Billionaire Elon Musk has been tasked with leading incoming President Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).

In a statement on social media, the US president-elect said Musk – along with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy – would “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.

It is a role that the tech entrepreneur has arguably prepared for through his business leadership, and one he has spent months arguing for.

But it is also one that is expected to garner him influence over government policy – and the regulatory environment his enterprises exist in.

• Follow updates: Trump heads to White House to meet Biden

Musk told a Trump rally in October that he believed the US government’s budget could be cut by “at least” $2tn from around $6.5tn. He has also frequently suggested the number of government employees could be significantly reduced.

Ramaswamy, meanwhile, has put forward plans to scrap a number of federal departments including the Department of Education, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI.

The way Musk has run his own firms may hint at what Americans can expect he will do at Doge.

In October 2022, Musk took over social media platform Twitter – which he rebranded as X – in a $44bn (£38.1bn) deal, so he could remove its policies of moderating content and banning users who had deemed to have violated its rules on hate speech and disinformation.

Among the users he reinstated was Trump, who had been banned following the Capitol riot in January 2021 after continuing to claim the 2020 election had been rigged against him.

Musk’s takeover saw radical changes to the company.

He reduced X’s workforce from around 8,000 to 1,500. In April 2023, he told the BBC that his reasoning for doing so was that “if the whole ship sinks, then nobody’s got a job”.

“His idea of efficiency was to let a lot of people go,” says Alex Waddan, a professor of US politics at the University of Leicester.

Facing an exodus of advertisers over his relaxation of the platform’s speech policies, the entrepreneur also monetised elements of the site to raise revenue.

He turned blue ticks – which previously denoted that a high-profile account was bona fide – into a subscription model, and tied advertising payments to “verified” users to the number of interactions they receive.

But these changes had some unintended consequences.

Following outcry, X gave gold or silver ticks to brands and official accounts to avoid them being confused with fakes – effectively meaning blue ticks only signify that an account is paid-for.

Incentivising users with a share of advertising revenues also gave an avenue for so-called bot farms to make money by posting auto-generated content to gain more interactions. Musk has said his team has repeatedly purged bot accounts.

Critics argue his changes have given prominence to hate-speech and misinformation – though he has argued the site is politically neutral.

“As a serial entrepreneur, Musk has been relentless in trying to improve institutional efficiency at his own enterprises,” says Thomas Gift, a political science professor and director of the Centre on US Politics at University College London.

He adds that though Musk’s primary role will be “slashing through the thicket of red tape that is the US federal government”, his position will also give him influence in the new administration.

“While his role in the Department of Government Efficiency will be a more informal one, there’s no doubt that he’s got Trump ear – at least for the moment.”

Musk’s calls for a Doge are themselves a reference to a meme featuring a Shiba Inu dog, which then gave its name to the cryptocurrency Dogecoin. Both have been frequently referred to by him online.

Christopher Phelps, a professor of modern US political history, says the name is “a nod to crypto deregulation being part of what they’ll do”. Crypto prices rose after Trump’s election and signals the incoming president would offer a relaxed regulatory environment.

But Musk’s calls may also come in part from frustrations he has had with his other business ventures: electric vehicle company Tesla and rocket firm SpaceX.

Tesla has repeatedly been accused by the US government of trying to prevent its workers unionising – which in some cases can be against federal law.

Musk – who has an estimated net worth of $290bn (£228bn) – has previously said he is “not against all unions”, but that the auto workers’ union “has a track record of destroying productivity so a company can’t compete”.

In September Musk threatened to sue the Federal Aviation Administration over its plans to fine his SpaceX company $633,000 for alleged license infringements related to some of its rocket launches from Cape Canaveral in Florida. He accused the agency of “regulatory overreach”.

He has also repeatedly said he wants to colonise Mars, and SpaceX’s Starship programme is an attempt to make that possible.

But in September, he wrote that this was only a possibility “so long as it is not smothered by bureaucracy” and claimed Doge was “the only path to extending life beyond Earth”.

So is part of his motivation for taking on the role his various US-based business interests?

Musk “stands to benefit personally from a lot of the deregulation that he touts,” says Prof Phelps, adding: “I think putting someone who is a billionaire and runs major corporations in charge of a federal project of deregulation is innately full of conflicts of interest.”

“There’s no doubt that Musk has significant vested interests in the US regulatory landscape as a result of his many business enterprises,” says Prof Gift.

“At the same time, it’s hard to make the case that this is the only impetus driving him.

“Musk has undertaken huge personal and political risks in coming out for Trump, and many of his activities and rhetoric seem to reflect an individual ideologically committed to causes he believes in.”

Prof Waddan agrees: “Clearly he has got skin in the game and there’s a self-interest, but equally you can have a sincere belief that there is too much government regulation and too much government bureaucracy.”

Musk donated a reported $200m (£157m) to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, and appeared to speak at several of his rallies.

Prof Phelps describes his relationship with Trump as “transactional”, adding that the Doge role “gives him a lot of symbolic clout – and possibly the clout to get the things that matter most to him done”.

As the South African-born billionaire is not a US citizen by birth, he cannot become president – something that has frustrated other famous faces who became involved in politics in the past.

But Musk can have an influence on US policy, and Trump will have a sympathetic adviser to call upon.

“Trump is looking to surround himself with loyalists in his new administration, and there’s no one who’s been more loyal than Musk since he announced his endorsement for Trump,” says Prof Gift.

“Not only did Musk go ‘all in’ in supporting Trump personally and financially during the campaign, but he’s also evolved into a trusted adviser on topics as diverse as technology policy to the war in Ukraine.”

In an early sign of the influence the tech entrepreneur may be rewarded with for his loyalty, Musk was party to a call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky following the election. The war in Ukraine will be a major foreign policy concern when Trump takes office.

“That is actually quite extraordinary,” says Prof Waddan. “Normally, even your biggest donors wouldn’t get that kind of access.”

South Korean actor Song Jae Lim, known for his breakout role in the K-drama The Moon Embracing the Sun, was found dead on Tuesday in his Seoul home.

The 39-year-old, who began his career as a model, rose to prominence in the period drama in 2012, before going on to star in other variety shows and television series.

Reports say a note was found in the apartment, with police adding that there is no evidence of foul play.

His death has renewed concerns over the immense pressures facing those in South Korea’s entertainment industry.

South Korean stars paid tribute to Song following news of his death.

Fellow actor Yoo Sun, who worked alongside Song in the 2016 series Our Gap Soon, posted a photo of them together on Instagram with the caption: “It’s too sad, it hurts so much… May you find peace and rest.”

Another actor, Park Ho San said in an Instagram post: “Since you were always so cheerful, it’s hard to believe [the news].”

According to news site Yonhap, the actor’s family said they wished to hold a small funeral involving only family members.

South Korea’s entertainment industry is known for its high-pressure environment, where celebrities are held to strict standards over their appearances and behaviour.

The recent deaths of high-profile celebrities — including Parasite actor Lee Sun-kyun, K-pop stars Moonbin, Goo Hara and Sulli — have raised concerns about the toll such pressures may have taken.

For information and support about any issues raised in this story contact the BBC Action Line.

Several airlines have cancelled flights to and from Bali due to dangerous ash clouds from a volcano near the Indonesian holiday island.

Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia advised passengers of the disruptions on Wednesday, saying the ash from Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki made it unsafe to fly.

The volcano spewed a 9km (6.2 miles) ash column into the sky over the weekend, one week after a major eruption killed 10 people.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology has also warned that the volcanic ash might drift to parts of the country’s north on Wednesday.

Jetstar said all flights to and from Bali until 12:00 Australian Eastern Daylight Time Thursday (04:00 GMT) have been cancelled. Other airlines which have followed suit include Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific, India’s IndiGo, and Malaysian carrier AirAsia.

Virgin Australia, which cancelled all its flights to and from Bali on Wednesday, said in a statement: “Safety is always our highest priority, and our meteorology team is closely monitoring the situation.”

Singapore Airlines and its low-cost carrier Scoot have similarly cancelled some flights — though Singapore’s airport website shows that other flights to and from Bali have continued to run on Wednesday.

The general manager of Bali’s international airport Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, told Reuters that 22 international flights and 12 domestic ones had been affected on Tuesday, but did not provide details about Wednesday’s flights.

Activities in Indonesia have also been affected by the volcanic ash.

A jazz festival in Labuan Bajo town, some 600km from Mount Lewotaobi Laki-laki, was postponed to next year due to safety concerns.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an area of high seismic activity atop multiple tectonic plates, and has about 130 active volcanoes.

Past volcanic eruptions have disrupted aviation. In 2020, ash clouds from Mount Merapi shut an airport in the city of Solo.

A car attack that killed 35 people in China has sparked questions about a recent spate of public violence, as officials continue to censor discussion on the incident.

On social media, many are discussing the social phenomenon of “taking revenge on society”, where individuals act on personal grievances by attacking strangers.

Police said the driver who ploughed into crowds at a stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai on Monday night acted out of unhappiness over a divorce settlement.

While it is believed to be China’s deadliest known act of violence in decades, it follows a string of attacks in recent months, including a stabbing spree at a Shanghai supermarket and a knife attack at a Beijing school.

Amid a national outcry over the Zhuhai incident, President Xi Jinping has vowed “severe punishment” for the perpetrator. Police said the 62-year-old driver, who has been arrested, is in a coma due to self-inflicted wounds.

On Chinese social media platforms, many expressed shock at his actions and asked if it was a symptom of deeper societal problems.

One comment that went viral on Weibo read: “How can you take revenge on society because your family life is not going well? You’ve taken the lives of so many innocent people, will you ever have peace of mind.”

“If there is a widespread lack of job security and huge pressure to survive… then society is bound to be full of problems, hostility and terror,” a user said on WeChat.

Another person wrote in a widely-shared post: “We should be examining the deep-rooted, social [factors] that have fostered so many indiscriminate [attacks on] the weak.”

A number of violent attacks in China have been reported this year, including a mass stabbing and firearms attack in Shandong in February which killed at least 21 people.

In October, a knife attack at a top school in Beijing injured five people, while in September, a man went on a stabbing spree at a supermarket in Shanghai, killing three people and injuring several others.

Many posts, comments and articles about the Zhuhai incident have been censored in recent days, as officials limit discussion of what appears to have been deemed a politically sensitive topic. In China, it is common for censors to quickly take down social media posts linked to high-profile incidents of crime.

Despite this, several emotional accounts raising questions about the incident have continued circulating widely online. The BBC has not been able to independently verify these accounts.

One person said a family friend was killed in the attack when she was doing her evening workout with a walking group.

“My mother is finding it hard to accept the loss of such a close friend. The more I witness her grief, the more I resent the cold-bloodedness of the murderer,” the person wrote.

They also accused Chinese media of “barely reporting” on the incident while giving more coverage to a high-profile military airshow taking place in Zhuhai at the same time.

“In the eyes of those in power, aeroplanes are more important than human lives.”

Several Chinese media outlets have told BBC Chinese that in the initial hours after the incident, they had received clear instructions not to report on it.

News outlets have since put out reports on the attack, mostly angling on statements from the police and Xi Jinping.

But state broadcaster CCTV did not mention the attack in its lead midday bulletin on Wednesday – instead focusing on President Xi’s upcoming trip to South America and the airshow in Zhuhai.

The main pages of China’s daily newspapers also had no mention of the deadliest act of mass violence in public in years.

Another post widely circulated online was written by a person who said their mother was badly injured in the attack and was currently receiving treatment in a hospital’s intensive care unit.

The person said it was unclear if their mother would survive and that their father, who witnessed the attack, was devastated. “His heart is broken, but he is still trying his best to respond calmly to phone calls and all the people who care about my mum.”

They also criticised the lack of information in the hours following the incident.

“Up to 10 hours after it happened, there were no statistics on the casualties, no statements from the police,” they said.

Other users have mentioned how it took 24 hours for authorities to release the full 35-person death toll. The Weibo social media platform has also censored a hashtag mentioning the death toll.

India’s Supreme Court has said that authorities cannot demolish homes merely because a person has been accused of a crime and has laid down strict guidelines for any such action.

The ruling comes in response to a number of petitions seeking action against authorities using demolition as a punitive measure against those accused or convicted of crimes.

“The executive [the government] cannot become a judge and demolish properties. The chilling sight of a bulldozer demolishing a building reminds one of lawlessness where might was right,” the Supreme Court said on Wednesday.

It also directed authorities to give sufficient time to the affected person to challenge the order or vacate the property.

The ruling comes against a backdrop of a spate of instances, where authorities in states, particularly governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have used demolition as a tool to punish people accused of crimes.

The reason cited is illegal construction but experts have questioned the logic and say there is no legal justification for doing this.

While victims include Hindu families, such demolitions have mostly targeted Muslims, especially after religious violence or protests, opposition leaders and activists say.

The BJP denies the allegation and state chief ministers have linked demolitions with their tough stance on crime.

• Is bulldozer punishment trampling justice in India?

During the hearing on Wednesday, the Supreme Court used strong words to criticise the practice.

“Such highhanded and arbitrary actions have no place in a constitutional democracy,” it said, adding that officials “who took the law in their hands” should be held accountable.

The court then issued guidelines, which make it mandatory for authorities to give a 15-day notice to an occupant before the alleged illegal property is demolished.

The notice should explain the reasons for demolition. If the accused does not respond to the notice within 15 days, authorities can proceed with the action but they would be required to film the process, the court said.

It also warned that violating these guidelines would amount to contempt of court.

The court has strongly criticised extrajudicial demolitions throughout the hearing.

Earlier this month, it observed that demolishing properties merely because a person was accused of a crime was “simply unacceptable under rule of law”.

It also observed that citizens’ voices could not be silenced by the threat of demolition.

While the Supreme Court’s guidelines can be seen as a positive step towards preventing such demolitions from becoming the norm, observers point out that implementing the order will be key in ensuring the practice stops.

Human rights group Amnesty International praised the ruling, saying that though it has come late, it is a welcome move in upholding the rights of the people.

“This is a big win in ending the deeply unjust, widespread, unlawful and punitive demolitions, mostly targeting the minority Muslim community, by the Indian authorities which have often been peddled as ‘bulldozer justice’ by ruling party political leaders and media,” the organisation said in a statement.

US President-elect Donald Trump has named Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host, author and military veteran, as his pick for defence secretary.

Hegseth, 44, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, will be responsible for the world’s most powerful military in his first political role.

Announcing his choice on Tuesday, Trump described him as “tough, smart and a true believer in America First”.

The news came on the same day Trump announced another political newcomer, billionaire Elon Musk, would take a government cost-cutting role.

Trump’s administration is taking shape after his win in last week’s presidential election. Hegseth was one of a flurry of security appointments that also included Trump’s pick of John Ratcliffe to head the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

If confirmed for his role by the US Senate, Hegseth will arrive at the Pentagon with decisions to make on issues such as military assistance for Israel during its campaign in Gaza, and on support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion.

Trump wants the US to disentangle itself from foreign conflicts generally. During the election campaign, he criticised the Biden administration’s expenditure to support Kyiv.

• Follow Live: Trump transition updates
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• Fresh delay in New York case. Will Trump ever be sentenced?
• Border, climate agreement, Ukraine: Second-term priorities

Also on Tuesday, Trump confirmed that he wanted South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to play a significant role as homeland security secretary. Another military veteran, Michael Waltz, was chosen by Trump as national security adviser – meaning he will advise the president on foreign threats.

Senator Marco Rubio – who shares Waltz’s hawkish views on China – is expected to be Trump’s future secretary of state, sources have told the BBC’s US partner, CBS News. But the pick is not yet confirmed.

Republicans have won back control of the Senate, the upper chamber of Congress, and are inching towards a majority in the House, the lower chamber, as vote-counting continues.

Some of the government appointments – including Hegseth’s – require a vote of approval by senators, although Trump, also a Republican, has demanded that the next leader of the US Senate let him bypass this process. He can give out other jobs directly.

Senate Republicans are due to vote on a new leader on Wednesday – the day that Trump is also expected to visit the outgoing president, Joe Biden, at the White House as part of the traditional transfer of power.

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Ivy League graduate Hegseth has in recent years worked as a conservative commentator. He lives with his wife and seven children in Tennessee.

He has hosted programmes on Fox News, using his platform to draw attention to military and veterans’ issues. He had his last day at Fox on Tuesday.

He is reported by US media to have successfully lobbied Trump during his first presidency to pardon servicemen accused of war crimes.

In his statement announcing Hegseth as his pick for defence secretary on Tuesday, Trump highlighted the former soldier’s education at Princeton and Harvard universities, and his military experience in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – our military will be great again, and America will never back down,” Trump wrote in a post.

The president-elect also drew attention to Hegseth’s work as a published author. He said the book The War on Warrior “reveals the leftwing betrayal of our warriors, and how we must return our military to meritocracy, lethality, accountability, and excellence”.

Hegseth has been an outspoken opponent of what he has referred to as “woke” policies within the US military and its leadership.

“The dumbest phrase on planet earth in the military is our diversity is our strength,” Hegseth said on a podcast this month.

One of his tasks as defence secretary could be to act on Trump’s campaign promises to get rid of US generals who he accuses of pursuing progressive policies in the force.

Before his selection by Trump, Hegseth was asked on the same podcast about what changes he would make in the military. He referred to “first of all” firing the US’ top military officer, Gen Charles “CQ” Brown Jr, saying people involved in diversity, equality or inclusion policies had “got to go”.

“Either you’re in for war fighting and that’s it, that’s the only litmus test we care about,” Hegseth told the Shawn Ryan Show, in an episode released last week.

Gen Brown is a former fighter pilot with command experience in the Pacific and Middle East, and was appointed into the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff role by President Joe Biden last year.

On the same podcast, Hegseth also said “whatever” combat standards were in 1995, “let’s just make those the standards”.

Hegseth’s pick has been welcomed by a number of prominent Republican figures, but other reactions have been more varied.

North Carolina senator Thom Tillis told Associated Press the choice was “interesting”, and Senator Tommy Tuberville, of Alabama, said he would “have to think” about what he thought of the appointment.

Incoming national security advisor Waltz said Hegseth “has the grit” to make “real reform” happen at the Pentagon. Representative Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said the job “should not be an entry-level position”.

Posting on X, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said the appointment of Hegseth as defence secretary would “make us less safe and must be rejected”.

“A Fox & Friends weekend co-host is not qualified to be the Secretary of Defense,” she added. “I lead the Senate military personnel panel. All three of my brothers served in uniform. I respect every one of our servicemembers.”

