A funny thing happened on the way to a bipartisan agreement to fund US government operations and avoid a partial shutdown this week.

Conservatives in Congress – encouraged by tech multi-billionaire Elon Musk – balked.

Republicans tried to regroup on Thursday afternoon, offering a new, slimmed-down package to fund the government. That vote failed, as 38 Republicans joined most Democrats in voting no.

All this political drama provides just a taste of the chaos and unpredictability that could be in store under unified Republican rule in Washington next year.

The man at the centre of this week’s drama holds no official government title or role. What Elon Musk does have, however, is hundreds of billions of dollars, a social media megaphone and the ear not just of the president of the United States but also rank-and-file conservatives in Congress.

On Wednesday morning, the tech tycoon took to X, which he purchased for $44bn two years ago, to disparage a compromise that Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson had struck with Democrats to temporarily fund US government operations until mid-March.

As the number of his posts about the proposed agreement stretched into triple digits, at times amplifying factually inaccurate allegations made by conservative commentators, opposition to the legislation in Congress grew.

And by Wednesday evening, Donald Trump – perhaps sensing that he needed to get in front of the growing conservative uprising – publicly stated that he, too, opposed the government funding bill.

He said it contained wasteful spending and Democratic priorities, while also demanding that Congress take the politically sensitive step of raising – or even doing away with – the legal cap on newly issued American debt that the US would reach sometime next summer.

Support for the stopgap spending bill then collapsed, forcing Johnson and his leadership team to scramble to find an alternative path forward. As they did, Musk celebrated, proclaiming that “the voice of the people has triumphed”.

It may be more accurate, however, to say that it was Musk’s voice that triumphed.

On Thursday afternoon, Republicans unveiled a new proposal that suspended the debt limit for the first two years of Trump’s second term, funded the government until March and included some disaster relief and other measures included in the original funding package.

But Musk’s involvement may not land well with some legislators. Democrats in the chamber joked about “President Musk”, while even a few Republicans publicly grumbled.

“Who?” Pennsylvania Republican Glenn Thompson responded when asked about Musk. “I don’t see him in the chamber.”

Musk may have been the instigator, but this latest congressional funding crisis reveals what has been – and is likely to continue to be – an ongoing challenge for the narrow Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

For two years, Republicans in the chamber have grappled with keeping a united front amidst a party populated, at least in part, by politicians with an active contempt for the government they help to run.

Internal divisions delayed Kevin McCarthy’s election as speaker of the House in January 2022 and led to his removal – a first in American history – the following year. Johnson ultimately replaced him, but only after weeks of leaderless limbo.

• Musk joins Bezos and Trump dinner at Mar-a-Lago
• Will Musk be able to cut $2 trillion from government spending?
• Why government shutdowns seem to only happen in US
• What happens during a US government shutdown?

Some Republicans had hoped that with Trump’s election, members of their majority, which will become even slimmer when the new Congress is sworn in next month, would be more willing to march in lockstep to support the new president’s agenda. And some are.

“I think President Trump pretty much laid out the plan, so I don’t know what the discussions are about,” Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna told reporters after internal Republican meetings on Thursday afternoon.

What this week has revealed, however, is that the president-elect may not always offer the legislature the clear, consistent direction it requires.

His insistence on raising the debt limit, for instance, caught many in his own party by surprise. And outside influences, such as from Musk or others, could inject extra instability into the process.

If Republicans aren’t able to reach near unanimity in the House, they will have to find ways to win over Democrats if they want to achieve any kind of legislative success. And what this week showed (once again) is that the kind of political compromises necessary could prompt a greater number of Republican defections.

Trump’s party will be challenged to effectively govern on its own – but it also may not be able to tolerate governing with the help of Democrats.

If there is no political equilibrium in the chamber, it would put Trump’s more ambitious legislative priorities at risk before he even takes office.

Republicans may yet find a way to avoid a lengthy government shutdown through a temporary budget resolution, even though the first round of pressure from Trump resulted in an embarrassing failure to win enough support within his own party.

For Johnson, however, the damage may have already been done. His authority over House Republicans has been undercut – first by Musk and then by Trump – just a few weeks before he stands for re-election as speaker of the House.

