennifer Lopez, it was a chance to rub shoulders with some of the biggest celebrities. Jay-Z and Beyoncé even released new music at his events.

“When Diddy winked at you and said come into the VIP section, you knew you were going to have a really good night,” Rob Shuter, who worked as a publicist for the rapper at the height of his fame, told BBC News in an exclusive interview.

Now Mr Shuter’s former star client is sitting in a Brooklyn jail cell, a short drive away from the Hamptons, where he once presided over decadent celebrity bashes.

Mr Combs’s fall from grace has been swift, with an extensive federal criminal case charging him in a sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. More than a dozen civil lawsuits have also been filed, accusing the music mogul of assaults, rape and sexual extortion. One lawyer said he represents more than 100 alleged victims who claim they were sexually abused.

The Harlem-born rapper has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, whether in relation to the criminal or civil allegations.

A spokesperson denied the allegations against Diddy and told BBC News for this story that “Mr Combs remains strong, healthy, and disciplined, fully committed to his defence with the unwavering support of his family, legal team, and the truth”.

He is set to go on trial in May 2025.

Mr Shuter, who worked for Diddy from 2002-04, said Mr Combs was at a pivotal moment in his career when he started working for the rapper.

Mr Combs had founded Bad Boy Records in 1993, a label that represented some of the biggest names in hip hop – including artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Usher. In 1998, he created the Sean John clothing line that later became a cultural phenomenon. From there, he dipped into fragrances, alcohol and even set up a media company, becoming the host of multiple reality shows where he would discover new talent and make people stars.

Mr Shuter said that when he first joined the rapper’s world, Mr Combs wanted to transform his persona and elevate his career, looking to use his parties to keep himself at the centre of the entertainment industry.

“He was just figuring out that how he could get the most attention was to become the party king of New York.”

Mr Shuter said Mr Combs was obsessed with power and a deep desire to remain famous, explaining the star loved to have his photo taken and wanted to show off his lifestyle. It was Mr Shuter’s job to help keep “Diddy” at the top. Being part of his entourage, he said, was like being part of a circus – the rapper was the “ringmaster”.

He said he never witnessed any sexual misconduct. “I’ve seen the imbalance of power,” he said. “What I haven’t seen is what is now alleged, which is just horrific.”

“The reason he was such a superstar is because all he thinks about is Diddy. From the minute he wakes up until the minute he goes to bed,” Mr Shuter told BBC News. “Diddy’s hobby is Diddy.”

He also claims Mr Combs also held a deep fascination with the British royal family. Mr Shuter said he remembers being asked more than 10 times to call Prince Harry and Prince William with invites to parties, offering to cover their travel, lodging and even pay for their security.

In his lavish New York apartment, the rapper kept framed pictures of the princes, Mr Shuter said, explaining: “He thought of himself as a king so it makes perfect sense that he would like to have two princes in his entourage.”

Both Harry and William never accepted an invite from Mr Combs, he added.

But saying “no” to the music mogul wasn’t something many others did.

“There were always guns around Diddy,” Mr Shuter said, describing metal detectors in his apartment that resembled those at an airport. “It was strange.”

Mr Shuter described firearms all over the rapper’s home. In his private living quarters, security guards had guns strapped to their ankles. Mr Combs held a close circle and was serious about both his security and his image.

“You don’t get to be Diddy… unless the people around you were buttoned up. There was nobody around him sloppy.”

In the Los Angeles area, the rapper lived on what has become known as Beverly Hills’s most expensive street.

The high fences allow celebrities to hide from prying eyes. Hugh Hefner’s Playboy mansion sits a few doors down.

The towering gates of Mr Combs’ estate have flaming torches burning day and night.

Neighbours told the BBC they often called police over his parties.

A freedom of information request by the BBC has revealed that officers were dispatched to parties at the P Diddy mansion 14 times over seven years.

On a street where discretion and privacy are of the utmost importance, no-one wished to be named, but neighbours described privately to the BBC what they witnessed, saying they were fed up and disturbed by what they saw.