• The view from countries where Trump’s win really matters
• Analysis: Will Trump’s victory spark a global trade war?
• What does a Trump win mean for the UK?
• What Trump’s win means for Ukraine, Middle East and China

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his twice-weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

People in India’s capital Delhi woke up to a thick layer of smog as the air quality deteriorated to severe levels in the city.

Delhi and its neighbouring cities are experiencing pollution levels that are at least 30-35 times the safe limit recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Every year, Delhi and northern states battle hazardous air during the winter months of October to January due to plummeting temperatures, smoke, dust, low wind speed, vehicular emissions and crop stubble burning.

This time, experts say that the condition is likely to get worse in the coming days.

According to IQAir, a Swiss-based Air Quality Index (AQI) monitoring group, pollution levels in several parts of Delhi touched the 500 mark on Wednesday morning.

AQI measures the levels of particulate matter, also called PM 2.5, in the air. These tiny particles can enter the lungs and cause a host of diseases.

According to WHO guidelines, air with AQI values at or below 100 is considered to be satisfactory for breathing, while readings in the 400-500 range denote that pollution levels are “severe” in an area.

The satellite cities of Noida and Gurgaon also registered AQI levels touching the 500 mark.

Several northern states have been experiencing toxic air and poor visibility over the past few weeks. There have been reports of flights to and from Delhi being cancelled or delayed due to low visibility.

So thick is the smog that it is visible even from space. A few days ago, Nasa shared satellite images of a blanket of smog engulfing parts of northern India and neighbouring Pakistan.

The toxic air is also affecting people’s health.

A survey by LocalCircles, an online community platform, in Delhi and nearby cities revealed that 81% of families reported at least one member suffering from health issues due to pollution in the last three weeks. Over a third of respondents said they had purchased cough syrup during that time.

The Delhi government has enacted its Graded Response Action Plan – which bans all activities that involve the use of coal and firewood, as well as diesel generator use for non-emergency services – but that has not saved the city from experiencing toxic levels of pollution.

Authorities have also urged residents to stay indoors as much as possible and to use public transport to cut vehicular emissions.

Delhi was the most polluted capital city in the world in 2023, according to IQAir.

India was also ranked as the world’s third-most polluted country after neighbours Bangladesh and Pakistan, IQAir said.

Air pollution is a serious problem in a number of Indian cities.

Experts say that rapid industrialisation coupled with weak enforcement of environmental laws have played a role in increasing pollution in the country.

India has seen a lot of development in the past few decades, but poor industrial regulation means that factories do not follow pollution-control measures. Rapid construction has also contributed to rising levels of pollution.

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Maria Troyanivska had come home early the night a Russian drone hit her bedroom.

“It flew in through the window, right into her room,” her mother Viktoria tells the BBC. After the explosion, she and her husband Volodymyr ran from the next room to find their daughter’s room on fire.

“We tried to put it out, but everything was burning so strongly,” she says through tears. “It was impossible to breathe – we had to leave.”

The Russian Shahed drone killed the 14-year-old in her bed, in her suburban apartment in Kyiv, last month.

“She died immediately, and then burned,” her mother said. “We had to bury her in a closed coffin. She had no chance of surviving.”

Russia is massively increasing drone strikes on Ukraine. More than 2,000 were launched in October, according to Ukraine’s general staff – a record number in this war.

The same report says Russia fired 1,410 drones in September, and 818 in August – compared with around 1,100 for the entire three-month period before that.

It’s part of a wider resurgence for Russian forces. The invaders are advancing all along the front lines. North Korean troops have joined the war on Moscow’s side. And with the election of Donald Trump for a second term as US president, Ukraine’s depleted and war-weary forces are facing uncertain support from their biggest military donor.

The majority of the Russian drones raining down on Ukraine are Iranian-designed Shaheds: propeller-driven, with a distinctive wing shape and a deadly warhead packed into the nose cone.

Russia has also started to launch fake drones, without any explosives, to confuse Ukraine’s air defence units and force them to waste ammunition.

Compared to missiles they are much cheaper to build, easier to fire, and designed to sap morale.

Every night, Ukrainians go to sleep to notifications pinging on their phones, as inbound drones crisscross the country, setting sirens blaring.

And every morning, they wake to news of yet another strike. Just since the start of November, drones have hit Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia.

On Sunday, Russia launched 145 drones at Ukraine, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky – a record number for a single day since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Kyiv said that day it had managed to shoot down 62 drones, and that a further 67 were “lost” – meaning they were either downed by electronic warfare, or disappeared from radar screens.

Ukrainian air defences are struggling to cope with the surging numbers.

“So far we have been intercepting them. I hope we will keep intercepting them,” Sgt Mykhailo Shamanov, a spokesperson for Kyiv city military administration, told the BBC.

While he says Russia tries to hit military installations, the “general aim is terrorising civilians”.

They know the Russians will continue to ramp up these attacks, he said – it’s why his government is constantly asking for more air defence from Western allies.

It’s also why Ukraine is nervously waiting to see how US President-elect Trump will approach the war when he re-enters office.

“Even if air defence works well, drone or missile debris falls on the city. It causes fires, damage and unfortunately sometimes victims,” he explained.

“Every night it’s a lottery – where it hits, where it’s shot down, where it falls and what happens.”

Vitaliy and his men have no fixed post – their weaponry for shooting down the Shaheds is carried on the back of a flatbed truck, allowing them to manoeuvre quickly.

“We try to monitor, move, outpace the drone, destroy it,” he said.

It’s clear the job is taking its toll.

“Half a year ago, it was 50 drones a month. Now the number has risen to 100 drones, every night,” he said.

Their days are getting longer too. When the Russians used mainly missiles to bomb Ukraine, the unit commander said, the air alerts would last about six hours. “Now, it’s around 12 or 13 hours,” he said.

Vitaliy is confident in front of his men, declaring that they can handle all that the Russians can fire at them if they get weapons from Western allies. “Our guys could even deal with 250 drones [in a night],” he said.

But air defence can only do so much. Ukrainians will continue to suffer until Russia stops its invasion and its air assaults on cities.

Viktoria says their lives are now divided into before and after their daughter’s death. They are staying with a friend after the destruction of their flat; she said they sleep in the corridor at night to shelter from the constant drone attacks.

“Of course it’s exhausting,” she said. “But it seems to me it makes people even more angry, irritates and outrages them. Because people really cannot understand, especially lately, those attacks that hit peaceful houses.”

“I don’t understand at all why this war started and for what,” Maria’s father, Volodymyr, told the BBC. “What sense does it make? Not from an economic perspective, nor human, territorial – people just die.”

“It’s just some ambitions of sick people.”

Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in the Costa del Sol region of southern Spain after a red weather alert was issued for extreme rain and flooding.

Spain’s Civil Protection Agency sent a mass alert to phones in Málaga province after 22:00 local time (21:00 GMT) on Tuesday evening warning of a “extreme risk of rainfall”.

The area, including the tourist resorts of Marbella, Velez and Estepona, is expected to take the brunt of the extreme weather phenomenon known as a “Dana”.

Several other regions in Spain remain on alert as the new weather front is expected to bring torrential rain and low temperatures just weeks after the country was devastated by flash floods that have so far killed more than 220 people.

Catalonia in north-eastern Spain, particularly the coast near Tarragona, has also been placed on red alert until Wednesday evening.

Schools in the entire southern province of Málaga have been closed while many supermarkets have kept shutters down.

Around 3,000 people living in close proximity to the Guadalhorce River have been told to leave their homes, the Regional Government of Andalusia has said.

Regional government’s Minister of the Presidency Antonio Sanz said: “We have not evacuated entire towns, but rather specific areas linked to the riverbank.

“This decision has been communicated to the government of Spain in order to receive collaboration from the state security forces and bodies.”

The severe weather alert in Málaga has also led to the opening tie of the Billie Jean King Cup between Spain and Poland being postponed, the International Tennis Federation said.

The two nations were set to play in Malaga on Wednesday.

Spain’s meteorological agency Aemet has placed parts of the Valencia and Andalusia regions, as well as the Balearic Islands, on orange alert from now until Thursday.

Aemet warns of rainfall and storms that could be “very strong to torrential”.

In other parts of Spain precautions are being taken – with eastern and southern Mediterranean areas the most vulnerable.

That orange alert is the second highest and it signals a significant meteorological event “with a degree of danger for normal activities”.

In Valencia, school classes and sports activities suspended in some areas and sandbags piled up to protect the centre of the town of Aldaia.

However this second Dana weather system is not expected to be as dramatic as the red alert on 29 October, when the Valencia region in particular suffered an unprecedented loss of lives and material damage.

• Why Valencia floods proved so deadly
• Video shows first wave of flood water gushing through town in Valencia
• Accusations fly in Spain over who is to blame for flood disaster

Elsewhere, rescue teams searching for the bodies of two young brothers who were swept away in the Valencia floods two weeks ago said their bodies had been found.

Izan Matías, 5, and Rubén Matías, 3, were pulled from their father Victor Matías’s arms when the torrent ripped through their home in Valencia on the evening of 29 October.

Their aunt Barabara Sastre confirmed to the BBC the boys had been found. Their bodies were recovered in different locations.

“My little angels, we have finally found you” one family friend, David Garcia, wrote online. “Two stars shine brighter in the sky.”

Yesterday, search teams had focused on part of the River Pollo about 6km (3.7km) from the family home.

The boys’ uncle Iván had told the BBC he was hugely grateful for all the support they had received and hoped his nephews would be found.

Volunteers from the Canary Islands and other parts of Spain had joined recovery specialists from Mexico, who normally work in the aftermath of earthquakes.

On Monday, the family dog was found dead in a garage in the town of Paiporta, more than 12km (7.4 miles) from their house in La Curra, a neighbourhood of Mas del Jutge.

Dana weather systems are formed when an area of low pressure gets “cut off” from the main flow of the jet stream.

This means that instead of moving through a region relatively quickly, they get blocked over the same area leading to persistent rainfall for several days.

Colder air high in the atmosphere meets warmer air flowing in from the Mediterranean which intensifies the storm.

The United Nations says Israeli construction along a demilitarised buffer zone with Syria has led to “severe violations” of a 50-year-old ceasefire agreement, which risk increasing tensions along their shared frontier in the occupied Golan Heights.

Satellite photographs show new trenches and earth berms dug over the past few months along the length of what is known as the Area of Separation (AoS).

The BBC has filmed construction taking place alongside a military vehicle near the town of Majdal Shams, and fresh earthworks in rural land further south. The work in both locations is believed to lie within Israeli-controlled areas.

The UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) says most of the Israeli construction does not breach the AoS, but that some trenches – dug under protection from military vehicles including tanks – do cross into it, and that Israeli army vehicles and personnel have also entered the buffer zone.

Beneath the watchtower at UNDOF’s Camp Ziouani base, the Israeli fence snakes towards a line of volcanic mountains; a Syrian flag flutters in the trees beyond the post, marking the other side of the separation zone.

UNDOF observers monitor the 80km (50-mile) long strip of land 24 hours a day.

Chief of Mission Bernard Lee told the BBC that two major lines of trenches had been dug, along with three more limited ones, each some 6m (20 ft) wide.

He estimated that trenches crossed into the AoS in a handful locations, by a couple of metres in each case, but said he had not visited the sites himself.

UNDOF was not able to immediately share visual evidence of the reported incursions, and permission for the BBC to view or film the locations from a nearby observation post has so far not been granted.

Initial searches of satellite photographs have not produced images in enough detail to independently confirm the UN allegations.

The AoS was set up as part of Israel’s ceasefire agreement with Syria in 1974, following Israel’s earlier occupation of the Golan Heights.

Israeli forces are required to be west of the so-called Alpha Line, while Syrian forces must be east of the Bravo Line, which runs along the other side of the AoS.

Israel unilaterally annexed the Golan in 1981. The move was not recognised internationally, although the US did so unilaterally in 2019.

Israeli settlers there live alongside about 20,000 Syrians, most of them Druze, who stayed on in the Golan after it was captured.

Despite the presence of Iran-backed militia groups in Syria, this frontier has remained relatively calm, as Israeli ground forces have battled Iranian allies in Gaza and Lebanon over the past 13 months.

But UNDOF said in a statement that the Syrian authorities had “strongly protested” the ongoing Israeli work. And that the UN itself had “repeatedly” taken its concerns over the Israeli violations to Israel’s military authorities.

Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman Lt Col Nadav Shoshani told the BBC that the trenches were designed to protect against infiltration by Iran-backed groups in Syria – and did not break the ceasefire agreement.

“Israeli officials have been communicating with the UN about these issues,” he said. “And I can tell you that the IDF is operating on Israeli territory making sure that a terror invasion is not possible, making sure we are defending our borders.”

The threat of a surprise invasion by Israel’s neighbours has loomed larger here since the 7 October Hamas attacks.

“Will [the trenches] stop what happened on 7 October? Yes,” said Bernard Lee. “Could you get a pick-up truck over it? No.”

But the defences being built along this frontier don’t address the more immediate threat from drones and missiles regularly launched by Iranian militia groups in Syria and Iraq – and frequently shot down by Israeli forces.

Nor do they address Israel’s concerns about Syria being an “oxygen line” for Iran to smuggle weapons to its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah.

Mr Lee said commercial smugglers already used the AoS to smuggle cigarettes and electronics between Syria and Lebanon. And that a new patrol road, built by the UN, is assisting them.

“They come over the mountain, enter the area of separation with a trail of pack horses, eight at a time, with two armed guys,” he said. “They unload the pack horses and a pick-up truck meets them at our road: we’ve motorized the smuggling business.”

Asked whether the same route could be used to take weapons from Syria into Lebanon, he replied: “That is what the IDF are concerned about.”

Israel has also pointed to what it says are “daily” violations along the demilitarized frontier by Syria.

In May, Israel’s ambassador to the UN wrote to the secretary-general to complain about Syrian violations, including “armed presence in the area of separation” which “only heighten tensions in our already volatile region”.

Iran-backed militia in the area are a concern for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, too, after years of civil war.

It has appeared unwilling to be drawn in to the Israel-Hezbollah war, despite frequent Israeli strikes inside Syria targeting Hezbollah and Iranian positions and weapons shipments.

“The situation is frightening,” said Farhat, a Syrian hotel owner in the occupied Golan Heights. “Our eyes are looking more to the sky than to the plants. There’s fear here.”

Farhat’s eco-lodge, with its yurt accommodation surrounded by orchards, looks out onto rows of fresh trenches along the buffer zone.

“It gives us a sense of security,” he said. “We can sleep in peace, because there’s someone taking care of the border and not letting terrorists cross towards us.”

Israel is already fighting Iranian allies – Hamas and Hezbollah – on two of its borders. But more than a year into this regional conflict, friction is also being felt along its quietest frontier.

The US says Israel has not breached American laws on blocking aid supplies, after a 30-day deadline it gave Israel to boost humanitarian aid access in Gaza or risk having some military assistance cut off lapsed.

Officials said on Tuesday that Israel has taken a number of steps to address its demands to surge supplies into Gaza, but added that more progress must be made.

State Department spokesman Vedant Patel cited the opening of a new land crossing, and deliveries resuming in the north – although he did not say any had entered the besieged Jabalia refugee camp.

Despite the US claims, the UN has warned that the amount of aid getting into Gaza is at its lowest level in a year.

A UN-backed report recently warned that there was an imminent likelihood of famine in northern Gaza, where hardly any aid has entered in the past month.

Joyce Msuya, the United Nations acting under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, said international crimes were being committed in Gaza.

Ms Msuya briefed council members at the United Nations on Tuesday, reporting that Israeli authorities were blocking humanitarian assistance from entering North Gaza, where fighting continues.

She said 75,000 people remain there with dwindling supplies.

Last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave Israel 30 days to ensure more aid trucks reached Gaza daily. That deadline expired on Tuesday.

A letter sent to the Israeli government demanded the country end the isolation of the besieged north, where aid groups warn that civilians are being starved amid Israel’s military offensive.

A group of eight humanitarian aid agencies said conditions had actually deteriorated since the letter was sent.

But the US reaction on Tuesday indicates that Washington will continue to supply weapons to its ally, despite growing warnings from aid groups about civilians being killed and displaced by Israel’s assault on the north.

The Israeli military, however, said it has been routing a Hamas resurgence in the region.

Israel says it has substantially increased the amount of aid getting into Gaza, and accuses aid agencies of failing adequately to distribute it.

In Beit Hanoun, which was besieged for more than a month, Ms Msuya said food and water reached shelters Monday only for Israeli soldiers to forcibly displace people from those areas Tuesday.

Ilze Kehris, assistant secretary general for human rights at the UN, said the pattern and frequency of Israel’s attacks suggest systematic targeting of civilians.

Much of the death and destruction was caused by US weapons, given to Israel in order the help the fight Hamas.

Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas after the group’s attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which left about 1,200 people dead; 251 others were taken hostage.

Since then, more than 43,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The former headteacher of a French school has revealed the shocking sequence of events that led to the beheading of Samuel Paty by a Chechen refugee.

Audrey F told the court in Paris how she had tried to stop a row spiralling out of control that began with a 13-year-old student lying to her parents.

What began with Samuel Paty giving a lesson on freedom of expression in October 2020 escalated when the father of the girl, who had not even been in the class, turned up at the headteacher’s office with a local Islamist activist.

“I didn’t manage to protect him,” Audrey F said of her late colleague – a well-liked history and geography teacher in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine.

“It’s such an enormous waste.”

The row tragically ended with Paty’s murder outside the school by 18-year-old Abdoullakh Anzorov, who was shot dead by police at the scene.

• Trial begins over beheading of French teacher
• Beheading of teacher deepens divisions in France

The girl, known in court by the initial Z, had just been suspended by the school for two days for repeated absence and rudeness.

That was not what she had told her parents.

The girl claimed she had confronted Paty in a class she had not attended, falsely alleging that he had told Muslim students to leave the room while he showed “naked” images of the Prophet Muhammad.

Although the mother of another girl had phoned the school in tears, Audrey F said she had called her back, with Samuel Paty also on the call, and said the mother appeared reassured.

In reality, three cartoons published by a French satirical magazine had been discussed in class, and Paty had said anyone who felt they might be offended did not have to stay.

Any depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are considered highly offensive by Muslims. But there had been no attempt to target or exclude Muslims students.

The following morning, Audrey F was told that the excluded student’s father Brahim Chnina was outside the school with another man, Abdelhakim Sefrioui, who wrongly claimed to be acting on behalf of French imams.

The pair were demanding action against Paty, who they condemned as a “thug” and wanted removed.

Audrey F said that while she had tried to focus the conversation on the girl’s exclusion from school, Abdelhakim Sefrioui had taken the lead, refusing to allow freedom of expression to be used by a “thug”.