Already one Republican, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, has said he will not support Johnson’s re-election. Others, including members of Johnson’s own leadership team, have been noncommittal. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the firebrand Georgia congresswoman who unsuccessfully pushed to remove Johnson in May, suggested Musk become speaker.

Meanwhile, Trump – the one man who could throw Johnson a lifeline – has been equivocal, telling Fox News that Johnson could “easily” remain speaker if he “acts decisively and tough”.

Decisiveness may not be enough, however, when every direction for the speaker appears to lead to a dead end.

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.

When Gisele Pelicot walked into a French courthouse to hear the dozens of men who raped her answer for their crimes, she wore a scarf that served as a “hug” from the other side of the planet.

The 72-year-old has become a global feminist icon, after waiving her right to anonymity as a sexual assault victim, to demand “shame change sides”, from the victim to the rapist.

The scarf was a gift from Australia’s Older Women’s Network, whose members were inspired by Ms Pelicot’s bravery and wanted to give her something as a symbol of their support and gratitude.

“A scarf is like a hug… It’s draped around your neck and it hangs close to your heart,” the advocacy group’s president, 74-year-old Beverly Baker, told the BBC.

“We sent it to her in solidarity, to say, ‘Look, you’re not alone. Women across the world are backing you’.”

Ms Pelicot wore the scarf frequently throughout the dark trial – including when she gave evidence.

Her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, also 72, was on Thursday jailed for 20 years – the maximum term – after admitting he drugged and raped his wife for over a decade, and invited other men to abuse her too.

He was on trial with 50 others, all of whom were found guilty of at least one charge, and received varying jail sentences.

The convictions brought an end to France’s largest ever rape trial, which over the course of three months has shocked the country and the world.

“It’s absolutely heartbreaking,” Ms Baker said.

“We were gobsmacked that not only did it occur, but this amazing woman was brave enough… to put herself out there to stop it happening to other women.”

The Older Women’s Network also wanted to connect Ms Pelicot with the 60,000 years of resilience and courage of Australia’s Indigenous women – choosing a scarf featuring the work of Mulyatingki Marney, an 83-year-old Aboriginal artist.

Her artwork depicts a cluster of saltwater pools in Western Australia’s remote Pilbara region, known amongst the Martu people for their healing properties, and tells a cultural story about a family of dingoes

“The moon is taking care of the dingo pups, it’s looking after them,” Ms Marney is quoted as saying, when describing the piece.

Ms Marney was unavailable to speak to the BBC, but Rhianna Stewart from Martumili Artists – her agent – said she saw the scarf as an expression of Ms Marney’s challenges living in the desert and confronting the violence of colonisation.

There are parallels between the scarf’s creator and its wearer she says: “This lady [Ms Pelicot] as a person is truth telling too, about difficult realities.”

The scarf has become a source of pride for fellow members of the Martumili Artists group, Martu woman Sylvia Wilson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“It’s the place Wilarra, which is a healing place out on community,” she said.

“There’s a really strong message… what’s behind the scarf too.”

Ms Pelicot last month said she was “very honoured” to wear the gift.

And speaking outside of the court following the verdicts, she said, though the trial had been a “very difficult ordeal”, she “never regretted” her decision to make it public.

“I opened the doors of this trial so society could see what was happening,” Ms Pelicot said, adding that the support she’d received had given her hope of a “better future” where men and women can live in “mutual respect”.

Ms Baker says there’s no doubt Ms Pelicot’s “generous” courage is helping change conversations about sexual violence in Australia.

“We know that people are now listening to the fact that older women are the victims of sexual abuse.”

“Rape has got nothing to do with being young or traditionally attractive. Rape has got to do with violence and power.

“That’s just such a powerful message, not just for older women, but for younger women as well… It is not their fault.”

She said she now hopes Ms Pelicot has a chance to heal.

“We just wish her the best for the rest of her life, so that she is able to live in dignity and respect and joy.”

It is not unusual for couples to argue over naming their baby, but it rarely ends up in court.

But a couple from India’s southern state of Karnataka found themselves needing the courts to intervene following a three year fight over their son’s name.

In fact, the fight had got so nasty the couple were seeking a divorce.