“For six or seven years it was just parties, parties, parties,” one neighbour said, adding she saw females at all hours “coming out and sitting down on the street, they didn’t know where they were”.

She said they appeared “lost” and “their underwear was showing”.

Mr Combs’s mansion in Beverly Hills was one of several venues he used to host his annual “White Party”, a flagship event which he held from 1998 to 2009.

He began the parties in New York’s exclusive Hamptons area with a strict all-white dress code, bringing together East Hampton’s old-money elite and the rising stars of hip hop.

Mr Combs once described the parties as a way to break down racial and generational barriers.

But the hottest party of the year was a “facade” that allowed “sinister” conduct, a recent lawsuit alleges.

In a lawsuit filed this week, a man – who was 16 years old at the time – described the thrill of getting to attend Mr Combs’s first “White Party” in 1998. Walking into the Hamptons mansion, he saw celebrities and entertainment executives left and right. In the lawsuit, he said he believed the party could open doors to a music career.

He said he was on his way to the bathroom when he ran into the rapper. They started talking and then moved to another, more private area. That’s when Mr Combs said the teen had the right “look” and he could turn anyone into a star, the lawsuit states.

Then things took a turn. Mr Combs abruptly ordered the then-teenage boy to drop his pants so that Mr Combs could examine and touch him, the lawsuit alleges.

According to the lawsuit, Mr Combs said it was “a rite of passage” and “the route to becoming a star”. It also claims that he said it was a way for him to prove himself, asking the teen: “Don’t you want to break into the business?”

At least two other lawsuits centre on the parties.

Former adult film star Adria English claimed she was “groomed into sex trafficking over time” after working at multiple White Party events, where she alleges the alcohol was laced with drugs. Another lawsuit, filed anonymously this week by a man, makes allegations about a 2006 White Party. He said in the lawsuit that he was working security at the event, where drinks were allegedly laced with drugs, and said he was raped by Mr Combs.

More than a dozen civil lawsuits in total have been filed accusing the music mogul of assaults, rape and sexual extortion. In these lawsuits, both men and women say they were coerced or forced into sex, either by Mr Combs or those in his entourage. Others say they obliged because they were intimidated by Mr Combs and the power he held in the entertainment industry. Some described having their careers derailed or opportunities taken from them when they did not cave to Mr Combs’s whims.

Mr Combs’ legal team has dismissed the lawsuits as “clear attempts to garner publicity”. In response to this story, a spokesperson for the rapper told BBC News that allegations of wrongdoing at his notorious parties were unfounded.

“Sean Combs’ white parties and other events were iconic, a true convergence of hip-hop, Hollywood, and Black excellence,” the statement reads.

“It’s disappointing to see the media and social commentators twist these cultural moments into something they were not. Shaming celebrities who attended, taking video clips and photos out of context, and trying to link these events to false allegations is simply untrue.”

Singer Cassie, who dated the rapper off-and-on for nearly a decade starting in 2007, accused the mogul in a lawsuit of controlling every aspect of her life, forcing her to take excessive amounts of drugs, have sex with other men, beating her for years and threatening her – and those in her circle – when she tried to leave the relationship.

In a lawsuit – which started an avalanche of accusations against the rapper – the singer said while dating Mr Combs she realised he had a “tremendously loyal network” that would do anything he asked.

“She recognized that she was powerless, and that reporting Mr Combs to the authorities would not alter Mr Combs’s status or influence but would merely give Mr Combs another excuse to hurt her,” the lawsuit stated.

Cassie, whose full name is Casandra Ventura, said at one point after she attempted to leave Mr Combs, his record label threatened “her single would not be released if she did not answer Mr Combs’s phone calls”, the lawsuit states.

Lawyers for Mr Combs have again denied the allegations, saying in a statement to the BBC earlier this week that he “has never sexually assaulted anyone – adult or minor, man or woman”.