The murder of Samuel Paty, 47, shocked France and came five years after militant Islamist gunmen murdered 12 people at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo which published the original cartoons.

Abdelhakim Sefrioui and Brahim Chnina are accused of identifying Samuel Paty as a “blasphemer” in online videos and of involvement in a “criminal terrorist” group and complicity in “terrorist murder”.

They are among eight people on trial at the court in Paris who all deny the charges against them, while not denying their involvement in the case.

The other six include a pair accused of helping the teenage killer and others who are accused of egging him on on social media.

Audrey F, who has left France to teach at an international school in China, told the court that she had felt the next day that the situation had now become a problem and “something is not right at the school”.

Two videos appeared on social media, one from Brahim Chnina in which his daughter repeated her lies about the class, another later from Abdelhakim Sefrioui, naming both Samuel Paty and the school.

“By now I was very worried, not specifically for Mr Paty but for the school,” she told the court.

On the advice of a superior she went to the police with Samuel Paty, where he filed a complaint, and contacted the local authority.

The geography teacher was urged to stay at home until the school holidays which were only days away. He refused to do so and Audrey F did not insist.

Threatening emails were sent to the school and there were anonymous phone-calls too. A police car was parked outside the school for several days.

On the final day of half-term, at 16:45 on Friday 16 October, Samuel Paty was stabbed and decapitated by the 18-year-old Chechen refugee outside the school.

Brahim Chnina’s daughter has already been convicted of making false and slanderous accusations, while five other teenagers have been found guilty of taking part in a group preparing aggravated violence.

When asked in court what Abdelhakim Sefrioui and Brahim Chnina could have done to calm the situation, Audrey F said nothing would have happened if they had not posted videos online.

Regretting that she had been unable to protect her colleague, the former headteacher said: “I tell myself that if there is justice, perhaps I’ll manage to move on.”

A week after Donald Trump won a second-term in the White House, the contours of his new presidency have started taking shape.

The president-elect has announced nearly a dozen appointees, the first steps toward filling out his White House staff and key government departments. He also made comments to the media and on social media that highlight what his priorities will be upon taking office in January, with a special focus on immigration and foreign policy.

After a sometimes chaotic start to his first term, Trump is laying the groundwork for his next administration with a more clearly defined plan – and personnel ready to enact it.

Here’s a look at what we’ve learned so far.

• Follow live: Trump transition updates

Some of Trump’s newly revealed appointments suggest that the president-elect’s campaign promise to deport millions of undocumented migrants living in the US is no exaggeration.

Stephen Miller, who has been Trump’s close adviser and speechwriter since 2015, is Trump’s choice for White House deputy chief of staff for policy. He will likely shape any plans for mass deportations – and pare back both undocumented and legal immigration. During Trump’s first term, Miller was involved in developing some of the administration’s strictest immigration policies.

Thomas Homan, acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency in Trump’s first term, supported the president’s policy of separating undocumented families detained at the US-Mexico border. Now he’s back with an even broader portfolio, as Trump’s “immigration tsar”.

“I will run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen,” Homan said at a conservative conference in July.

Critics have warned that Trump’s mass deportation plan could cost upwards of $300bn. In an interview with NBC News last week, however, the president-elect said cost was not an issue.

“When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, and now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here,” he said. “There is no price tag.”

• How would Trump’s promise of mass deportations of migrants work?

Many conservatives believe that China poses the single greatest threat to continued US global dominance, both economically and militarily. While Trump has been more circumspect, limiting most of his China critiques to the realm of trade, he is filling his foreign policy team with vocal China critics.

The president-elect picked Florida Congressman Mike Waltz, a retired Army colonel, as his national security adviser – a key foreign policy post within the White House. Waltz has said the US is in a “cold war” with China and was one of the first members of Congress to call for a US boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

In October, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, Trump’s pick for US ambassador to the UN, accused China of “blatant and malicious election interference” amid reports that China-backed hackers attempted to gather information from the former president’s phones.

While Trump has yet to officially name his choice for secretary of state, Florida Senator Marco Rubio – another China hawk – appears to be the leading contender for the top diplomatic job. In 2020, Rubio was sanctioned by the Chinese government after he pushed measures to punish the nation for its crackdown on pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong.

US-China relations were often rocky during Trump’s first term, amidst trade disputes and the Covid pandemic. The Biden administration, which kept many of Trump’s China tariffs and imposed some new ones, only somewhat calmed the waters. Now it looks like the next Trump administration will pick up where the last one left off.

• Who has joined Trump’s team so far?
• Trump picks Musk to advise on how to ‘dismantle’ bureaucracy

While the list of Trump’s political appointees grows, there’s another group that stays small – and exceedingly influential.

Elon Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, has been a full-time presence at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago transition headquarters. According to media reports, he is advising the president-elect on cabinet nominees and even joined a conversation between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week.

On Tuesday night, Trump announced that he was assigning Musk to work with tech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in a “department of government efficiency” tasked with identifying new budget cuts.

Musk has regularly offered his political opinions on his social media platform X, including endorsing Florida Senator Rick Scott’s bid to be the next Senate majority leader.

Musk’s political action committee spent around $200m to help Trump’s presidential campaign, and he promises to continue to fund the group’s efforts to advance the president-elect’s agenda and help Republican candidates in upcoming congressional elections.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen where Robert F Kennedy Jr, another key figure, lands. Trump has said that he plans to give the former Democrat and vaccine sceptic, who abandoned his independent bid and endorsed the Republican, a role in making America “healthy” again.

“He wants to do some things, and we’re going to let him go to it,” Trump said in his election victory speech.

As Trump takes office, Republicans have control of the Senate and could still take the House, albeit by a slim margin. However, the president-elect’s early actions suggest he is more concerned with exercising his presidential power than working with the legislative branch.

Last week, he posted on social media that the Senate’s Republican leadership should smooth the way for more presidential “recess appointments” – allowing him to fill top administration jobs without Senate approval when Congress is not in session. The move would strengthen presidential power by undercutting the chamber’s constitutional role to “advise and consent” on political appointees.

Meanwhile, the president-elect keeps chipping away at those narrow congressional majorities. Senators who move to administration roles can quickly be replaced by appointment from the governor of their home state. But any House vacancies – such as ones created by Stefanik and Waltz’s departures – require special elections that can take months to schedule.

Some of Trump’s advisers, including Musk, have warned that the president-elect could be endangering his legislative agenda if he plucks too many more Republicans from the chambers.

Even in the best of circumstances, congressional legislation takes time, effort and compromise. Executive action, such as new immigration enforcement, can be done with the stroke of a presidential pen.

Trump’s actions indicate he is, at least at the moment, more focused on the latter.

Trump has only just begun filling out the thousands of jobs that open up with a new presidential administration, not including the senior-level career bureaucrats he has said he will replace.

In 2016, as a political newcomer, he had to rely on more establishment Republicans for key roles. This time, he has a wealth of prospective candidates with proven track records of supporting him and after eight years, Trump loyalists are the Republican establishment.

On Tuesday, Trump named South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary, and Fox News host and conservative author Pete Hegseth as defence secretary.

The latter has been particularly controversial, given his lack of experience navigating the sprawling US military bureaucracy and penchant for inflammatory remarks. For Trump, however, status as an outsider and a willingness to lean into hot-button cultural issues are a strength, not a flaw.

And above all else, Hegseth and Noem have been fierce Trump defenders from the start.

Some of Trump’s other picks, like Rubio and Stefanik, were critics of Trump early in his first presidential bid, but they have now spent years demonstrating that their harsh words are a thing of the past.

Rubio, who ran for president against Trump in 2016, may still have White House ambitions, however. Trump often soured on appointees who seemed drawn to the limelight during his first term, and even the warmest of relationships could go bad.

Trump may be placing a premium on loyalty with his early staff announcements, but the pressures of governing ultimately will reveal whether his second four years in office end up different from his first.

• Seven things Trump says he will do in power
• When does he become president again?
• What happens to his legal cases now
• How he pulled off an incredible comeback

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of US politics in his twice weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

Donald Trump and his Republican Party have an ambitious agenda and (near) control of US Congress.

Trump has said he will “make heads spin” as he moves full-speed ahead after his inauguration on 20 January.

His team has said to expect a flurry of executive orders – directives from the US president – out of the Oval Office in the first week.

Policy experts and lawyers are already drafting those orders as part of the administration’s transition.

Still, advocacy groups and Democratic state governors have vowed to challenge at least some of those plans.

Here is what the president-elect has said about his second-term priorities.

• Follow live: Trump transition updates

Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Sunday “we know he promised to sign an executive order to secure the southern border”.

“We know that on day one he is going to launch the largest mass deportation of illegal immigrants in American history,” she said.

In the week since his re-election, Trump has prioritised filling leadership positions that would oversee immigration, suggesting he is preparing to tackle his plans for border policy early.

He tapped veteran immigration official Tom Homan as his “border tsar”; selected South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to oversee homeland security; and appointed Steven Miller as White House deputy chief of staff for policy. Mr Miller is best known for shaping some Trump’s most restrictive policies on illegal immigration during his first term.

Any mass deportation programme could face logistical difficulties as well as a flurry of legal challenges from immigration and human rights activists.

Trump could also re-implement his “Remain in Mexico” policy that required asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while claims are processed.

President Joe Biden had called the programme “inhumane” and tried to end it on his first day in office, but faced legal challenges. In 2022, the Supreme Court allowed him to move ahead.

During the Trump administration, about 70,000 asylum seekers were returned to Mexico to wait for their hearings.

Another day one promise was to end birthright citizenship – the 150-year-old principle that says anyone born on US soil is an American citizen.

It’s not clear how Trump plans to achieve this policy. He has pledged an executive order but birthright citizenship is explicitly guaranteed by the US Constitution, meaning it can only be altered under specific circumstances.

He would need states to agree to a national convention or a two-thirds vote in favour in the narrowly split Congress to propose a change, then subsequent approval by three-fourths of state legislatures – of which Republicans control just over half.

Trump did not mention pardons in his victory speech, but he has long suggested that pardoning those convicted of storming the Capitol in 2021 would be a priority.

“Oh, absolutely, I would. If they’re innocent, I would pardon them,” Trump said during a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists.

US presidents have wide authority to forgive people convicted of federal crimes or end their prison sentences. Prosecutors may also decide to drop pending cases depending on who Trump might choose to pardon.

What’s less clear is who might get a pardon.

At one point, Trump told CNN: “I am inclined to pardon many of them. I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control.”

Ms Leavitt told the Washington Post that he will decide “on a case-by-case basis when he is back in the White House”.

More than 1,500 people were arrested in connection with the Capitol riot. According to federal numbers, more than 750 of them were sentenced for crimes ranging from trespassing to assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy.

Trump has also faced his own legal challenges over his actions following the 2020 election and a separate classified documents case.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, a veteran prosecutor appointed to oversee the US Department of Justice’s investigations into Trump, filed charges, to which the president-elect has pleaded not guilty.

Trump has said firing Jack Smith will be one of his top priorities.

“I would fire him within two seconds. He’ll be one of the first things addressed,” he said in an interview in October.

The case was already facing an uncertain future. The Supreme Court ruled in July that presidents have partial immunity from criminal prosecution for their conduct in office, undermining Mr Smith’s case.

Trump’s electoral win also gives him the power to pardon himself of any federal crimes, though no president has done so before.

The Department of Justice is reportedly in talks with Mr Smith over winding down the cases. It is unclear whether Trump might go further and punish Mr Smith.

Trump has regularly railed against the special counsel in interviews and online, calling him a “crooked person”, a “scoundrel” and other insults.

In his 2016 campaign, Trump made withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement a priority. Within six months of taking office, the United States moved to exit landmark deal.

President Joe Biden made rejoining the agreement one of his top priorities when he ran against Trump in 2020. Biden signed a letter requesting the US be readmitted on his first day in office.

How will Trump respond in his second term? Media reports suggest that his team is preparing orders to withdraw once again when he takes office in January.

Leaving the agreement would mean the US is no longer beholden to meeting set carbon emissions reductions.

Among other priorities at odds with the Paris standards, Trump has said he wants to prioritise US production of oil and gas. He promised to quickly expedite permitting and fracking – “We’re drilling, drilling, drilling,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity last year.

Trump has also criticised the Biden administration’s plans to expand wind energy and increase electric car production, which could be early targets in his new administration.

On the campaign trail, Trump said he could end the Russia-Ukraine war “in a day”. He has also repeatedly criticised the US government’s continued support of Ukraine, casting the war as a drain on resources.

He has not yet given specifics on how he would negotiate the war’s end beyond saying he would help the two countries strike a deal.

Since his re-election, Trump has spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a call that lasted “about half an hour”, with billionaire Elon Musk also taking part. A source told the BBC that “it was not really a conversation to talk about very substantial things”.

The Kremlin denied that Trump held a call with Vladimir Putin, though media reports said Trump warned the Russian president against escalating the war in Ukraine.

The economy is an issue that Trump heavily campaigned on, vowing to end inflation as soon as he takes office.

“We will target everything from car affordability to housing affordability to insurance costs to supply chain issues,” Trump has said.

“I will instruct my cabinet that I expect results within the first 100 days, or much sooner than that.”

He said he would sign an executive order that directs every cabinet secretary and agency head to “use every tool and authority at their disposal” to defeat inflation and to bring consumer prices down.

Trump’s plan includes imposing tariffs on imported goods, especially those coming in from China, arguing that these taxes would keep manufacturing jobs in the US.

It’s still unclear how widespread these tariffs will be, but Trump has raised the prospect of at least a 10% across-the-board tariff on imported goods, as well as a 60% import tax on goods from China.

He also vowed to target Mexico with his tariffs.

“I’m going to inform (the Mexican president) on Day 1 or sooner that if they don’t stop this onslaught of criminals and drugs coming into our country, I’m going to immediately impose a 25% tariff on everything they send into the US,” he has said.

These tariffs would probably not need congressional approval.

Trump already introduced tariffs in his first term, citing Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which empowers a president to impose duties on goods that could affect US national security.

Another promise is to “end the Biden-Harris war on American energy”, Trump has said, vowing to ramp up oil drilling and fracking as a way to lower the cost of energy bills for consumers.

Trump can do this with an executive order that rolls back environmental protections, which would allow him to halt clean energy projects and scrap climate targets set by the Biden administration.

The president-elect has also vowed to fire Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, on day one. Gensler, who was appointed by Biden, pushed for climate disclosure rules and strong enforcement of the cryptocurrency market.

Trump has championed cryptocurrency, and his election saw the value of Bitcoin go up by 30% in the past week due to an expectation that his administration will be more crypto-friendly.

Donald Trump has vowed to undo the changes made by President Biden to Title X, the country’s only national, federally funded family planning programme.

In 2019, during his first term, Trump’s administration implemented a new rule that prohibited any health provider in the Title X network from mentioning abortion to patients, even if a patient raised questions about it themselves.

The change effectively stripped tens of millions of dollars from organisations such as Planned Parenthood that offer or refer patients for abortions.

But just months later, when Biden took office, he had that policy reversed.

Now, it’s expected that Trump will change the rules again.

It is difficult to try to predict the decisions that US President-elect Donald Trump will make when he returns to the White House.

But one thing seems unlikely to change: his dislike of patient, principled diplomacy as a means to peace and his preference for transactional politics and populist gestures.

This brings openings and perils in some areas in Africa.

Eight years ago, the Obama administration was working with the African Union (AU) to change United Nations (UN) rules for funding peacekeepers to put African missions on a firm financial basis.

The AU Commission worked with the UN and other multilateral organisations to construct an “African peace and security architecture” that ranged from proactive diplomacy to avert looming conflicts through to coordinated mediation efforts and peacekeeping operations, all underpinned by norms and principles enshrined in the UN Charter and the AU Constitutive Act.

How long ago that seems.

Plans for more robust peacekeeping evaporated in the transition to the first Trump administration.

Since then, no new UN or AU peacekeeping missions have been authorised. Several – including in Darfur, Sudan and Mali – have been closed, and others scaled down.

The Biden administration did not reverse the trend.

The idea of “liberal peace” – that peace, democracy, justice and open markets all go together – had long been a powerful strand in US global strategy.

The AU embraced its multilateralism but recoiled from being lectured on human rights and democracy and were divided on Western military interventions such as in Libya.

Some African leaders preferred Trump’s candour and focus on results.

The “Trump Doctrine” for the Middle East and Africa swept aside multilateralism in favour of transactional deals with American allies in Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and, above all, Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed set the strategy of the Abraham Accords, and Trump basked in the glory when Arab countries signed up.

Trump’s other consistent positions were hostility towards China’s influence on the continent and aversion to deploying American soldiers.

At the request of Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi – described by Trump as “my favourite dictator” – then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin took charge of mediating Egypt’s dispute with Ethiopia over the Nile waters.

The immediate issue was how much water would be retained by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam as it approached completion.

As the talks faltered, Washington put its thumb on the scales, suspending aid to Ethiopia, while Trump suggested that Egypt might “blow up” the dam.

America recognised Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara in exchange for Rabat signing the Abraham Accords and thereby recognising Israel.

In the era of “liberal peace”, an agreement to end a civil war was the drafting of a democratic constitution, along with measures for disarming and demobilising rival armies, transitional justice and reconciliation, and aid-funded programmes to deliver a peace dividend for the afflicted populace.

The first Trump administration preferred direct deal-making, whereby autocrats cut a private bargain over the counter. Scholars call this the “illiberal peace”.

• Trade, aid, security: What does Trump’s win mean for Africa?

When then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Sudan after the popular revolution that led to the ousting of military-Islamist ruler Omar al-Bashir, his main agenda was a simple trade: America would lift sanctions when Sudan agreed to sign the Abraham Accords.

In October 2020, the White House announced that President Trump had “brokered a historic peace agreement” between Israel and Sudan.

On the heels of deals with Bahrain and the UAE, and weeks before Americans voted in the presidential election, this was Trump’s “October surprise”.

It came too late to save Sudan from the economic crisis that crushed its democratic experiment and fell away after Trump lost to Joe Biden.

But it’s fair to assume that the second Trump administration will continue this way.

The exact alignments and deals are impossible to predict, and much will depend on the individuals appointed to key positions. But the “liberal peace” is now dead and buried.

Sudan is currently Africa’s largest war and its biggest famine for decades. There is no sign that Trump is concerned.

The biggest obstacle to peace is that the UAE supports one side with weapons and cash while Egypt and Saudi Arabia back the other. There is no prospect for peace while this continues.