It all began back in 2021, when the woman – who has not been named – gave birth to a boy and went to her parents’ home for a few weeks. It is common for women in India to move to their parents’ house after having a child to rest and recover.

Normally, the husband would come to bring both the mother and the baby back to their home.

But when the then-21-year-old woman refused to accept the name her husband had chosen for their son, he was upset – and never went to bring her back.

Instead, she chose the name Adi for her child – made up of the first letter of her name, and part of her husband’s, according to Hunsur’s assistant public prosecutor Sowmya MN.

Months turned into years and the woman, who was still at her parents’ house, approached the local court in Hunsur town of the state’s Mysuru district seeking financial support from her husband.

Her lawyer MR Harish told BBC Hindi that the dispute had now escalated to the point where she was seeking a divorce.

“She wanted maintenance money as she is a home-maker,” he said.

The case was initially filed in a local court but later transferred to the People’s court, also known as the Lok Adalat, which handle cases which can be solved through mediation.

Despite multiple suggestions from judges, the couple remained firm – until they finally agreed on a name chosen by the court.

The child is now named Aryavardhana, Ms Sowmya says, which means “of nobility”.

The couple then exchanged garlands, a symbol of acceptance as per Indian tradition, and apparently left happily to continue their marriage.

This is not the only time in recent years that an Indian court has had to get involved when it comes to naming a child.

Last September, a child in Kerala was refused entry to school after it was revealed her birth certificate was blank.

Her mother approached the court explaining she had tried to get the now four-year-old registered, but officials refused to complete the form because the father – from whom she was separated – was not present.

In its order, the high court directed the birth registration office to accept the name suggested by the mother and add the father’s name.

The Malaysian government says it has agreed in principle to resume the search for a passenger jet that vanished 10 years ago in one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 while on its way to Beijing, China, from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia with 239 people on board.

Efforts to locate the wreckage of the Boeing 777 have sputtered over the years and hundreds of families of those on board remain haunted by the tragedy.

On Friday, Malaysia’s transport minister Anthony Loke said the cabinet approved in principle a $70m (£56m) deal with US-based marine exploration firm Ocean Infinity to find the aircraft.

Under a “no find, no fee” arrangement, Ocean Infinity will get paid only when the wreckage is found.

A 2018 search for the MH370 wreckage by Ocean Infinity under similar terms ended unsuccessfully after three months.

A multinational effort that cost $150m (£120m) ended in 2017 after two years of scouring vast waters. The governments of the three nations involved – Malaysia, Australia and China – said the search would only be resumed “should credible new evidence emerge” of the aircraft’s location.

While the government has “in principle” accepted Ocean Infinity’s offer, Loke said negotiations over specific terms of the deal were still ongoing and would be finalised early next year.

The new search will cover a 15,000 sq km patch in the southern Indian Ocean, based on new data that Kuala Lumpur found to be “credible”, the minister said.

“We hope this time will be positive,” Loke said, adding that finding the wreckage would give closure to the families of those on board.

Relatives of passengers on MH370 welcomed the Malaysian government’s approval of a new search.

“I am so happy for the news… [It] feels like the best Christmas present ever,” Jacquita Gonzales, the wife of MH370 inflight supervisor Patrick Gomes, told the New Straits Times.

“This announcement stirs mixed emotions – hope, gratitude, and sorrow. After nearly 11 years, the uncertainty and pain of not having answers have been incredibly difficult for us,” Intan Maizura Othaman also told the papers. Her husband, Mohd Hazrin Mohamed Hasnan, was a member of the cabin crew.

Jiang Hui, whose mother was on the plane, told the Reuters news agency the Malaysian government must have a “more open approach” to the search to allow more players to take part.

In a statement, Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Plunkett said the Malaysian government’s decision was “great news”, adding: “We look forward to sharing further updates in the new year once we’ve finalised the details and the team gets ready to go.”

Flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur in the early hours of 8 March 2014. It lost communication with air traffic control less than an hour after take-off and radar showed that it deviated from its planned flight path.

Investigators generally agree that the plane crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean – though it is unclear as to why it happened.