While various lawsuits detail alleged sexual assaults at parties held at Mr Combs’s properties, so-called “Freak-off” parties at hotel rooms appear to be a focus for federal authorities. The Department of Justice charged him with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution in a 14-page indictment last month.

Prosecutors have accused Mr Combs of recording sex acts during “Freak Offs”, which federal authorities describe as days-long sex parties involving multiple sex workers.

The indictment alleged that Mr Combs and his associates booked hotel rooms and stocked them with narcotics like ketamine, lubricant, extra linens and lighting so that they could record the orgies.

During the “Freak Offs,” Mr Combs allegedly “hit, kicked, threw objects at victims”, which led to injuries that would sometimes take weeks to heal, the court documents state.

According to the indictment, participants were allegedly coerced with drugs and threats to remain “obedient and compliant”. Afterwards, those involved would take IV fluids to recover, prosecutors allege.

Ms Ventura’s lawsuit, filed in November 2023 – almost a year before his indictment in New York – includes graphic details of these alleged “Freak-Off” parties. The lawsuit states Mr Combs would host these events weekly in hotels in New York and Los Angeles, flying in sex workers, supplying drugs that included ecstasy, cocaine and ketamine and forcing the singer to perform sex acts.

During a raid on Mr Combs’s Los Angeles and Miami mansions, law enforcement officers seized AR-15-style guns, large-capacity magazines, thousands of bottles of lube and baby oil.

Mr Combs’s arrest and the fallout surrounding his career have sparked hope among activists and survivors of sexual violence that his case could drive meaningful change within the music industry.

Gloria Allred, a prominent women’s rights lawyer who has defended a number of women throughout the #MeToo movement, believes the world is finally seeing a “reckoning” in the music industry.

She’s representing Thalia Graves, who alleges she was drugged and violently raped by the rapper in 2001. She said she was threatened by Mr Combs and did not speak out, fearing he would “ruin her life”, Allred said.

But Ms Allred told the BBC she thinks the fallout from Diddy’s arrest is far from over.

“Courage is contagious,” she said.

And prosecutors and lawyers for the growing list of Mr Combs’s accusers have hinted there is more to come.

“Combs did not do this all on his own,” Damian Williams, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said. “He used his business and employees of that business and other close associates to get his way.”

The investigation into the case is still open, authorities say.

As Mr Combs left his most recent court appearance in a beige prison jumpsuit, he mouthed to his family “I love you” and repeatedly put his hands to his heart, making a prayer sign.

As the hearing ended, a group of fans huddled by the courtroom doors on their tiptoes hoping to catch sight of him and show support for the rapper.

For his former assistant, the media storm that now surrounds the rapper is not without a hint of irony.

“He wanted to make himself the most famous person in the world, and ironically, now he is,” Mr Shuter said.

Former Fulham Ladies captain Ronnie Gibbons alleges she was “groped” on two occasions by the football club’s late owner Mohamed Al Fayed.

The former Harrods boss tried to “forcefully” kiss her at his department store in 2000, when she was 20, she told The Athletic website.

“Speaking my truth and finally telling my story will hopefully help me heal and be rid of the shame, embarrassment and pain I have carried for years,” she said.

Lawyers from the Justice for Harrods Survivors group said they were representing four former players of the club.

Fulham FC told the BBC it was trying to establish whether anyone at the club “had been impacted” by Al Fayed.

“The club is profoundly troubled to learn of the experiences told today by former Women’s Team captain, Ronnie Gibbons,” Fulham said.

“She has our deepest empathy and support.”

• How Fayed built a corrupt system of enablers to carry out his sexual abuse
• The red flags that were missed or dismissed when Harrods was bought
• Forty new allegations against Al Fayed made to police
• Man’s six-year hunt to expose Al Fayed abuse
• Doctors’ regulator refused to investigate Harrods medical tests
• We were lambs to the slaughter, says Fayed accuser

Al Fayed owned Fulham between 1997 and 2013.

In 2000, Fulham’s women’s team – known at the time as Fulham Ladies – became the first female football team in Europe to turn professional.