For those Arab powerbrokers, Sudan is just one element in their geostrategic calculations, ranked below Israel-Palestine, Iran and relations with Washington.

But if there is a reshuffle of the Middle Eastern political cards, a bargain over Sudan might be a by-product, even an opportunity for Trump to bask in the glow of an unexpected peacemaker.

It will not bring an end to violence, let alone usher in democracy, but it would open the space for serious negotiations.

A similar calculation holds for Ethiopia and its fractious relations with an Egypt-led coalition that includes Eritrea and Somalia.

Along with an array of African leaders, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is heavily reliant on Emirati largesse. Tensions in the Horn of Africa would be reduced if Egypt and the UAE align their strategies.

The Biden administration’s policy towards the Horn of Africa was neither committed to principled multilateralism, nor ready to use its leverage with the Gulf states.

Its envoys could only grasp for minor wins such as pauses in the fighting or opening checkpoints for aid convoys.

The tangled wars in Sudan, Ethiopia and their neighbours cry out for bold action – and if he were so minded, Trump might cut the Gordian Knot.

But the risks of a conflagration are high.

The Trump White House will not be likely to restrain bellicose tendencies by Middle Eastern powerbrokers or African leaders, and – especially during the US policy vacuum of the next few months – any one of those leaders could launch a war, confident that America will not respond.

In his first term, Trump showed no interest in the US military footprint in Africa.

Apparently on a whim, he ordered the withdrawal of American troops from Somalia, where they were involved in the war against the jihadist group al-Shabab – a decision reversed by the Biden administration.

It’s unlikely that Trump will pay attention to the Pentagon’s operations against jihadists there or in the West African Sahel, unless there is a high-profile incident with American casualties.

And America’s Middle Eastern allies will be keen for the US to retain its military base in Djibouti.

Reports of collusion between Yemen’s Houthis and al-Shabab, heightening risks of attacks in East Africa or on shipping in the Indian Ocean, may rekindle US interest in military operations.

Alternatively, missions could be outsourced to allies such as the UAE or private military contractors.

Kenyan President William Ruto’s rapport with Biden will do him no favours, but Kenya’s new status as a “major non-Nato ally” – and contributor of police to Haiti – will likely retain good standing within the Department of Defense.

West Africa is today the locus of the world’s most active jihadist movements as well as a tide of putschists who cut deals with Russia’s security outfit, the Wagner Group, now merged into its Africa Corps.

If Trump sees West Africa through the prism of relations with Moscow, and his planned deal with President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine, it will introduce a wild card into the region’s politics.

But tensions will arise because his ally, Morocco, has its own ambitions for strategic leadership across West Africa.

It’s a major non-Nato ally and has been leery of Russian influence in Algeria, Libya and the Sahel – adding up to a mix that would be stirred if Trump cuts deals with Putin.

Transactional politics imply cutting deals with coup leaders and warlords whose crimes are their credentials.

AU principles such as outlawing unconstitutional changes in government will be disregarded.

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu may have preferred Biden, but he is familiar with Trump’s style of politics and will seek a formula for keeping America onside in its war against jihadist group Boko Haram.

In February, just weeks after the presidential inauguration in Washington, Africa’s leaders will meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to elect a new chairperson of the AU Commission.

The outgoing chairperson, Chad’s former Prime Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat, was content to be a trader in the political bazaar of the Trump-Biden years.

His successor will face the challenge that Africa’s best formula for peace and security lies in norm-based multilateral cooperation, but 2025 will be an inauspicious year for reviving that project.

• EXPLAINER: When does Trump become president again?

• POLICIES: Seven things Trump wants to do

• GLOBAL: What Trump’s win means for Ukraine, Middle East and China

• ANALYSIS: Will Trump’s victory spark a global trade war?

• IN FULL: All our election coverage in one place

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his twice-weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

Donald Trump has made the first hires of his incoming administration, naming a defence secretary, a border tsar, a national security advisor, a US ambassador to the United Nations and an environmental protection agency head.

The president-elect may also be on the verge of appointing his top diplomat, the secretary of state, ahead of his return to the White House on 20 January 2025.

He has named Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and military veteran, as his pick for defence secretary. Billionaire supporter Elon Musk will play a role in cost-cutting.

A president is responsible for about 4,000 political appointments – a process that can take months.

Here is a closer look at those posts already filled, and the names in the mix for the top jobs.

• Follow live: Trump transition updates

The US secretary of state is the president’s main adviser on foreign affairs, and acts as America’s top diplomat when representing the country overseas.

Media reports suggest that Florida Senator Marco Rubio – who was most recently under consideration to be Trump’s vice-president – is the frontrunner.

Rubio, 53, takes a hawkish view of China. He opposed Trump in the 2016 Republican primary but has since mended fences. He is a senior member of the Senate foreign relations committee and vice-chairman of the chamber’s select intelligence panel.

A dark horse for the nomination, however, is Richard Grenell, a loyalist who served as ambassador to Germany, special envoy to the Balkans and acting national intelligence chief. Grenell, 58, was heavily involved in Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and even sat in on his private meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in September.

Florida congressman Michael Waltz has been selected by President-elect Donald Trump as the next national security adviser.

In a statement on Tuesday announcing Waltz’s appointment, Trump said the congressman is a “nationally recognized leader in national security,” noting that he is the first Green Beret – or member of the US Army Special Forces – to be elected to Congress and had previously served in the US Army for 27 years.

Trump hailed Waltz as “an expert on threats posed by China, Russia, Iran and global terrorism” and “a strong champion of my America First Foreign Policy agenda”.

The national security adviser counsels the president on various threats to the US and Waltz would likely have to help navigate the US position on the wars in Israel, and in Ukraine and Russia.

It is considered an influential role and does not require Senate confirmation.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been nominated for the key role of overseeing US security, including its borders, cyber-threats, terrorism and emergency response.

The agency has a $62bn (£48bn) budget and employs thousands of people. It incorporates a wide variety of agencies under its umbrella, ranging from Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Coast Guard and Secret Service.

In her new position, Noem will work closely with Tom Homan, named border tsar, and Stephen Miller, who is in charge of policy, to deliver on Trump’s immigration pledges.

Noem was passed over to be Trump’s running mate after she told how she killed her pet dog.

Prior to being first elected as South Dakota’s governor in 2018, the 52-year-old Noem served as a US Representative in Congress for eight years and in the state’s House of Representatives for four.

This is a critical job because it includes responsibility for Trump’s mass deportations of millions of undocumented migrants, which was a central campaign pledge.

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social, calling Homan a “stalwart” on border control.

The former police officer was acting director of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in Trump’s first term and he has advocated a zero-tolerance stance on the issue.

“Trump comes back in January, I’ll be on his heels coming back,” he said in July. “And I will run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen.”

• How would mass deportations work?

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has been tapped to lead what Trump has termed a Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) alongside one-time presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy.

The department – known as “Doge” in a nod to a cryptocurrency promoted by Musk – will serve in an advisory capacity to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies, Trump said in a statement.

According to Trump, the department will provide “guidance” and work closely with the White House and Office of Management and Budget.

While department heads have to be confirmed by the Senate, it is unclear what approval process will be necessary for these roles.

• Who is Elon Musk?
• Why is Musk becoming Donald Trump’s efficiency tsar?
• What Musk could gain from Trump’s presidency

New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik has been tapped to serve as the US ambassador to the United Nations.

Stefanik has made national headlines with her sharp questioning in congressional committees, first at Trump’s 2019 impeachment hearings and again this year quizzing college leaders about anti-semitism on campus.

“Elise is an incredibly strong, tough and smart America First fighter,” Trump said in a statement to the New York Post.

Certain political appointments in the US – including the UN ambassador job – require the approval of the US Senate. But Trump has demanded that the next Senate leader let him make appointments without traditional confirmation votes.

Lee Zeldin, a former New York congressman, has agreed to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, both he and Trump said. The Senate will still need to confirm his appointment.

He will be in charge of tackling America’s climate policy in this role.

“We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI,” Zeldin said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter. “We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.”

Zeldin has long been a Trump ally – and is one of 126 Republican members of Congress who signed onto a brief to the Supreme Court that contested the 2020 election results.

While serving in congress from 2015 to 2023, Zeldin voted against expanding a number of environmental policies. He has already said he plans to “roll back regulations” from day one.

He has not earned high marks from environmental groups for his voting record on environmental issues.

Susie Wiles and campaign co-chair Chris LaCivita were the masterminds behind Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris.

In his victory speech, Trump called her “the ice maiden” – a reference to her composure – and said she liked to stay in the background. Wiles was the first appointment in Trump’s top team.

The chief of staff is often a president’s top aide, overseeing daily operations in the West Wing and managing the boss’s staff.

Wiles, 67, has worked in Republican politics for decades, from Ronald Reagan’s successful 1980 presidential campaign to electing Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis as governors of Florida.

Republicans have said she commands respect and has an ability to corral the big egos of those in Trump’s orbit, which could enable her to impose a sense of order that none of his four previous chiefs of staff could.

• Who is Susie Wiles, new chief of staff?
• Seven things Trump says he will do in power

Trump has chosen his former director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, to serve as Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director.

Trump said in his statement that the ex-Texas congressman “has always been a warrior for Truth and Honesty with the American public”.

There are other yet-to-be-appointed key positions running intelligence agencies, including the FBI and director of national intelligence.

Trump has said he would fire FBI Director Chris Wray, who he nominated in 2017, but has since fallen out with. Jeffrey Jensen, a former Trump-appointed US attorney, has been under consideration to replace Wray.

Pete Hegseth has been nominated to be the next defence secretary.

The army veteran is also a Fox News host and former head of two advocacy groups for military veterans. He previously ran unsuccessfully for a Senate seat in Minnesota, and has not held political office before.

“Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” Trump wrote in a statement. “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – our military will be great again, and America will never back down.”

His appointment is one of the most highly anticipated in Trump’s cabinet as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza rage on.

“Nobody fights harder for the troops,” Trump said.

• Trump names Hegseth as defence secretary pick

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee will be US ambassador to Israel, as Trump pledges to end the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“Mike has been a great public servant, governor, and leader in faith for many years,” the president-elect said in a statement. “He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him. Mike will work tirelessly to bring about peace in the Middle East!”

Huckabee’s daughter, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, served as Trump’s press secretary during his first term in the White House.

Huckabee is a staunchly pro-Israel official who has previously rejected the idea of a two-state solution to solve the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

“I feel that we have a responsibility to respect that this is land that has historically belonged to the Jews,” he said of the West Bank in 2015, when he was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

Trump has picked real estate investor and philanthropist Steve Witkoff for the role of special envoy to the Middle East.

Witkoff is a close friend of Trump’s who was with the former president when a man allegedly tried to assassinate him at his Palm Beach golf club in September.

Trump has descibed him as a “highly respected leader in business and philanthropy, who has made every project and community he has been involved with stronger and more prosperous”. He added: “Steve will be an unrelenting Voice for PEACE, and make us all proud.”

Republican lawyer William McGinley will take on the role of White House counsel, Trump has said.

“Bill is a smart and tenacious lawyer who will help me advance our America First agenda while fighting for election integrity and against the weaponization of law enforcement,” he said in a statement.

McGinley served as White House cabinet secretary during part of Trump’s first term and was the Republican National Committee’s counsel for election integrity in 2024.

No personnel decision may be more critical to the trajectory of Trump’s second term than his appointee to lead the Department of Justice.

After uneven relationships with both Jeff Sessions and William Barr, the attorneys general during his first term, Trump is widely expected to pick a loyalist who will wield its prosecutorial power in the manner of an “attack dog”.

Among the names being floated for the cabinet post are:

• Aileen Cannon, the Trump-nominated federal judge who threw out his classified documents case
• ex- justice department lawyer Jeffrey Clark, who is alleged to have aided Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results
• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has been both indicted and impeached like Trump
• Matthew Whitaker, the man who took over for three months as acting attorney general after Sessions stepped down at Trump’s request
• Mike Davis, a right-wing activist who once clerked for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and has issued bombastic threats against Trump critics and journalists
• Mark Paoletta, who served in Trump’s budget office and argues there is no legal requirement for a president to stay out of justice department decisions

Trump is reportedly considering Robert Lighthizer, a free trade sceptic who led the tariff war with China as the US trade representative, as his chief financial officer.

But at least four others may be under consideration for the role, including Scott Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund manager who has become a major fundraiser and economic adviser to the president-elect; John Paulson, another megadonor from the hedge fund world; former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Jay Clayton; and Fox Business Network financial commentator Larry Kudlow, who ran Trump’s national economic council during his first term.

The woman co-chairing Trump’s transition team, Linda McMahon, is tipped as a key contender to represent US businesses and job creation in his cabinet – after previously serving as small business administrator during his first term.

Others who could fill this vacancy include Brooke Rollins; Robert Lighthizer; and Kelly Loeffler, a wealthy businesswoman who briefly served in the US Senate.

Doug Burgum is also a contender to lead the energy department, where he would implement Trump’s pledges to “drill, baby, drill” and overhaul US energy policy.

A software entrepreneur who sold his small company to Microsoft in 2001, Burgum briefly ran in the 2024 Republican primary before dropping out, endorsing Trump and quickly impressing him with his low-drama persona and sizeable wealth.

Former energy secretary Dan Brouillette is also reportedly in the running.

• Trump victory is a major setback for climate action, experts say

Karoline Leavitt, 27, who impressed Trump as his campaign’s national press secretary, has already served as an assistant White House press secretary and may be a shoo-in to be the administration’s spokesperson.

RFK Jr, as he is known, is an environmental lawyer by trade, a vaccine sceptic by fame and the nephew of former President John F Kennedy.

He is on a shortlist to run the health and human services department, multiple people close to the president-elect’s campaign told CBS.

Despite having no medical qualifications to his name, Kennedy, 70, is expected to become a kind of “public health tsar” in the Trump administration.

There has been speculation about his inability to pass a background check for security clearance due to past controversies, including dumping a bear carcass in New York’s Central Park.

The gates outside the Zhuhai sports complex in China were closed. Inside, the stadium was in darkness, as were the grounds around it.

It was here, hours before, where dozens of people were killed when a man drove an SUV into a crowd. Many more were injured.

Only security guards appeared to be moving around behind the fence when the BBC arrived, and they had been ordered to keep an eye out for reporters.

One approached us asking: “Are you journalists?” When I asked why he wanted to know, he replied: “Oh just to understand the situation.”

He and a colleague took photos of us and started making calls, watching us as they did.

Outside the gates people passed by to catch sight of the aftermath. But among them was a group of around a dozen people more interested in us.

A women started calling to the others: “Look, foreigners, foreigners.”

Soon a man who was with her was aggressively interrupting our reporting, grabbing me and shouting.

Often, when sensitive stories like this unfold in China, local Communist Party officials organise groups of cadres to pretend to be outraged locals who have been given the role of targeting foreign reporters and preventing any coverage.

Invariably it doesn’t stop the stories, it just makes China look bad.

After former Premier Li Keqiang died last year, crowds of these loyalists were sent to the street outside his old family home. Any journalist that arrived was surrounded and shouted at, pushed and abused.

Premier Li’s death was sensitive to the party not only because it was sudden and unexpected – but also because he was the last of the old liberal wing. It signalled that the party was now completely stacked with loyalists of President Xi Jinping.

But even for much more minor incidents the same things happen.

Last month, we travelled to a shopping mall in Shanghai where a man had randomly stabbed strangers to death.

The entire location had been cleansed of any evidence within hours of this horrible event taking place. By the morning after, the mall was up and running again as normal: no police crime scene tape, no flowers for the dead.

On one level, you can understand this – many of these inexplicable assaults on the community are copycat in nature. Tuesday’s attack is not an outlier, though it is shocking for its death toll.

But officials here sometimes want these bad things to simply go away as quickly as possible.

Hours after our confrontation outside the site of the Zhuhai attack, carloads of police had arrived to better manage the situation.

A crowd of residents had also gathered to light candles to remember the dead, and videos shared on social media showed lines of volunteers at hospitals offering to donate blood.

President Xi has called on officials to manage society’s problems in order to prevent this type of thing happening again in the future.

But, again, China is left wondering what has driven someone to such inconceivable horror. It is impossibly difficult to find the answers to this one.

Before the east and west coast rap beef of the 1990s boiled over with the murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious BIG, legendary producer Quincy Jones called a secret meeting at which he appealed for an end to the violence.

As hip-hop rose from the streets to the mainstream in the 90s, the rappers and hustlers that broke through had few role models who had trodden that path before them.

There was one man, though, who had been there, and done pretty much everything.

Quincy Jones had been in gangs and had been stabbed at the age of seven in 1930s Chicago, before becoming a major force in American music thanks to his work with legends like Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson.

He was at the heart of revolutions in jazz, swing, soul, funk, disco and pop – but one aspect of his career that got less attention when he died last week at the age of 91 was his place in hip-hop.

Jones was revered in all corners of music, including rap. Unlike most in the old guard and the media, he immediately realised the scene’s artistic and cultural importance.

Hip-hop reminded him of the bebop jazz of his youth. “I feel a kinship there because we went through a lot of the same stuff,” he said.

“Quincy understood it and got it right away,” says pioneering artist, rapper and presenter Fab 5 Freddy.

Jones worked with leading rappers in the 80s, and in the 90s he recognised risks including a volatile rivalry that had begun to erupt between competing labels and stars.

So he brought artists, executives and elder black American statesmen together for a secret summit in 1995, hoping it would be a turning point.

The east coast was hip-hop’s spiritual home. In 1992, Sean Combs – then known as Puffy and later as P Diddy – launched his Bad Boy record label in New York with artists including Notorious BIG, aka Biggie Smalls.

Meanwhile, across America, Los Angeles was coming into its own as the capital of gangsta rap, led by menacing mogul Suge Knight’s Death Row Records, which had Dr Dre and Tupac.

In 1994, Tupac was shot and injured during a robbery in the lobby of a studio. He later implied that his former friend Biggie may have known about the attack in advance. Biggie then released the track Who Shot Ya?, which Tupac thought was about him.

The beef continued at the Source magazine awards on 3 August 1995, when Knight goaded Combs and Bad Boy Records from the stage.

Jones, who had his own magazine, Vibe, held his summit three weeks later.

The brewing east-west beef wasn’t the only reason Jones called it – it was mainly intended to discuss the state of hip-hop and let the new generation hear life and business advice from a group of highly successful black executives.

But rap’s negative image and the burgeoning tensions were a big talking point.

“He knew this was a bubbling issue, and so his idea was to bring together a symposium,” says Fab 5 Freddy, who was hosting Yo! MTV Raps at the time and was the event’s moderator.