Pieces of debris, believed to be from the plane, have washed up on shores of the Indian Ocean in the years after the disappearance.

A host of conspiracy theories have sprouted up around the aircraft’s disappearance, from speculation that the pilot had deliberately brought down the plane to claims that it had been shot down by a foreign military.

A 2018 investigation into the aircraft’s disappearance found that the plane’s controls were likely deliberately manipulated to take it off course – but drew no conclusions about who had been behind it.

Investigators said at the time that “the answer can only be conclusive if the wreckage is found”.

What Haneul remembers most about his time in the North Korean military is the gnawing, continuous hunger. He lost 10kg in his first month of service, due to a diet of cracked corn and mouldy cabbage.

Three months into training, he says almost his entire battalion was severely malnourished and needed to be sent to a recovery centre to gain weight.

When they were later deployed as frontline guards to the border with South Korea, rice replaced corn. But by the time it reached their bowls, much had been siphoned off by rear units, and the remainder had been cut with sand.

Haneul says his unit was among the best-fed, a tactic to stop them defecting to South Korea. But it failed to prevent Haneul.

In 2012, he made a death-defying dash across the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) – the strip of land dividing the North from the South.

His experience and that of other military defectors helps shed light on the condition of thousands of North Korean troops deployed to the frontline in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Pyongyang has reportedly sent around 11,000 troops to help Russian forces reclaim part of its Kursk region taken by Ukraine in a surprise summer offensive.

Earlier this week, Seoul, Washington and Kyiv said the soldiers had now entered the fight “in significant numbers”, and reported the first casualties, with South Korean officials estimating more than 100 had already been killed and more injured. This figure has not been confirmed.

However, defectors and other military experts have told the BBC these troops should not be underestimated.

According to South Korean intelligence, most belong to the elite Storm Corps unit, and have “high morale”, but “lack an understanding of contemporary warfare”.

Only the taller, sportier men are selected for the Storm Corps, says defector Lee Hyun Seung, who trained North Korea’s special forces in the early 2000s before defecting in 2014.

He taught them martial arts, how to throw knives and make weapons out of cutlery and other kitchen utensils.

But even though the Storm Corps’ training is more advanced than that of regular North Korean units, the soldiers are still underfed and even malnourished.

Online videos, reportedly of the troops in Russia, show younger, “frail” soldiers, Haneul says. They are a stark contrast to Pyongyang’s propaganda videos, where men are seen bursting out of iron chains and smashing blocks of ice with their bare hands.

During his entire time in the army, Haneul says he fired only three bullets in a single live-fire training session.

The closest he came to combat was when a hungry farmer stumbled into the DMZ looking for vegetables. Haneul says he ignored instructions to “shoot any intruders” and let the man go with a warning.

It is difficult to know how much has changed in the decade since Haneul defected, given the scarcity of information from North Korea. It appears that the country’s leader Kim Jong Un has directed much of his limited resources into missiles and nuclear weapons rather than his standing army.

But according to another soldier, Ryu Seonghyun, who defected in 2019, the first three years in the military are “incredibly tough”, even for the special forces. The 28-year-old, who worked as a driver in the air force for seven years, says that during his service, conditions deteriorated and rice gradually disappeared from meals.

“The soldiers are sent into the mountains for days with a small amount of rice, and are told it is part of their survival training.”

Given these troops have been trained to fight in the mountainous Korean Peninsula, the defectors question how well they will adapt to fighting on the flatlands and in the trenches of Kursk.

Crucially, the Storm Corps are not a frontline unit. “Their mission is to infiltrate enemy lines and create chaos deep within enemy territory,” Ryu says.

But, he adds, Kim Jong Un has no alternative to sending special forces, as regular soldiers spend most of their time farming, building or chopping wood.

“Kim Jong Un had to send men who could demonstrate at least a certain level of combat ability, to avoid damaging North Korea’s reputation in Russia.”

The language barrier seems to have created an additional hurdle. On Sunday, Ukraine’s defence intelligence unit said communication issues had resulted in North Korean soldiers accidentally firing on a Russian battalion, killing eight.

With these assessments, it could be easy to dismiss the troops as “cannon fodder” and a sign of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s desperation. But that would be a mistake, the defectors say. Their loyalty to the regime and fighting spirit will count for a lot.