Gibbons, who was captain at the time, said she was driven to Harrods by club staff. Once at the luxury department store, she said she was left alone with Al Fayed, who was then in his 70s.

“He pulled me in close and tried to kiss me on the mouth,” she said of their first meeting.

“He had his arms holding my arms, like at my side, so I couldn’t push him away or anything like that. It was a real kind of control stance, like ‘I’m dominating you’.

“I was just like, ‘What do I do here?’ I just felt like a huge responsibility on my shoulders at that point because we’d just turned professional.”

Gibbons said that Al Fayed tried to forcefully kiss her again: “He even may have stuck his tongue on me or something. I just remember feeling sick, just really physically feeling sick, when I left there.”

Later that summer, she said a member of staff told her she had been summoned to Harrods again by Al Fayed.

In the interview with The Athletic, she recalled: “This time he groped me. As he was saying goodbye, he was sort of grabbing me, trying to sort of hold on to me and kiss me. He was like, ‘You’re not scared are you? You don’t need to be scared, I’m not going to do anything like that, you’re very precious, you’re a very special girl’.”

Fulham FC told the BBC: “We unequivocally condemn all forms of abuse. We remain in the process of establishing whether anyone at the Club is or would have been impacted by Mohamed Al Fayed in any manner as described in recent reports.”

Last week, the Metropolitan Police said it had received 40 new allegations from people that included sexual assault and rape against Al Fayed.

The allegations follow a BBC documentary and podcast, containing testimony from former Harrods employees who said the billionaire sexually assaulted or raped them.

Since the documentary first aired in September, a further 65 women have contacted the BBC saying they were abused by Al Fayed, with allegations stretching beyond Harrods and as far back as 1977.

Last month, the former manager of Fulham’s women’s team Gaute Haugenes told the BBC that extra precautions had been put in place to protect female players from Al Fayed.

Haugenes, who managed the team from 2001 to 2003, said members of staff became aware that the late billionaire “liked young, blonde girls”.

Gibbons was reported to be angered by these comments.

Speaking to the BBC on Friday, Haugenes, who is Norwegian, said he could completely understand her frustration.

“All I can say is I am really sorry for saying something that could have put more wood on the fire. I honestly thought we protected the players,” he said.

“I knew that he liked Ronnie because all the girls, they joked about it. But I thought he was an old man, she was a young woman. I was 30 at the time, I didn’t think people his age were thinking about sex.

“I might have been naive, it might have been some of the language barriers that I didn’t pick up details in their joking.”

He added that he had not been aware she had been told to go to Harrods.

Asked whether club staff could have done more, he said it was difficult to know what could have been done differently.

“But you should have had a system that picked up things like that,” he said. “It was before I was a manager that she went there.”

He added: “It is sad to hear she had those kind of experiences as a professional player.”

The CEO of Women in Football (WIF) told the BBC there are “significant challenges” in the female football environment.

“It brings to the fore the prevalence of power in balances and the risk towards women in the industry working both on and off the pitch,” Yvonne Harrison said.

“For players it is really important that they are protected, they are safeguarded and that their voices are first and foremost listened to – and that is the same off the pitch as well.”

The Justice for Harrods Survivors group said the abuse Gibbons had endured from Al Fayed was “yet another horrible example of the monstrous abuse aided and abetted by the businesses he owned”.

They added: “We salute our client’s bravery and are proud to advocate for Ronnie and others at Fulham who are searching for justice. We will do whatever we can to lift the lid on abuse, no matter where it was perpetrated, or who it was perpetrated by, including any enablers of Al-Fayed’s abhorrent behaviour.”

A spokesperson for Harrods said it was “utterly appalled” by the allegations of abuse perpetrated by Al Fayed.

It said: “These were the actions of an individual who was intent on abusing his power wherever he operated and we condemn them in the strongest terms.

“We also acknowledge that during this time his victims were failed and for this we sincerely apologise.”

Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods

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

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

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