Jones told the summit: “The thing that really provoked me to say it’s time to pay attention now is Tupac.”

Tupac was missing, however – he was in jail for sexual assault at the time. Suge and Dre were there, as were Combs and Biggie.

Jones had already experienced his own beef with Tupac – the rapper criticised the producer in a 1993 edition of Source for marrying white women.

“We finally hooked up, even though it was tension conditions in the beginning,” Jones said at the event.

“We finally talked to each other, and he said nobody had talked to him like that before.

“And I said, I can’t take it any more. Because we can no longer afford to be non-political, and I’m talking to the hip-hop nation now.”

About 50 influential artists and executives were in the room, including Public Enemy’s Chuck D, members of A Tribe Called Quest, MC Lyte, Kris Kross, Jermaine Dupri and Boyz n the Hood film-maker John Singleton.

Jones wrote in his now-out-of-print 2001 autobiography: “I had been concerned about the potentially volatile diversity of a group who’d never been in the same room together.”

They were joined by veteran executives Clarence Avant and Ahmet Ertegun, plus Colin Powell, the former national security adviser and head of the US military who would go on to become the first African-American secretary of state.

Powell had presidential ambitions – that was why the summit was held in secret. Jones wanted to save Powell from being associated with the negative publicity that surrounded rap music.

He switched venues at the last minute to throw press off the scent, and confiscated the recordings.

“Rest assured that my discretion is based on a deep respect for you and a valued friendship,” Jones wrote to Powell in an unpublished letter held at Indianapolis University Library.

“I know that we are going to make a difference at this conference. Thanks for the way you handled the situation. Maybe we can turn the battleship an inch or two.”

Jones later wrote in his book: “Some of the younger rappers didn’t even know who he was. When addressing some of the more confrontational comments from the floor, Powell maintained his South Bronx demeanour and authoritative cool throughout.”

Fab 5 Freddy remembers one exchange between Powell and Knight. “There was an encounter where he [Knight] had something to say, and Colin Powell responded.

“Here you have this guy who was a four-star general talking to Suge Knight, and he pretty much put Suge in his place.”

Jones finally released a clip of the event for a 2018 Netflix documentary about his life.

“We’ve got to seriously talk about what you are going to deal with,” he is seen telling the assembled attendees.

“They are not playing, there’s real bullets out there, believe me. Maybe literally and figuratively.

“It’s a very emotional thing,” he added, his voice cracking. “I want to see you guys live to at least my age.”

“Quincy did get emotional,” Fab 5 Freddy recalls, “because he sensed what could happen.

“And the worst, unfortunately, did happen.”

Jones had ended up reconciling with Tupac. After Tupac’s 1993 comments, Jones’s 17-year-old daughter Rashida – who would go on to star in US sitcom The Office – wrote an irate letter to Source attacking the rapper.

When Tupac bumped into one of Jones’s other daughters, Kidada, he apologised, thinking she was Rashida. But Tupac and Kidada hit it off and began a relationship.

“Though we got off to a rocky start, as I came to know and feel him I saw his enormous potential and sensitivity as an artist and as a human being,” Quincy Jones wrote.

There have also been claims that Tupac was planning to leave Death Row for Jones’s record label.

But in September 1996, a year after the summit, Tupac was shot and killed.

A former gang leader, Duane “Keffe D” Davis, was charged with his murder last year. He has pleaded not guilty.

Then in 1997, Notorious BIG was shot dead outside a party thrown by Jones’s record label and magazine. No-one has ever been charged.

Meanwhile, today Knight is in prison for a hit-and-run, while Combs is awaiting trial on charges of racketeering and sex trafficking, which he denies.

The violence in the 90s “wasn’t necessary” and was caused by “wannabes and gang-related troublemakers” on the edges of the music industry, according to Fab 5 Freddy.

“Also, the east/west coast beef was mainly ignited by jealousy. It was an ashtray fire fanned into a big deal by media outlets that led to Biggie and Tupac getting killed.”

Despite his stature, not even Jones could alter the forces of power and pride that were at work and prevent the bloodshed.

Freddy believes some lessons were learned at the summit, however, and that it deserves a place in hip-hop history.

“It was incredible and electric to be in that room.

“It was a thrilling moment. And then it became even more legendary because it was never released, so the only people that really knew about it were the people that were there.”

Justin Welby has resigned as Archbishop of Canterbury after facing increasing pressure to stand down over his failure to report prolific child abuser John Smyth.

Here are the events that led up to Mr Welby’s resignation after 11 years in the post.

A damning independent review published last week found Mr Welby – the most senior bishop within the Church of England – and other church officers should have formally reported Smyth in 2013 to police in the UK and authorities in South Africa.

Smyth was accused of attacking dozens of boys, including those he met at Christian camps, in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s.

The barrister and senior member of a Christian charity then moved to Zimbabwe and later South Africa, where he abused up to 100 boys aged 13 to 17, the Makin review added.

By 2013, the Church of England “knew, at the highest level” about Smyth’s abuse, including Mr Welby who took up the Church’s top job that year.

If he and other Church officers had reported this to police in the UK and authorities in South Africa at that time, “John Smyth could have [been] brought to justice at a much earlier point”, the independent report said.

Mr Welby had previously resisted calls to step aside over his response to the case since 2013.

But amid mounting pressure, he said in a statement on Tuesday he must take “personal and institutional responsibility”.

The prime minister’s spokeswoman said Keir Starmer “respects the decision” to step down and his thoughts “first and foremost, remain with all the victims”.

• ANALYSIS: Church at precarious moment
• REACTION: Survivors call for further resignations
• REPORT: Church covered up ‘abhorrent’ abuse
• READ: Archbishop Justin Welby’s statement in full

Smyth’s abuse was first reported to the charity Iwerne Trust, where he had been chairman, in the early 1980s.

A report detailing his “horrific” beatings of teenaged boys was presented to some Church leaders in 1982. But the recipients of that report “participated in an active cover-up” to prevent its findings, including that crimes had been committed, coming to light, the Makin review said.

Smyth’s abuse in the UK re-emerged in 2012, when a church officer in Cambridgeshire received a letter “out of the blue” from a fellow survivor.

The review stated that five police forces were told of the abuse between 2013 and 2016. Church leaders however did not lodge a formal report.

It was not until 2017, after a Channel 4 documentary revealed details about Smyth’s abuse to the public, that police launched a full investigation.

Smyth is believed to have continued his abuse in South Africa until his death in 2018.

Mr Welby worked at summer camps in Dorset where Smyth met some of his victims, but the archbishop said he was unaware of the nature of the allegations until 2013.

A member of the clergy warned Mr Welby about Smyth in the 1980s, but the archbishop told the review this had been “vague” and “there was no indication given of the abuses which later came to light”.

After the Channel 4 documentary was broadcast in 2017, Mr Welby apologised “unreservedly” to Smyth’s victims but did not resign.

Following the Makin review this month, the archbishop said he had considered resigning over its findings and repeated his apology.

Mr Welby acknowledged that the review made clear he had “personally failed to ensure it was energetically investigated”.

But on Tuesday, following a petition set up by members of the Church’s parliament – the General Synod – and mounting pressure to go, Mr Welby resigned.

Critics included Bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley, who said Mr Welby’s resignation would “be a very clear indication that a line has been drawn, and that we must move towards independence of safeguarding”.

Andrew Morse, a survivor of Smyth’s abuse, also called for Mr Welby to go, saying that he felt the archbishop’s admission that he had not done enough in response to the reports meant that both he and the Church of England had effectively been involved in a “cover-up”.

The petition calling for his resignation, which accused the archbishop of “allowing abuse to continue” and said his position was “no longer tenable”, was signed by more than 14,000 people.

The prime minister had also publicly said victims of Smyth had been “failed very, very badly,” but would not comment when asked whether the archbishop should quit.

The Archbishop has to ask the King, who is the head of the Church of England, for permission to retire.

It is convention to also inform the prime minister.

It is not known how long the archbishop will remain in post but the process of finding a replacement is likely to take at least six months.

A consultation, which is expected to last several months, will ask people in and outside the Church of England what they want from the next archbishop.

The information will help form the basis of a longlist of suitable candidates.

While candidates cannot apply for the role, those chosen to be interviewed do not have to be from the Church of England and they do not have to be bishops, although they are likely to be.

The candidates will then be interviewed by a committee, with a chair appointed by the prime minister.

Members will include representatives from around the global Anglican Communion, the General Synod, as well as at least one bishop.

At least two-thirds of the committee members must agree before a decision is made.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is also the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican community.

The last time Chaw Su saw her husband was in March, when he was forcibly conscripted to fight for the army in Myanmar’s civil war.

Four months later, she found out he had been killed at the frontline.

“We were always poor and struggled,” she says. “But life was much more bearable with him.”

The 25-year-old widow, who had depended on her husband as the breadwinner, now has three young children to care for.

In February, Myanmar’s military regime, known as the junta, announced compulsory conscription, meaning all men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 would be forced to serve for up to two years.

Since launching the 2021 coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government, the junta has faced an uprising on multiple fronts – including from volunteer People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) and ethnic armed groups. That uprising has since escalated into a full-blown civil war.

Last year marked a turn of the tide, as the junta saw a fresh wave of attacks from insurgents that have since pushed the military government to breaking point. As a result, up to two-thirds of the country, which has had decades of military rule and repression, fell under the control of resistance groups.

The increasingly embattled junta responded in part by pushing forward with mandatory conscription, despite warnings from experts that it could exacerbate the nation’s civil conflict. The first training began in April.

In July, Chaw Su received a call from her husband who was one of two men from their village sent for training.

He told her he had been deployed to Karen state, where some of the most intense fighting between the junta and ethnic armed groups was taking place.

“He said that he would be sent to the frontline for two weeks and that he would call me when he returned to base,” Chaw Su tells the BBC. “It was the first and last message I received from him.”

At the end of July, a military officer called to inform Chaw Su her husband was dead.

“I was completely out of my mind. The officer tried to console me with his words, but I felt that my life was over.”

Like many others, Chaw Su was promised a salary for her husband’s service, but she claimed she only received 70,000 kyats (around $21) from the village official when her husband was first conscripted.

After the initial payment, months went by without any financial support.

The military says conscripts are entitled to salary and compensation upon death in service, as with full-rank soldiers. But junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun told the BBC “there could be a delay if the necessary documents are incomplete”.

Across Myanmar, conscripted soldiers – often untrained and unprepared – are sent to conflict zones with little support. Their families are often left in the dark about their whereabouts.

Soe Soe Aye, a widow in her 60s, has been left without word from her son, who was conscripted six months ago. She says he had no desire to serve in the military.

“[My son] joined the military to feed his mother,” she adds tearfully. “I regret letting him go.”

Now, she struggles with poor health and depends on her youngest daughter to support their household. But she is trying to remain hopeful.

“I just want to see my son. I don’t have enough strength to face this.”

Many young Burmese have taken drastic measures to resist the conscription order.

Kan Htoo Lwin, a 20-year-old from Myannmar’s commercial hub, Yangon, was conscripted and trained for three months along with 30 others.

He says the training was gruelling and they were threatened that if anyone tried to escape, their homes would be burned.

“After the training, I hated the army even more,” he says.

During a journey to the frontline in the eastern part of the country, Kan Htoo saw a chance to escape with two others when their convoy stopped halfway.

“We ran once it got dark, while they were busy with security checks. We didn’t stop until nightfall,” he recalls. “At some point we were exhausted and stopped to rest. We took turns sleeping and keeping watch.”

At dawn, the three young men hitched a ride from a truck driver and made it to Aung Ban, a township in the southern Shan state. Here, Kan Htoo joined a PDF, one of the many resistance groups that have been growing as more young people, disillusioned with the military junta, take up arms.

The other two men are currently in hiding, Kan Htoo says. For safety reasons, he doesn’t want to reveal what they are doing now.

While men have been the primary focus of the conscription efforts, women have also been affected.

Zue Zue, a 20-year-old from Yangon, abandoned her dream of becoming a Chinese translator to join the Special Operation Force (SOF), a unit within the PDFs.

“Now my goal is to end this era of military dictatorship and make peace for our generation,” she tells the BBC.

While Zue Zue chose to stay, others have fled the country.

Engineer Min Min left for Thailand when conscription began. He’s now staying there on an education visa, but claims he has been struggling to find legal work that suits his qualifications in Bangkok.

Many who flee to Thailand, like Min Min, end up in low-wage jobs. Thai authorities have also become stricter in catching illegal migrants, and many are now facing deportation if caught.

Min Min worries that when his visa expires, he will have to stay illegally in the country.

“I’m worried about the living costs,” says the 28-year-old. “I have no choice but to find manual labour jobs.”

He also says priority is given to Thai nationals, whose rights are protected, while Thai business owners often exploit migrants working illegally.

“I have also seen that Burmese engineers are working illegally and only paid around 12,000 Thai baht ($355), similar to the salary of migrant manual workers,” he says.

Back in Myanmar, Chaw Su now works odd jobs in the village, earning barely enough to feed her children.

“It’s hard to explain to other people the struggle I’m going through,” she says.

The mystery as to why a beluga whale appeared off the coast of Norway wearing a harness may finally have been solved.

The tame white whale, which locals named Hvaldimir, made headlines five years ago amidst widespread speculation that it was a Russian spy.

Now an expert in the species says she believes the whale did indeed belong to the military and escaped from a naval base in the Arctic Circle.

But Dr Olga Shpak does not believe it was a spy. She believes the beluga was being trained to guard the base and fled because it was a “hooligan”.

Russia has always refused to confirm or deny that the beluga whale was trained by its military.

But Dr Shpak, who worked in Russia researching marine mammals from the 1990s until she returned to her native Ukraine in 2022, told BBC News: “For me it’s 100% (certain).”

Dr Shpak, whose account is based on conversations with friends and former colleagues in Russia, features in a BBC documentary, Secrets of the Spy Whale, which is now on BBC iPlayer and being shown on BBC Two on Wednesday at 21:00 GMT.

The mysterious whale first came to public attention five years ago when it approached fishermen off the northern coast of Norway.

“The whale starts rubbing against the boat,” Joar Hesten, one of the fishermen, says. “I heard about animals in distress that instinctively knew that they need help from humans. I was thinking that this is one smart whale.”

The sighting was unusual because the beluga was so tame and they’re rarely seen as far south. It was also wearing a harness, which had a mount for a camera, and bore the words, in English, “Equipment St Petersburg”.

Mr Hesten helped to remove the harness from the whale, which then swam to the nearby port of Hammerfest, where it lived for several months.

Seemingly unable to catch live fish to eat, it charmed visitors by nudging at their cameras and even on one occasion returning a mobile phone.

“It was very obvious that this particular whale had been conditioned to be putting his nose on anything that looked like a target because he was doing it each time,” says Eve Jourdain, a researcher from the Norwegian Orca Survey.

“But we have no idea what kind of facility he was in, so we don’t know what he was trained for.”

Captivated by the whale’s story Norway made arrangements for the beluga to be monitored and fed. The name it was given – Hvaldimir – is a nod to hval which is Norwegian for whale, and the name of Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin.

Dr Shpak did not want to name her sources in Russia for their own safety but said she had been told that when the beluga surfaced in Norway, the Russian marine mammal community immediately identified it as one of theirs.

“Through the chain of vets and trainers the message came back – that they were missing a beluga called Andruha,” she says.

According to Dr Shpak, Andruha/Hvaldimir had first been captured in 2013 in the Sea of Okhotsk in Russia’s Far East. A year later it was moved from a facility owned by a dolphinarium in St Petersburg to the military programme in the Russian Arctic, where his trainers and vets remained in contact.

“I believe that when they started to work in open water, trusting this animal (not to swim away), the animal just gave up on them,” she says.

“What I’ve heard from the guys at the commercial dolphinarium who used to have him was that Andruha was smart, so a good choice to be trained. But at the same time, he was kind of like a hooligan – an active beluga – so they were not surprised that he gave up on (following) the boat and went where he wanted to.”

Satellite images from near the Russian naval base in Murmansk show what could have been Hvaldimir/Andruha’s old home. Pens can clearly be seen in the water with what appear to be white whales inside.

“The location of the beluga whales very close to the submarines and the surface vessels might tell us that they are actually part of a guarding system,” says Thomas Nilsen, from Norwegian online newspaper The Barents Observer.

Russia, for its part, has never officially addressed the claim that Hvaldimir/Andruha was trained by its army. But it does have a long history of training marine mammals for military purposes.

Speaking in 2019, a Russian reserve colonel, Viktor Baranets, said: “If we were using this animal for spying, do you really think we’d attach a mobile phone number with the message ‘Please call this number’?”

Sadly, Hvaldimir/Andruha’s incredible story does not have a happy ending.

Having learned to feed himself, it spent several years travelling south along Norway’s coast and in May 2023 was even spotted off the coast of Sweden.

Then on September 1 2024 its body was found floating at sea, near the town of Risavika, on Norway’s south-western coast.

Had the long arm of Putin’s Russia caught up with the reluctant beluga?

It appears not. Despite some activist groups suggesting that the whale had been shot, that explanation has been dismissed by the Norwegian police.

They say there was nothing to suggest that human activity directly caused the beluga’s death. A post-mortem examination revealed that Hvaldimir/Andruha died after a stick became lodged in his mouth.

Pubs, bars and clubs that have signed up for a scheme designed to protect customers who are in fear for their safety are not implementing it, a BBC undercover investigation has found.

The Ask for Angela initiative, a project in place at thousands of venues nationwide, aims to provide a discreet lifeline for people who believe they are in danger.

Those with such fears are advised to use the code word “Angela”, to indicate to staff they are in need of help.

But secret filming by BBC researchers found that in more than half of the London venues they visited, including major chains, staff failed to respond to the code word. The BBC received similar reports from across the UK.

It comes as more councils make participation in the scheme key to granting alcohol licences.

Our investigation found staff at large chains including Greene King, JD Wetherspoon and Simmons were among those who did not recognise the code word.

Greene King said it was concerned about the BBC’s findings and pledged to review how the scheme was communicated to its teams. JD Wetherspoon said it had successfully dealt with many examples of distressed customers using the scheme but would provide additional training if necessary. There was no response from Simmons.

The Ask for Angela initiative, which is aimed mainly at women but can be used by anyone feeling unsafe at a participating establishment, has spread from the UK to countries around the world, including Canada and the Netherlands. The scheme is named after Angela Crompton, who was murdered by her husband.

Staff receive special training to recognise the word Angela as a signal someone needs help.

Upon hearing the code word, employees are meant to discreetly intervene, helping the person get to safety by reuniting them with friends, calling a taxi, or contacting the police if necessary.