“Most of the soldiers in the Storm Corps come from working-class or farming families, who are highly obedient to the party and will follow orders unquestionably,” says Haneul, whose father and cousin were in the special forces.

Intense, ideological “brainwashing” sessions, held every morning, will further ensure they are mentally ready, Lee adds. He believes the North Korean troops “will become accustomed to the battlefield, learn how to fight the enemy, and find ways to survive”.

Although the soldiers will not have been given a choice over whether to be deployed, Ryu thinks many will have wanted to go. The ambitious will see it as an opportunity to advance their careers, he says.

And given how tough it is to serve in North Korea, some will have relished the chance to experience life abroad for the first time.

“I think they’ll be more willing to fight than Russian troops,” he adds, admitting that in their situation, he too would have wanted to be sent.

Chun In-bum, a former commander of South Korea’s special forces, agrees with the defectors’ appraisals. “Just because they lack food and training, does not mean they are incapable. They will acclimatise quickly. We should not underestimate them.”

While 11,000 troops are unlikely to turn the tide of such an attritional war – it is estimated Russia is suffering more than a thousand casualties a day – experts and officials believe this could be just the first tranche, with Pyongyang potentially able to send up to 60,000 or even 100,000 if they are rotated.

In these numbers, Mr Chun believes they could end up being effective.

Also, Kim Jong Un will be able to shoulder big losses without affecting the stability of his regime, the former soldiers say.

“Those who have been sent will be men without influence or connections – to put it bluntly, those who can be sacrificed without issue,” Haneul says.

He remembers being shocked to learn there were no children of high-ranking parents in his frontline unit: “That’s when I realised we were expendable.”

He does not expect much resistance from the families of the deceased, whose sons, he says, will be honoured as heroes.

“There are countless parents who have lost a child after sending them to the military,” he adds, recalling his second cousin who died. His aunt received a certificate, praising her son for his heroic contribution.

The loyalty of the soldiers and their families could blunt Ukrainian and South Korean hopes that many will simply defect once they enter the fight. Kyiv and Seoul have discussed conducting psychological operations along the frontline to encourage the men to surrender.

But it seems they do not have access to mobile phones. According to Ukrainian intelligence, even Russian soldiers’ phones are seized before they encounter North Korean troops.

So, possible infiltration strategies include broadcasting messages through loudspeakers or using drones to drop leaflets.

Both Ryu and Haneul decided to defect after reading anti-regime propaganda sent across the border from South Korea. But they are doubtful this would work so far from home.

They say it takes a long time to build up the desire and courage to defect.

Furthermore, Haneul suspects the officers will have been ordered to shoot anyone who attempts to flee. He remembers his comrades opening fire as he made his daring sprint across the DMZ.

“Twelve bullets flew just a metre over my head,” he says.

Even capturing the North Korean troops may prove challenging for Ukraine.

In the North, being a prisoner of war is considered extremely shameful and worse than death. Instead, soldiers are taught to take their own lives, by shooting themselves or detonating a grenade.

Ryu recalls a famous military song entitled Save the Last Bullet. “They tell you to save two bullets, one to shoot the enemy and one to shoot yourself.”

Nevertheless, the former special forces trainer Lee is determined to help. He has offered to go to the frontline to communicate directly with the soldiers.

“It’s unlikely they will defect in large numbers, but we have to try. Hearing familiar voices like mine, and others from North Korea, might impact their psychology,” he says.

Haneul just hopes they get home to North Korea. He knows there is a chance some of his relatives are among the troops sent to help Russia.

“I just hope they make it through and return safely.”

The once formidable Myanmar military is cracking from within – riddled with spies secretly working for the pro-democracy rebels, the BBC has found.

The military only has full control of less than a quarter of Myanmar’s territory, a BBC World Service investigation reveals.

The junta still controls the major cities and remains “extremely dangerous” according to the UN special rapporteur on Myanmar. But it has lost significant territory over the past 12 months – see map below.

The soldier spies are known as “Watermelons” – green on the outside, rebel red within. Outwardly loyal to the military but secretly working for the pro-democracy rebels whose symbolic colour is red.