Venues often prominently advertise their participation, putting posters and stickers throughout their premises, particularly in women’s toilets, and also advertise online.

Some people say they actively seek out these establishments when arranging dates or nights out, viewing the scheme as a safety net.

One woman, who the BBC is naming only as “Kay”, explained how she had arranged to meet a man for the first time.

“It was fine at first,” she told the BBC. “But then the night just kept getting worse and worse.”

Within minutes of sitting down together, her date began touching her inappropriately. “He started playing with my hand, and I just froze,” she recounted, visibly upset. “I pulled my hand back. I put it behind my neck. And he just kept saying, ‘give me your hand, give me your hand’.”

As she tried to leave, his behaviour worsened. “We got up and then he grabbed me by my waist. And he slid his hand all the way down. I was scared and also just a bit shocked at what’s happening because I’m like, ‘leave me alone’.”

Kay did not know about the Ask for Angela scheme but thinks it could have helped, and says she now seeks out venues that operate it.

Following tip-offs from women and bar staff, BBC researchers posed as a couple on a date to test venues that actively promoted their involvement.

At one establishment, our undercover female researcher approached the bar, as if in distress on a date, and asked: “Is there anyone called Angela working?”

“Who?” came the confused response.

“Angela.”

“Er, no.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

At another participating venue, which the BBC is naming, the White Bear in Hounslow in west London, a man who identified himself as the manager was unaware of the scheme.

He told our researcher: “Nobody called Angela here… 100%, I’m the manager – I know my staff.” When pressed further, he added: “Not in the last four years that I’ve been here.”

The White Bear did not answer our questions but told us that he was not working there any more and that any “insights” from the BBC’s interaction with him were “outdated and misrepresentative”.

These were not isolated incidents – 13 of the 25 venues we visited failed to respond appropriately to the Angela code word.

One of the venues that did demonstrate how the scheme should operate was Hootananny in Brixton, south London. When a female researcher asked for Angela and said she felt uncomfortable, the response was immediate.

“Is everything alright?” the bartender asked without hesitation, before signalling to the manager. Within seconds, our researcher was led to a safe space and was asked: “Is there anything we can help with, or anything you want to talk to us about?”

Similarly, at the White Hart in Drury Lane, central London, staff activated their response protocol when our researcher asked for Angela. The manager, Kristoff, led her outside and even arranged a safe haven at a nearby pub.

“We’re going to keep him inside,” Kristoff told our researcher. “Go to this pub on the right-hand side… Ask for Neville. He’s a friend of mine, he’s the manager over there… Stay over there for half an hour and if you want to come back, come back – we’re going to make sure he’s gone.”

Hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of public money has been spent promoting and implementing Ask for Angela across England and Wales.

In London, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac) as well as the Greater London Authority and the Met Police are investing thousands while outside the capital, many councils have made use of the Home Office’s Safer Streets Fund.

Westminster City Council, which has the most licensed venues of any local council in the country, includes the operation of Ask for Angela as a consideration in granting licences to sell alcohol, as do Camden Council and Manchester City Council.

Dozens of other councils either require or strongly encourage venues to implement the scheme as part of their licensing conditions.

The BBC’s investigation suggests the findings from London might be indicative of wider problems across the country.

Women’s safety campaigners and bar staff in Oxford, parts of the West Midlands, Manchester, Coventry, Kent and Brighton all reported concerns to the BBC, while women’s safety organisations in Cornwall, Sheffield and Devon said it had failed to be adopted by many venues there.

Reacting to the BBC investigation, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called the findings “shocking and unacceptable”.

He vowed to follow up with the venues identified in the report, as well as councils, “to make sure we remind business owners the responsibility they have”.

“This epidemic of violence against women and girls demands a whole society approach, and that includes those that run venues across our capital,” Khan added.

Women’s safety campaigners are calling for the scheme to become mandatory, with proper enforcement.

Jamie Klingler from Reclaim These Streets warns: “Women take a lot of risks to go out – a lot of the time for online dates or for meeting someone you don’t know.

“If Ask for Angela is at a bar you’re like, ‘OK, they’ll have my back.’

“To find out [the flaws in the Ask for Angela scheme], it’s more than disappointing – it’s putting women at risk.”

Sylvia Oates, director of Ask for Angela, said: “It’s a real concern that premises have got the poster up and then if somebody asks for Angela, it’s not successful.”

She said high staff turnover in the hospitality industry could make consistent training challenging, but said venues had a responsibility to make sure staff were trained.

She is calling for stronger measures to ensure compliance, such as fines, and will be meeting MPs to discuss ways to strengthen the scheme.

The largest restoration of Rembrandt’s masterpiece, The Night Watch, is under way at the Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam.

Following five years of research using techniques such as digital imaging and artificial intelligence, eight restorers will begin “Operation Night Watch” by removing the varnish from the painting – in full view of the public, within the glass-enclosed space in The Night Watch Room.

“The start of the restoration is thrilling,” Rijksmuseum general director Taco Dibbits said.

“Removing the varnish will reveal The Night Watch’s eventful history. It will be a unique experience for the public to follow this process up close.”

The varnish, applied during a 1975-76 restoration, will be removed using microfibre cloths and cotton swabs.

The process follows years of scientific research, trials on other paintings, and tests on The Night Watch itself.

Made for Amsterdam’s Arquebusiers Guild Hall, Rembrandt van Rijn’s 1642 oil painting is one of the earliest to portray a group in action.

A captain, dressed in black, is telling his lieutenant to start the company marching. And the guardsmen are moving into formation.

Rembrandt uses the light to focus on particular details, such as the captain’s gesturing hand and the young girl, a mascot, in the background.

The painting’s original name is Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq – but it became known as The Night Watch, in the 18th Century.

The artwork was coated with a dark varnish and accumulated dirt over the years, giving the false impression it depicts a night scene.

The Night Watch has been attacked with a knife – in 1911 and again in 1975, when the attacker slashed 12 cuts into the canvas.

And in 1990, a man sprayed acid on to the painting – although, this time, thanks to a guard’s rapid intervention, only the varnish was damaged.

The Night Watch has been treated at least 25 times – but this latest research and restoration project is the most extensive so far.

More than two million visitors come to see the painting, at the museum, in the Netherlands, every year.

After more than 600 days of denied visits, calls and correspondence, the jailed Belarusian opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova has been allowed to see her father in prison.

A photo, published on social media, shows the activist in what appears to be a prison housecoat hugging her father.

On her face is the smile she became famous for as one of the leaders of a wave of giant protests in 2020 that put the authoritarian regime of Alexander Lukashenko under unprecedented pressure.

It survived by responding with mass arrests, police beatings and torture – all thoroughly documented, but still flatly denied by officials.

A peaceful protester, Maria Kolesnikova was sentenced to 11 years for extremism and supposedly plotting to overthrow the government.

In September, her sister, Tatsiana, told the BBC that she was worried the Belarusian regime was “killing Maria slowly” in jail, where she had been kept in punishing conditions since March 2023, and was not allowed any contact with relatives or lawyers.

Tatsiana called then for more international pressure to secure her sister’s release, and the freedom of the many other political prisoners in Belarus.

Now, she has posted the new prison photo on X with the line: “I cannot believe it!”

The family have not yet shared any information about her health.

In an odd twist the photo was first published on Telegram by the former opposition journalist Roman Protasevich, who was arrested when his Ryanair flight over Belarus was forcibly grounded. He now cooperates with the authorities, after a presidential pardon and early release.

Mr Protasevich has given no details about the picture of Maria and her father, or the circumstances.

• Belarus isolates political prisoners to break their spirit
• ‘I don’t regret anything’, Kolesnikova tells BBC

Alexander Lukashenko, in power since the early 1990s, has called another presidential election in January in which no genuine opposition candidates will be allowed to take part.

Recently, perhaps hoping to improve his image, he began pardoning small groups of prisoners.

More than 70 have been set free since summer, including people jailed for participating in the 2020 protests, but most were close to the end of their sentence or sick.

An announcement last week stated that another group jailed for “extremism” would be pardoned. It promised “big news”, and said two women were on the list.

But Tatsiana told the BBC that she did not believe the sudden reappearance of her sister for a prison visit meant she was about to be set free.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, now in exile after running for election against Lukashenko, sent a short video on Telegram with greetings for “Masha”, as she called Maria affectionately, and expressed “joy” to see her reunited with her father.

“How happy I am to see the smile that captivated us in 2020 and stays the same despite all you’ve been through,” Tikhanovskaya said.

Writing on X she added: “Now, we must keep up the pressure to break the isolation of other political prisoners & free them all!”

Tikhanovskaya’s husband, Sergei, is one of those still in prison and has also been kept incommunicado for many months, as have other political prisoners including Viktor Babaryko – another would-be presidential candidate locked up in 2020.

Franak Viacorka, an adviser to Tikhanovskaya, told the BBC that Lukashenko’s gesture to Maria was tokenism.

“Lukashenko is afraid right now to make any big moves and changes before his sham election – his self-reappointment. Just showing Maria doesn’t threaten him, but he wants to show it as a big gesture of humanity – which it’s not of course,” Mr Viacorka believes.

He put the gesture down to a recent increase in international attention and pressure.

Lukashenko has been an international pariah for many years, with the European Union condemning the 2020 election results as “falsified”.

As for others still held, Mr Viacorka said: “I dream of the moment my friends and colleagues are released. But I am a realist.”

British author Samantha Harvey has won the 2024 Booker Prize award with her novel Orbital, the first book set in space to win the prize.

Orbital contemplates the world from a different viewpoint as it follows a team of astronauts in the International Space Station.

It’s the biggest-selling book on the shortlist in the UK, and has also outsold the past three Booker winners combined, up to the eve of their success.

Harvey, the first woman to win the award since 2019, was announced as winner at a ceremony in London’s Old Billingsgate, and will take home £50,000.

She dedicated the prize to “all the people who speak for and not against the Earth and work for and not against peace”.

She said she questioned herself while writing the book: “Why would anybody want to hear from a woman at her desk in Wiltshire writing about space when people have actually been there?”

“I lost my nerve with it and I thought I didn’t have the authority to write it.”

Speaking to BBC News, Harvey said she was “in complete shock and very overwhelmed”. She added that the award would change her life.

Asked how she would spend the £50,000 prize money, she said: “I need to buy myself a new bike, and it’s going to be a good bike.”

Chair of the judges, Edmund de Waal, described Orbital as a “book about a wounded world”.

He said the judges all recognised its “beauty and ambition” and praised her “language of lyricism”.

Writing it, Harvey said she “thought of it as a space pastoral – a kind of nature writing about the beauty of space”.

The 136-page long story, which is Harvey’s fifth novel, takes place over a single day in the life of six astronauts and cosmonauts.

During those 24 hours they observe 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets over their silent blue planet, spinning past continents and cycling past seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans.

It is the second-shortest book to win the prize, and covers the briefest timeframe of any book on the shortlist. The shortest winning novel in the history of the prize was 1979’s Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald, at 132 pages.

Harvey previously told BBC Radio 4’s Front Row programme she wrote Orbital over the course of successive lockdowns.

“I was writing about six people trapped in a tin can. It felt like there was something resonant about that and our experience of lockdown, of not being able to escape each other and also not being able to get to other people.”

Harvey previously made the longlist for the Booker Prize in 2009 with her debut novel, The Wilderness.

This year’s shortlist had five women on its six-strong shortlist – the largest number of women represented in its 55-year history.

The other nominees were:

• James – Percival Everett (US)
• Creation Lake – Rachel Kushner (US)
• Held – Anne Michaels (Canada)
• The Safekeep – Yael van der Wouden (Netherlands)
• Stone Yard Devotion – Charlotte Wood (Australia)

The prestigious prize is open to works of fiction written in English by authors anywhere in the world and published in the UK or Ireland.

Previous winning authors include Margaret Atwood, Hilary Mantel, Bernardine Evaristo and Salman Rushdie.

It started as a social media quest for breakfast dumplings, but ended with thousands of cyclists bringing traffic gridlock between two cities in central China.

What should have been a boost to the ancient city of Kaifeng’s economy backfired when the trend went viral – tens of thousands on rented bikes cycled through the night from nearby Zhenghou.

A six-lane expressway between the two cities quickly filled with cyclists as police took to loudspeakers urging them to leave. Bike rental firms warned they would remotely lock bikes taken out of Zhengzhou.

The event is part of a trend where young Chinese are travelling cheaply at a time when the economy is faltering and job prospects are scarce.

It began with four university students who cycled for 50km (30 miles) from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng in June to try guantangbao, a type of soup dumpling.

“You don’t get a second chance at youth, so you must go for a spontaneous trip with friends,” one of the four had told local media.

That message struck a chord with other young people in the city of 12.6 million – China’s young have increasingly been complaining of burnout from an overly-competitive and grinding job market.

Thus was born the social media trend “Night Ride to Kaifeng”.

State media initially praised it as a demonstration of young people’s “passion”. And local government saw it as an opportunity to recreate the instant fame that the town of Zibo enjoyed last year as millions arrived to sample its barbecues.

Before Friday night’s gridlock Kaifeng’s officials even announced discounts and events targeting college students. They also put in place additional traffic control measures to protect the cyclists.

“Everyone was beaming with energy and interacting with people around them. It was like back to my college days,” 27-year-old Ms Li told the BBC.

She rode a motorbike to Kaifeng along with the students on Friday night. She said she decided to join and “live like a young person for once” after she saw a post about the trend.

There was heavy police presence all the way, she added.

“You could see ambulances and traffic police cars on both sides of the road quite often, and there were also drones flying above to monitor the traffic.”

But the happy mood turned as the roads in Zhengzhou began to be overwhelmed by the thousands of bikes.

Pictures circulating online showed serious congestion on the main roads from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng. One witness told the local outlet Jimu News that his drive on that route, which usually took one hour, took three.

Some riders shared on social media that they were forced to get off their bikes and push their way through the crowd.

There was no official estimate of the number of bicycles on the road on Friday night. But reports on social media suggest the number ranged from 100,000 to 200,000.

And many of those who made it to Kaifeng didn’t seem to have enjoyed the experience.

“I really regret going,” said one viral post from a student, who rode more than seven hours. They couldn’t get a taxi or a hotel room as the demand was overwhelming.

“As I sat in a restaurant eating my meal, I heard the owner criticising college students for having nothing else to do… I’m really sorry for affecting the people in Kaifeng,” the student wrote.

Some users criticised the cyclists for “irresponsible” behaviour such as littering.

As the gridlock worsened, three major bike platforms in China issued a joint statement urging students to use trains or buses for long-distance travel and avoid using bikes at night for safety reasons.

By Saturday afternoon, the companies had begun charging those who rode to a different city.

Multiple social media posts suggest some universities in Zhengzhou have asked students to return to their dormitories and imposed restrictions on them leaving the campus.

Traffic police in both Zhengzhou and Kaifeng closed off some of the main cycling lanes between the two cities on Saturday and Sunday.

It is not surprising to see officials in both cities pushing back because Chinese authorities have always cracked down on large gatherings, which they fear can lead to protests or any form of political expression.

Last month, police in Shanghai silenced celebrations for Halloween over fears the revelries might be used to express dissent.

Ms Li says spontaneous gatherings – such as the Night Ride to Kaifeng – will keep happening simply because they appeal to young people.

“People are so stressed these days, so these events are a good thing,” she says. “Because happiness is infectious.”

Several airlines have cancelled flights to and from Bali due to dangerous ash clouds from a volcano near the Indonesian holiday island.

Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia advised passengers of the disruptions on Wednesday, saying the ash from Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki made it unsafe to fly.

The volcano spewed a 9km (6.2 miles) ash column into the sky over the weekend, one week after a major eruption killed 10 people.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology has also warned that the volcanic ash might drift to parts of the country’s north on Wednesday.

Jetstar said all flights to and from Bali until 12:00 Australian Eastern Daylight Time Thursday (04:00 GMT) have been cancelled. Other airlines which have followed suit include Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific, India’s IndiGo, and Malaysian carrier AirAsia.

Virgin Australia, which cancelled all its flights to and from Bali on Wednesday, said in a statement: “Safety is always our highest priority, and our meteorology team is closely monitoring the situation.”

Singapore Airlines and its low-cost carrier Scoot have similarly cancelled some flights — though Singapore’s airport website shows that other flights to and from Bali have continued to run on Wednesday.

The general manager of Bali’s international airport Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, told Reuters that 22 international flights and 12 domestic ones had been affected on Tuesday, but did not provide details about Wednesday’s flights.

Activities in Indonesia have also been affected by the volcanic ash.

A jazz festival in Labuan Bajo town, some 600km from Mount Lewotaobi Laki-laki, was postponed to next year due to safety concerns.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an area of high seismic activity atop multiple tectonic plates, and has about 130 active volcanoes.

Past volcanic eruptions have disrupted aviation. In 2020, ash clouds from Mount Merapi shut an airport in the city of Solo.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has formally apologised to victims of abuse in care homes, following an inquiry into one of the country’s biggest abuse scandals.

The historic apology, delivered in parliament, comes after a report found that 200,000 children and vulnerable adults had suffered abuse while in state and faith-based care between 1950 and 2019.

Many of them included people from the Māori and Pacific communities and those with mental or physical disabilities.

The government has since promised to reform the care system.

“I make this apology to all survivors on behalf of my own and previous governments,” said Luxon on Tuesday.

“It was horrific. It was heartbreaking. It was wrong. And it should never have happened,” he added. “For many of you it changed the course of your life, and for that, the government must take responsibility.”

The inquiry, which Luxon described as the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, took six years to complete and included interviews with more than 2,300 survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care institutions.

The ensuing report documented a wide range of abuses including rape, sterilisation, and forced labour.

It found that faith-based institutions often had higher rates of sexual abuse than state care; and civil and faith leaders fought to cover up abuse by moving abusers to other locations and denying culpability, with many victims dying before seeing justice.

The findings were seen as vindication for those who found themselves facing down powerful officialdom, the state, and religious institutions – and often struggling to be believed.

Some survivors and advocates arrived in parliament Tuesday to hear the prime minister’s apology, while hundreds of others tuned in through livestreams across the country. Luxon had earlier faced criticism for delivering the apology in parliament, as that meant many survivors could not hear from the prime minister directly.

Survivors have argued that Luxon’s apology rings hollow unless it is accompanied with proper plans for restitution.

“The effects of that trauma came through later on in life,” Tupua Urlich, a Māori survivor who had given his testimony of abuse to the inquiry, told the BBC’s Newsday programme. “It’s not just the physical abuse, it was the disconnection from my family, from my culture.”

“Justice? No, not yet… These words are nothing unless they’re followed by action, and the right kind of action that is informed by survivors.

“The government have proven that alone they’re not trusted, nor capable, of providing the sort of change and service that we need.”

Details on a restitution scheme are not expected until early next year.

Luxon said Tuesday that while the government works on a new financial redress mechanism for survivors, it would pump an additional NZ$32m ($19m, £15m) into its current system.

The inquiry had made over 100 recommendations, including public apologies from New Zealand authorities and religious leaders, as well as legislation mandating suspected abuse to be reported.

Luxon said the government has either completed or is in the process of working on 28 of these recommendations, but did not give specific detail.

A bill aimed at better protecting children in care had its first reading in parliament on Tuesday, after Luxon delivered the apology. The bill proposes, among other things, a ban on strip searches and greater restrictions on people working with young children.

Luxon also announced a National Remembrance Day to be held on 12 November next year to mark the anniversary of Tuesday’s apology.

“It is on all of us to do all we can to ensure that abuse that should never have been accepted, no longer occurs,” he said.

The president of COP29’s host country has told the UN climate conference that oil and gas are a “gift of God”.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev criticised “Western fake news” about the country’s emissions and said nations “should not be blamed” for having fossil fuel reserves.

The country plans to expand gas production by up to a third over the next decade.

Shortly afterwards, UN chief António Guterres told the conference that doubling down on the use of fossil fuels was “absurd”.

He said the “clean energy revolution” had arrived and that no government could stop it.

Separately, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer pledged further reductions on emissions, saying the UK will now aim for an 81% decrease by 2035. The UK called for other countries to match the new target.

“Make no mistake, the race is on for the clean energy jobs of the future, the economy of tomorrow, and I don’t want to be in the middle of the pack – I want to get ahead of the game,” Sir Keir told the conference.

Some observers had expressed concerns about the world’s largest climate conference taking place in Azerbaijan.

Its minister for ecology and natural resources – a former oil executive that spent 26 years at Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil and gas company Socar – is the conference’s chairman.

There are also concerns that Azerbaijani officials are using COP29 to boost investment in the country’s national oil and gas company.

But addressing the conference on its second day, President Aliyev said Azerbaijan had been subject to “slander and blackmail” ahead of COP29.

He said it had been as if “Western fake news media”, charities and politicians were “competing in spreading disinformation… about our country”.

Aliyev said the country’s share in global gas emissions was “only 0.1%”.

“Oil, gas, wind, sun, gold, silver, copper, all… are natural resources and countries should not be blamed for having them, and should not be blamed for bringing these resources to the market, because the market needs them.”

Oil and gas are a major cause of climate change because they release planet-warming greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide when burned for energy.

The US is also under the spotlight at the conference, following the election victory of Donald Trump – a known climate sceptic.

On Monday, US President Joe Biden’s envoy John Podesta called out president-elect Trump’s view that climate change was a hoax and said the US team would continue to work on the deal passed at COP28 in 2023.

He added that Washington was also working on a deal passed last year in Dubai to triple renewable power by 2030.

Addressing the conference in Baku on Tuesday, UN Secretary General Guterres decried “doubling down on fossil fuels”.

“The sound you hear is the ticking clock,” he said.

“We are in the final countdown to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and time is not on our side.”

He called 2024 a “masterclass in climate destruction” with disasters being “supercharged by human-made climate change”.

The UN’s World Meteorological Organization previously said that 2024 is on track to be the world’s warmest year on record.

Guterres said “a new finance goal” was needed, with wealthiest countries paying the most.

“They are the largest emitters, with the greatest capacities and responsibilities,” he said.

“Developing countries must not leave Baku empty-handed.”

The Azerbaijani president’s comments are unlikely to derail talks behind the scenes, which are largely about getting more cash for poorer countries to help implement their climate plans.

Developing nations are calling for richer countries to agree together on a fund that could add up to $1 trillion, using public and private money.

Leaders of most of the world’s biggest polluters were not present in Baku, including Biden, France’s leader Emmanuel Macron and India’s Narendra Modi.

• This year set to be first to breach 1.5C global warming limit
• COP29: Will rich nations promise more money for climate change?
• What is the Paris climate agreement and why does 1.5C matter?

The environment minister for Burkino Faso, a central African country among the poorest in the world, told the BBC that more cash was essential.

Roger Baro said it would help his nation deal with the current impacts of climate change in the country, which is experiencing widespread drought, flash floods and disease outbreaks.

The disasters occurred in the Sahel region, which saw temperatures of 45C this year in a heatwave that scientists said would have been impossible to reach without climate change.

Among other world leaders to take to the stage on Tuesday was Spain’s prime minister, who called for “drastic measures” after floods killed more than 200 people in the country.

Experts say that climate change contributed to the heavy rainfall that caused the floods.

“We need to undergo decarbonisation, adapt our towns and infrastructure,” said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

COP29 is scheduled to last until 22 November, but there are already fears that the tricky issues on the table could make a final agreement very difficult.

US President-elect Donald Trump has named Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host, author and military veteran, as his pick for defence secretary.

Hegseth, 44, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, will be responsible for the world’s most powerful military in his first political role.

Announcing his choice on Tuesday, Trump described him as “tough, smart and a true believer in America First”.

The news came on the same day Trump announced another political newcomer, billionaire Elon Musk, would take a government cost-cutting role.

Trump’s administration is taking shape after his win in last week’s presidential election. Hegseth was one of a flurry of security appointments that also included Trump’s pick of John Ratcliffe to head the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

If confirmed for his role by the US Senate, Hegseth will arrive at the Pentagon with decisions to make on issues such as military assistance for Israel during its campaign in Gaza, and on support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion.

Trump wants the US to disentangle itself from foreign conflicts generally. During the election campaign, he criticised the Biden administration’s expenditure to support Kyiv.

• Follow Live: Trump transition updates
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• Why Tesla, crypto and prisons are trade winners
• What White House appointments tell us about Trump 2.0
• Fresh delay in New York case. Will Trump ever be sentenced?
• Border, climate agreement, Ukraine: Second-term priorities

Also on Tuesday, Trump confirmed that he wanted South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to play a significant role as homeland security secretary. Another military veteran, Michael Waltz, was chosen by Trump as national security adviser – meaning he will advise the president on foreign threats.

Senator Marco Rubio – who shares Waltz’s hawkish views on China – is expected to be Trump’s future secretary of state, sources have told the BBC’s US partner, CBS News. But the pick is not yet confirmed.

Republicans have won back control of the Senate, the upper chamber of Congress, and are inching towards a majority in the House, the lower chamber, as vote-counting continues.

Some of the government appointments – including Hegseth’s – require a vote of approval by senators, although Trump, also a Republican, has demanded that the next leader of the US Senate let him bypass this process. He can give out other jobs directly.

Senate Republicans are due to vote on a new leader on Wednesday – the day that Trump is also expected to visit the outgoing president, Joe Biden, at the White House as part of the traditional transfer of power.

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Ivy League graduate Hegseth has in recent years worked as a conservative commentator. He lives with his wife and seven children in Tennessee.

He has hosted programmes on Fox News, using his platform to draw attention to military and veterans’ issues. He had his last day at Fox on Tuesday.

He is reported by US media to have successfully lobbied Trump during his first presidency to pardon servicemen accused of war crimes.

In his statement announcing Hegseth as his pick for defence secretary on Tuesday, Trump highlighted the former soldier’s education at Princeton and Harvard universities, and his military experience in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – our military will be great again, and America will never back down,” Trump wrote in a post.

The president-elect also drew attention to Hegseth’s work as a published author. He said the book The War on Warrior “reveals the leftwing betrayal of our warriors, and how we must return our military to meritocracy, lethality, accountability, and excellence”.

Hegseth has been an outspoken opponent of what he has referred to as “woke” policies within the US military and its leadership.

“The dumbest phrase on planet earth in the military is our diversity is our strength,” Hegseth said on a podcast this month.

One of his tasks as defence secretary could be to act on Trump’s campaign promises to get rid of US generals who he accuses of pursuing progressive policies in the force.

Before his selection by Trump, Hegseth was asked on the same podcast about what changes he would make in the military. He referred to “first of all” firing the US’ top military officer, Gen Charles “CQ” Brown Jr, saying people involved in diversity, equality or inclusion policies had “got to go”.

“Either you’re in for war fighting and that’s it, that’s the only litmus test we care about,” Hegseth told the Shawn Ryan Show, in an episode released last week.

Gen Brown is a former fighter pilot with command experience in the Pacific and Middle East, and was appointed into the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff role by President Joe Biden last year.

On the same podcast, Hegseth also said “whatever” combat standards were in 1995, “let’s just make those the standards”.

Hegseth’s pick has been welcomed by a number of prominent Republican figures, but other reactions have been more varied.

North Carolina senator Thom Tillis told Associated Press the choice was “interesting”, and Senator Tommy Tuberville, of Alabama, said he would “have to think” about what he thought of the appointment.

Incoming national security advisor Waltz said Hegseth “has the grit” to make “real reform” happen at the Pentagon. Representative Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said the job “should not be an entry-level position”.

Posting on X, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said the appointment of Hegseth as defence secretary would “make us less safe and must be rejected”.

“A Fox & Friends weekend co-host is not qualified to be the Secretary of Defense,” she added. “I lead the Senate military personnel panel. All three of my brothers served in uniform. I respect every one of our servicemembers.”

• The view from countries where Trump’s win really matters
• Analysis: Will Trump’s victory spark a global trade war?
• What does a Trump win mean for the UK?
• What Trump’s win means for Ukraine, Middle East and China

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his twice-weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

South Korean actor Song Jae Lim, known for his breakout role in the K-drama The Moon Embracing the Sun, was found dead on Tuesday in his Seoul home.

The 39-year-old, who began his career as a model, rose to prominence in the period drama in 2012, before going on to star in other variety shows and television series.

Reports say a note was found in the apartment, with police adding that there is no evidence of foul play.

His death has renewed concerns over the immense pressures facing those in South Korea’s entertainment industry.

South Korean stars paid tribute to Song following news of his death.

Fellow actor Yoo Sun, who worked alongside Song in the 2016 series Our Gap Soon, posted a photo of them together on Instagram with the caption: “It’s too sad, it hurts so much… May you find peace and rest.”

Another actor, Park Ho San said in an Instagram post: “Since you were always so cheerful, it’s hard to believe [the news].”

According to news site Yonhap, the actor’s family said they wished to hold a small funeral involving only family members.

South Korea’s entertainment industry is known for its high-pressure environment, where celebrities are held to strict standards over their appearances and behaviour.

The recent deaths of high-profile celebrities — including Parasite actor Lee Sun-kyun, K-pop stars Moonbin, Goo Hara and Sulli — have raised concerns about the toll such pressures may have taken.

For information and support about any issues raised in this story contact the BBC Action Line.

US President-elect Donald Trump has picked Elon Musk for a role in government cost-cutting, as part of his drive to “dismantle” bureaucracy when he returns to the White House next year.

Tech billionaire Musk, who has called for huge spending cuts, has been picked alongside biotech investor Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” (Doge). The acronym is a nod to Musk’s favourite cryptocurrency, Dogecoin.

Trump said the pair would act in an advisory capacity, and that the Doge would not be an official government department.

On the same day, Trump named another political newcomer – Fox News host and military veteran Pete Hegseth – as his pick for defence secretary.

Musk threw millions behind Donald Trump’s successful re-election bid, and was hotly tipped for a role in the administration that has so far rewarded loyalists. Trump himself outlined a plan for Musk in government cost-cutting on the campaign trail.

Ramaswamy ran as a Republican candidate for president earlier this year against Trump, before dropping out and endorsing him.

Since triumphing in last week’s vote, Trump has been assembling his top team – with another of his one-time Republican rivals, Marco Rubio, reportedly in the frame to be his new secretary of state.

Trump looks likely to enjoy significant support for his legislative agenda in Congress. Republicans won the Senate and are closing in on control of the House.

• Live updates as Trump picks top jobs
• Who is billionaire Elon Musk?
• Trump names Fox News host as defence secretary pick
• What White House picks tell us about Trump 2.0

It remains to be seen how the Doge will operate.

The organisation does not currently exist and, when created, it is not expected to be an official department. Such agencies have to be established through an act of Congress and typically employ thousands of staff.

In Tuesday night’s announcement, Trump acknowledged that it will “provide advice and guidance from outside of government”. He said the initiative would help his administration “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies”.

He said Musk and Ramaswamy would work with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to tackle “massive waste and fraud” in $6.5tn (£5.1tn) of annual government spending.

Trump has likened the new initiative to the Manhattan Project, a top-secret World War Two programme to develop the first nuclear weapons.

The president-elect said Musk and Ramaswamy would complete their work no later than 4 July (American Independence Day) 2026.

The organisation’s name refers to Musk’s preferred cryptocurrency – which was itself jokingly in 2013 named after an internet meme. Dogecoin has soared in value over the past week.

• Why Tesla, crypto and prisons are Trump trade winners

In business, Musk has become known for his opposition to perceived government overregulation and his approach to cost-cutting – most notably after he took over Twitter, which he rebranded X and laid off thousands of staff.

Musk, who also founded SpaceX and Tesla, recently called for at least $2tn in cuts to US federal spending, nearly a third of the government’s budget, without offering specifics. He has also proposed eliminating hundreds of federal agencies, arguing that many of them have overlapping areas of responsibility.

In a press release from Trump’s campaign, Musk said: “This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in government waste, which is a lot of people.”

After the announcement, Musk posted on X: “Threat to democracy? Nope, threat to BUREAUCRACY!!!”

Ramaswamy reposted Trump’s announcement on social media saying “we will not go gently”. He also said he was withdrawing from consideration to fill incoming US Vice-President JD Vance’s soon-to-be-vacated Ohio Senate seat.

Last year, while running for president, Ramaswamy said he would fire more than 75% of the federal work force and close down several major agencies, including the Department of Education, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Since Trump’s election victory last week, Musk has reportedly spent every day with Trump at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

He also took part in a recent phone call Trump had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump announced the appointments of Musk and Ramaswamy amid a flurry of press releases on Tuesday evening, which also saw several senior national security positions filled.

• Who else has joined Trump’s team so far?

John Ratcliffe, slated to lead the CIA, previously served as Trump’s director of national intelligence and oversaw US intelligence agencies. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem was confirmed as Trump’s nomination to serve as secretary of homeland security.

Meanwhile, some eyebrows were raised at the nomination of Fox News host Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon. A veteran of the Iraq war, he has limited experience of government but has been a vocal supporter of Trump’s for several years.

• Would Donald Trump’s taxes on trade hurt US consumers?
• The view from countries where Trump’s win really matters
• Analysis: Will Trump’s victory spark a global trade war?
• What does a Trump win mean for the UK?
• What Trump’s win means for Ukraine, Middle East and China

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his twice-weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

Billionaire Elon Musk has been tasked with leading incoming President Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).

In a statement on social media, the US president-elect said Musk – along with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy – would “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.

It is a role that the tech entrepreneur has arguably prepared for through his business leadership, and one he has spent months arguing for.

But it is also one that is expected to garner him influence over government policy – and the regulatory environment his enterprises exist in.

• Follow updates: Trump heads to White House to meet Biden

Musk told a Trump rally in October that he believed the US government’s budget could be cut by “at least” $2tn from around $6.5tn. He has also frequently suggested the number of government employees could be significantly reduced.

Ramaswamy, meanwhile, has put forward plans to scrap a number of federal departments including the Department of Education, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI.

The way Musk has run his own firms may hint at what Americans can expect he will do at Doge.

In October 2022, Musk took over social media platform Twitter – which he rebranded as X – in a $44bn (£38.1bn) deal, so he could remove its policies of moderating content and banning users who had deemed to have violated its rules on hate speech and disinformation.

Among the users he reinstated was Trump, who had been banned following the Capitol riot in January 2021 after continuing to claim the 2020 election had been rigged against him.

Musk’s takeover saw radical changes to the company.

He reduced X’s workforce from around 8,000 to 1,500. In April 2023, he told the BBC that his reasoning for doing so was that “if the whole ship sinks, then nobody’s got a job”.

“His idea of efficiency was to let a lot of people go,” says Alex Waddan, a professor of US politics at the University of Leicester.

Facing an exodus of advertisers over his relaxation of the platform’s speech policies, the entrepreneur also monetised elements of the site to raise revenue.

He turned blue ticks – which previously denoted that a high-profile account was bona fide – into a subscription model, and tied advertising payments to “verified” users to the number of interactions they receive.

But these changes had some unintended consequences.

Following outcry, X gave gold or silver ticks to brands and official accounts to avoid them being confused with fakes – effectively meaning blue ticks only signify that an account is paid-for.

Incentivising users with a share of advertising revenues also gave an avenue for so-called bot farms to make money by posting auto-generated content to gain more interactions. Musk has said his team has repeatedly purged bot accounts.

Critics argue his changes have given prominence to hate-speech and misinformation – though he has argued the site is politically neutral.

“As a serial entrepreneur, Musk has been relentless in trying to improve institutional efficiency at his own enterprises,” says Thomas Gift, a political science professor and director of the Centre on US Politics at University College London.

He adds that though Musk’s primary role will be “slashing through the thicket of red tape that is the US federal government”, his position will also give him influence in the new administration.

“While his role in the Department of Government Efficiency will be a more informal one, there’s no doubt that he’s got Trump ear – at least for the moment.”

Musk’s calls for a Doge are themselves a reference to a meme featuring a Shiba Inu dog, which then gave its name to the cryptocurrency Dogecoin. Both have been frequently referred to by him online.

Christopher Phelps, a professor of modern US political history, says the name is “a nod to crypto deregulation being part of what they’ll do”. Crypto prices rose after Trump’s election and signals the incoming president would offer a relaxed regulatory environment.

But Musk’s calls may also come in part from frustrations he has had with his other business ventures: electric vehicle company Tesla and rocket firm SpaceX.

Tesla has repeatedly been accused by the US government of trying to prevent its workers unionising – which in some cases can be against federal law.

Musk – who has an estimated net worth of $290bn (£228bn) – has previously said he is “not against all unions”, but that the auto workers’ union “has a track record of destroying productivity so a company can’t compete”.

In September Musk threatened to sue the Federal Aviation Administration over its plans to fine his SpaceX company $633,000 for alleged license infringements related to some of its rocket launches from Cape Canaveral in Florida. He accused the agency of “regulatory overreach”.

He has also repeatedly said he wants to colonise Mars, and SpaceX’s Starship programme is an attempt to make that possible.

But in September, he wrote that this was only a possibility “so long as it is not smothered by bureaucracy” and claimed Doge was “the only path to extending life beyond Earth”.

So is part of his motivation for taking on the role his various US-based business interests?

Musk “stands to benefit personally from a lot of the deregulation that he touts,” says Prof Phelps, adding: “I think putting someone who is a billionaire and runs major corporations in charge of a federal project of deregulation is innately full of conflicts of interest.”

“There’s no doubt that Musk has significant vested interests in the US regulatory landscape as a result of his many business enterprises,” says Prof Gift.

“At the same time, it’s hard to make the case that this is the only impetus driving him.

“Musk has undertaken huge personal and political risks in coming out for Trump, and many of his activities and rhetoric seem to reflect an individual ideologically committed to causes he believes in.”

Prof Waddan agrees: “Clearly he has got skin in the game and there’s a self-interest, but equally you can have a sincere belief that there is too much government regulation and too much government bureaucracy.”

Musk donated a reported $200m (£157m) to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, and appeared to speak at several of his rallies.

Prof Phelps describes his relationship with Trump as “transactional”, adding that the Doge role “gives him a lot of symbolic clout – and possibly the clout to get the things that matter most to him done”.

As the South African-born billionaire is not a US citizen by birth, he cannot become president – something that has frustrated other famous faces who became involved in politics in the past.

But Musk can have an influence on US policy, and Trump will have a sympathetic adviser to call upon.

“Trump is looking to surround himself with loyalists in his new administration, and there’s no one who’s been more loyal than Musk since he announced his endorsement for Trump,” says Prof Gift.

“Not only did Musk go ‘all in’ in supporting Trump personally and financially during the campaign, but he’s also evolved into a trusted adviser on topics as diverse as technology policy to the war in Ukraine.”

In an early sign of the influence the tech entrepreneur may be rewarded with for his loyalty, Musk was party to a call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky following the election. The war in Ukraine will be a major foreign policy concern when Trump takes office.

“That is actually quite extraordinary,” says Prof Waddan. “Normally, even your biggest donors wouldn’t get that kind of access.”

Several airlines have cancelled flights to and from Bali due to dangerous ash clouds from a volcano near the Indonesian holiday island.

Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia advised passengers of the disruptions on Wednesday, saying the ash from Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki made it unsafe to fly.

The volcano spewed a 9km (6.2 miles) ash column into the sky over the weekend, one week after a major eruption killed 10 people.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology has also warned that the volcanic ash might drift to parts of the country’s north on Wednesday.

Jetstar said all flights to and from Bali until 12:00 Australian Eastern Daylight Time Thursday (04:00 GMT) have been cancelled. Other airlines which have followed suit include Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific, India’s IndiGo, and Malaysian carrier AirAsia.

Virgin Australia, which cancelled all its flights to and from Bali on Wednesday, said in a statement: “Safety is always our highest priority, and our meteorology team is closely monitoring the situation.”

Singapore Airlines and its low-cost carrier Scoot have similarly cancelled some flights — though Singapore’s airport website shows that other flights to and from Bali have continued to run on Wednesday.

The general manager of Bali’s international airport Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, told Reuters that 22 international flights and 12 domestic ones had been affected on Tuesday, but did not provide details about Wednesday’s flights.

Activities in Indonesia have also been affected by the volcanic ash.

A jazz festival in Labuan Bajo town, some 600km from Mount Lewotaobi Laki-laki, was postponed to next year due to safety concerns.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an area of high seismic activity atop multiple tectonic plates, and has about 130 active volcanoes.

Past volcanic eruptions have disrupted aviation. In 2020, ash clouds from Mount Merapi shut an airport in the city of Solo.

A multiple-missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on two US warships has been thwarted, the Pentagon has said.

At least eight drones, five anti-ship ballistic missiles and three anti-ship cruise missiles were aimed at the USS Stockdale and the USS Spruance on Monday.

The vessels shot down the projectiles and were “not damaged and no personnel were hurt,” Pentagon press secretary Air Force Major Gen Pat Ryder told reporters on Tuesday.

The attack followed a series of airstrikes made by the US Central Command against Houthi weapons storage bases in Yemen.

• US bombers target underground Houthi weapon sites in Yemen

The attack happened while the Iranian-backed rebel group were travelling through the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a waterway between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Al-Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by Yemen’s Houthi movement, said that a series of airstrikes had targeted two US warships and a third vessel in the Arabian Sea.

The group’s military spokesman, Yahya al-Sarea, said in a statement on X that the rebels had “successfully” bombarded the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier with a number of cruise missiles.

Ryder said he was “not aware of any attacks” on the Abraham Lincoln vessel.

“We will continue to make clear to the Houthis there will be consequences for their illegal and reckless attacks,” he said.

The Houthis are part of a network of armed groups in the Middle East backed by Iran that includes Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

They have repeatedly targeted commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November 2023. They have sunk two vessels, seized a third of targeted ships and killed crew members.

They say they are acting in support of the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

They have claimed, often falsely, that they are targeting ships only linked to Israel, the US or the UK.

Earlier this year, the US, UK and 12 other nations launched Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect Red Sea shipping lanes against the Houthis.

In October, the US military said it had launched strikes on 15 Houthi targets in Yemen, with several explosions reported in the capital Sanaa.

It has previously said it aims to degrade the Houthis’ ability to target shipping.

A car attack that killed 35 people in China has sparked questions about a recent spate of public violence, as officials continue to censor discussion on the incident.

On social media, many are discussing the social phenomenon of “taking revenge on society”, where individuals act on personal grievances by attacking strangers.

Police said the driver who ploughed into crowds at a stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai on Monday night acted out of unhappiness over a divorce settlement.

While it is believed to be China’s deadliest known act of violence in decades, it follows a string of attacks in recent months, including a stabbing spree at a Shanghai supermarket and a knife attack at a Beijing school.

Amid a national outcry over the Zhuhai incident, President Xi Jinping has vowed “severe punishment” for the perpetrator. Police said the 62-year-old driver, who has been arrested, is in a coma due to self-inflicted wounds.

On Chinese social media platforms, many expressed shock at his actions and asked if it was a symptom of deeper societal problems.

One comment that went viral on Weibo read: “How can you take revenge on society because your family life is not going well? You’ve taken the lives of so many innocent people, will you ever have peace of mind.”

“If there is a widespread lack of job security and huge pressure to survive… then society is bound to be full of problems, hostility and terror,” a user said on WeChat.

Another person wrote in a widely-shared post: “We should be examining the deep-rooted, social [factors] that have fostered so many indiscriminate [attacks on] the weak.”

A number of violent attacks in China have been reported this year, including a mass stabbing and firearms attack in Shandong in February which killed at least 21 people.

In October, a knife attack at a top school in Beijing injured five people, while in September, a man went on a stabbing spree at a supermarket in Shanghai, killing three people and injuring several others.

Many posts, comments and articles about the Zhuhai incident have been censored in recent days, as officials limit discussion of what appears to have been deemed a politically sensitive topic. In China, it is common for censors to quickly take down social media posts linked to high-profile incidents of crime.

Despite this, several emotional accounts raising questions about the incident have continued circulating widely online. The BBC has not been able to independently verify these accounts.

One person said a family friend was killed in the attack when she was doing her evening workout with a walking group.

“My mother is finding it hard to accept the loss of such a close friend. The more I witness her grief, the more I resent the cold-bloodedness of the murderer,” the person wrote.

They also accused Chinese media of “barely reporting” on the incident while giving more coverage to a high-profile military airshow taking place in Zhuhai at the same time.

“In the eyes of those in power, aeroplanes are more important than human lives.”

Several Chinese media outlets have told BBC Chinese that in the initial hours after the incident, they had received clear instructions not to report on it.

News outlets have since put out reports on the attack, mostly angling on statements from the police and Xi Jinping.

But state broadcaster CCTV did not mention the attack in its lead midday bulletin on Wednesday – instead focusing on President Xi’s upcoming trip to South America and the airshow in Zhuhai.

The main pages of China’s daily newspapers also had no mention of the deadliest act of mass violence in public in years.

Another post widely circulated online was written by a person who said their mother was badly injured in the attack and was currently receiving treatment in a hospital’s intensive care unit.

The person said it was unclear if their mother would survive and that their father, who witnessed the attack, was devastated. “His heart is broken, but he is still trying his best to respond calmly to phone calls and all the people who care about my mum.”

They also criticised the lack of information in the hours following the incident.

“Up to 10 hours after it happened, there were no statistics on the casualties, no statements from the police,” they said.

Other users have mentioned how it took 24 hours for authorities to release the full 35-person death toll. The Weibo social media platform has also censored a hashtag mentioning the death toll.

People in India’s capital Delhi woke up to a thick layer of smog as the air quality deteriorated to severe levels in the city.

Delhi and its neighbouring cities are experiencing pollution levels that are at least 30-35 times the safe limit recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Every year, Delhi and northern states battle hazardous air during the winter months of October to January due to plummeting temperatures, smoke, dust, low wind speed, vehicular emissions and crop stubble burning.

This time, experts say that the condition is likely to get worse in the coming days.

According to IQAir, a Swiss-based Air Quality Index (AQI) monitoring group, pollution levels in several parts of Delhi touched the 500 mark on Wednesday morning.

AQI measures the levels of particulate matter, also called PM 2.5, in the air. These tiny particles can enter the lungs and cause a host of diseases.

According to WHO guidelines, air with AQI values at or below 100 is considered to be satisfactory for breathing, while readings in the 400-500 range denote that pollution levels are “severe” in an area.

The satellite cities of Noida and Gurgaon also registered AQI levels touching the 500 mark.

Several northern states have been experiencing toxic air and poor visibility over the past few weeks. There have been reports of flights to and from Delhi being cancelled or delayed due to low visibility.

So thick is the smog that it is visible even from space. A few days ago, Nasa shared satellite images of a blanket of smog engulfing parts of northern India and neighbouring Pakistan.

The toxic air is also affecting people’s health.

A survey by LocalCircles, an online community platform, in Delhi and nearby cities revealed that 81% of families reported at least one member suffering from health issues due to pollution in the last three weeks. Over a third of respondents said they had purchased cough syrup during that time.

The Delhi government has enacted its Graded Response Action Plan – which bans all activities that involve the use of coal and firewood, as well as diesel generator use for non-emergency services – but that has not saved the city from experiencing toxic levels of pollution.

Authorities have also urged residents to stay indoors as much as possible and to use public transport to cut vehicular emissions.

Delhi was the most polluted capital city in the world in 2023, according to IQAir.

India was also ranked as the world’s third-most polluted country after neighbours Bangladesh and Pakistan, IQAir said.

Air pollution is a serious problem in a number of Indian cities.

Experts say that rapid industrialisation coupled with weak enforcement of environmental laws have played a role in increasing pollution in the country.

India has seen a lot of development in the past few decades, but poor industrial regulation means that factories do not follow pollution-control measures. Rapid construction has also contributed to rising levels of pollution.

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The mystery as to why a beluga whale appeared off the coast of Norway wearing a harness may finally have been solved.

The tame white whale, which locals named Hvaldimir, made headlines five years ago amidst widespread speculation that it was a Russian spy.

Now an expert in the species says she believes the whale did indeed belong to the military and escaped from a naval base in the Arctic Circle.

But Dr Olga Shpak does not believe it was a spy. She believes the beluga was being trained to guard the base and fled because it was a “hooligan”.

Russia has always refused to confirm or deny that the beluga whale was trained by its military.

But Dr Shpak, who worked in Russia researching marine mammals from the 1990s until she returned to her native Ukraine in 2022, told BBC News: “For me it’s 100% (certain).”

Dr Shpak, whose account is based on conversations with friends and former colleagues in Russia, features in a BBC documentary, Secrets of the Spy Whale, which is now on BBC iPlayer and being shown on BBC Two on Wednesday at 21:00 GMT.

The mysterious whale first came to public attention five years ago when it approached fishermen off the northern coast of Norway.

“The whale starts rubbing against the boat,” Joar Hesten, one of the fishermen, says. “I heard about animals in distress that instinctively knew that they need help from humans. I was thinking that this is one smart whale.”

The sighting was unusual because the beluga was so tame and they’re rarely seen as far south. It was also wearing a harness, which had a mount for a camera, and bore the words, in English, “Equipment St Petersburg”.

Mr Hesten helped to remove the harness from the whale, which then swam to the nearby port of Hammerfest, where it lived for several months.

Seemingly unable to catch live fish to eat, it charmed visitors by nudging at their cameras and even on one occasion returning a mobile phone.

“It was very obvious that this particular whale had been conditioned to be putting his nose on anything that looked like a target because he was doing it each time,” says Eve Jourdain, a researcher from the Norwegian Orca Survey.

“But we have no idea what kind of facility he was in, so we don’t know what he was trained for.”

Captivated by the whale’s story Norway made arrangements for the beluga to be monitored and fed. The name it was given – Hvaldimir – is a nod to hval which is Norwegian for whale, and the name of Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin.

Dr Shpak did not want to name her sources in Russia for their own safety but said she had been told that when the beluga surfaced in Norway, the Russian marine mammal community immediately identified it as one of theirs.

“Through the chain of vets and trainers the message came back – that they were missing a beluga called Andruha,” she says.

According to Dr Shpak, Andruha/Hvaldimir had first been captured in 2013 in the Sea of Okhotsk in Russia’s Far East. A year later it was moved from a facility owned by a dolphinarium in St Petersburg to the military programme in the Russian Arctic, where his trainers and vets remained in contact.

“I believe that when they started to work in open water, trusting this animal (not to swim away), the animal just gave up on them,” she says.

“What I’ve heard from the guys at the commercial dolphinarium who used to have him was that Andruha was smart, so a good choice to be trained. But at the same time, he was kind of like a hooligan – an active beluga – so they were not surprised that he gave up on (following) the boat and went where he wanted to.”

Satellite images from near the Russian naval base in Murmansk show what could have been Hvaldimir/Andruha’s old home. Pens can clearly be seen in the water with what appear to be white whales inside.

“The location of the beluga whales very close to the submarines and the surface vessels might tell us that they are actually part of a guarding system,” says Thomas Nilsen, from Norwegian online newspaper The Barents Observer.

Russia, for its part, has never officially addressed the claim that Hvaldimir/Andruha was trained by its army. But it does have a long history of training marine mammals for military purposes.

Speaking in 2019, a Russian reserve colonel, Viktor Baranets, said: “If we were using this animal for spying, do you really think we’d attach a mobile phone number with the message ‘Please call this number’?”

Sadly, Hvaldimir/Andruha’s incredible story does not have a happy ending.

Having learned to feed himself, it spent several years travelling south along Norway’s coast and in May 2023 was even spotted off the coast of Sweden.

Then on September 1 2024 its body was found floating at sea, near the town of Risavika, on Norway’s south-western coast.

Had the long arm of Putin’s Russia caught up with the reluctant beluga?

It appears not. Despite some activist groups suggesting that the whale had been shot, that explanation has been dismissed by the Norwegian police.

They say there was nothing to suggest that human activity directly caused the beluga’s death. A post-mortem examination revealed that Hvaldimir/Andruha died after a stick became lodged in his mouth.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in the Costa del Sol region of southern Spain after a red weather alert was issued for extreme rain and flooding.

Spain’s Civil Protection Agency sent a mass alert to phones in Málaga province after 22:00 local time (21:00 GMT) on Tuesday evening warning of a “extreme risk of rainfall”.

The area, including the tourist resorts of Marbella, Velez and Estepona, is expected to take the brunt of the extreme weather phenomenon known as a “Dana”.

Several other regions in Spain remain on alert as the new weather front is expected to bring torrential rain and low temperatures just weeks after the country was devastated by flash floods that have so far killed more than 220 people.

Catalonia in north-eastern Spain, particularly the coast near Tarragona, has also been placed on red alert until Wednesday evening.

Schools in the entire southern province of Málaga have been closed while many supermarkets have kept shutters down.

Around 3,000 people living in close proximity to the Guadalhorce River have been told to leave their homes, the Regional Government of Andalusia has said.

Regional government’s Minister of the Presidency Antonio Sanz said: “We have not evacuated entire towns, but rather specific areas linked to the riverbank.

“This decision has been communicated to the government of Spain in order to receive collaboration from the state security forces and bodies.”

The severe weather alert in Málaga has also led to the opening tie of the Billie Jean King Cup between Spain and Poland being postponed, the International Tennis Federation said.

The two nations were set to play in Malaga on Wednesday.

Spain’s meteorological agency Aemet has placed parts of the Valencia and Andalusia regions, as well as the Balearic Islands, on orange alert from now until Thursday.

Aemet warns of rainfall and storms that could be “very strong to torrential”.

In other parts of Spain precautions are being taken – with eastern and southern Mediterranean areas the most vulnerable.

That orange alert is the second highest and it signals a significant meteorological event “with a degree of danger for normal activities”.

In Valencia, school classes and sports activities suspended in some areas and sandbags piled up to protect the centre of the town of Aldaia.

However this second Dana weather system is not expected to be as dramatic as the red alert on 29 October, when the Valencia region in particular suffered an unprecedented loss of lives and material damage.

• Why Valencia floods proved so deadly
• Video shows first wave of flood water gushing through town in Valencia
• Accusations fly in Spain over who is to blame for flood disaster

Elsewhere, rescue teams searching for the bodies of two young brothers who were swept away in the Valencia floods two weeks ago said their bodies had been found.

Izan Matías, 5, and Rubén Matías, 3, were pulled from their father Victor Matías’s arms when the torrent ripped through their home in Valencia on the evening of 29 October.

Their aunt Barabara Sastre confirmed to the BBC the boys had been found. Their bodies were recovered in different locations.

“My little angels, we have finally found you” one family friend, David Garcia, wrote online. “Two stars shine brighter in the sky.”

Yesterday, search teams had focused on part of the River Pollo about 6km (3.7km) from the family home.

The boys’ uncle Iván had told the BBC he was hugely grateful for all the support they had received and hoped his nephews would be found.

Volunteers from the Canary Islands and other parts of Spain had joined recovery specialists from Mexico, who normally work in the aftermath of earthquakes.

On Monday, the family dog was found dead in a garage in the town of Paiporta, more than 12km (7.4 miles) from their house in La Curra, a neighbourhood of Mas del Jutge.

Dana weather systems are formed when an area of low pressure gets “cut off” from the main flow of the jet stream.

This means that instead of moving through a region relatively quickly, they get blocked over the same area leading to persistent rainfall for several days.

Colder air high in the atmosphere meets warmer air flowing in from the Mediterranean which intensifies the storm.