A major based in central Myanmar says it was the military’s brutality that prompted him to switch sides.

“I saw the bodies of tortured civilians. I shed tears,” says Kyaw [not his real name]. “How can they be so cruel against our own people? We are meant to protect civilians, but now we’re killing people. It’s no longer an army, it’s a force that terrorises.”

More than 20,000 people have been detained and thousands killed, the UN says, since the military seized power in a coup in February 2021 – triggering an uprising.

Kyaw initially thought about defecting from the army, but decided with his wife that becoming a spy was “the best way to serve the revolution”.

When he judges it safe to do so, he leaks internal military information to the People’s Defense Forces [PDF] – a network of civilian militia groups. The rebels use the intelligence to mount ambushes on the military or to avoid attacks. Kyaw also sends them some of his wage, so they can buy weapons.

Spies like him are helping the resistance achieve what was once unthinkable.

The BBC assessed the power balance in more than 14,000 village groups as of mid-November this year, and found the military only has full control of 21% of Myanmar’s territory, nearly four years on from the start of the conflict.

The investigation reveals that ethnic armies and a patchwork of resistance groups now control 42% of the country’s land mass. Much of the remaining area is contested.

The military now controls less than at any time since they first took control of the country in 1962, according to the US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (Acled).

Co-ordinated operations between ethnic armies and civilian militia groups have put the military on the back foot.

After heavy territorial losses earlier this year Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing made a rare admission that his forces were under pressure.

The leaked Watermelon intelligence from within the military is helping to tip the balance. Two years ago, the resistance set up a specialised unit to manage the growing network of spies and to recruit more.

Agents like Win Aung [not his real name] collect the Watermelon leaks, verify them where possible, and then pass them on to the rebel leaders in the relevant area.

He is a former intelligence officer who defected to the resistance after the coup. He says they are now getting new Watermelons every week and social media is a key recruitment tool.

Their spies, he says, range from low-ranking soldiers to high-ranking officers. They also claim to have Watermelons in the military government – “from the ministries down to village heads”.

They are put through a strict verification process to ensure they are not double agents.

Motivations for becoming a spy vary. While in Kyaw’s case it was anger, for a man we are calling “Moe” – a corporal in the navy – it was simply a desire to survive for his young family.

His wife, pregnant at the time, pushed him to do so, convinced the military was losing and he would die in battle.

He began leaking information to the Watermelon unit about weapons and troop movements.

This kind of intelligence is crucial, says pro-democracy rebel leader Daeva.

The ultimate goal of his resistance unit is to take control of Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city and his former home. But they are a long way off.

The military retains the majority of major urban areas – home to crucial infrastructure and revenue.

“It’s easier said than done to attack and occupy [Yangon], Daeva says. “The enemy will not give up on [it] easily.”

Unable to physically penetrate the city, Daeva from his jungle base directs targeted attacks by underground cells in Yangon using Watermelon intelligence.

In August, we witnessed him making one such call. We were not given the details but were told it was to direct an assassination attempt on a colonel.

“We will do it inside the enemy’s security parameters,” he told them. “Be careful, the enemy is losing in every direction,” he added, telling them that this meant they were more likely to be on alert for infiltrators and spies.

Daeva says several major attacks by his unit have been the result of tip-offs.

“We started with nothing and now look at our success,” says Daeva.

But it comes at a cost. Watermelons have to live in fear of both sides, as navy corporal-turned spy Moe discovered.

Deployed from Yangon to Rakhine – a border region where the military is fighting an ethnic group siding with the resistance – he had to live with the terror that his intelligence could mean he himself was attacked.

In March this year, his anchored ship was hit with a projectile missile, followed by open fire. “There was no place to run. We were like rats in a cage.” Seven of his fellow soldiers were killed in the rebel attack.

“Our ability to protect [the moles] is very limited,” admits Win Aung. “We can’t publicly announce that they are Watermelons. And we can’t stop our forces from attacking any particular military convoy.”

He says that when this is explained to the Watermelons, however, they do not falter. Some have even responded: “When it comes to that moment, don’t hesitate, shoot.”

Outside the UK, watch on YouTube

But there are times when the spies can no longer bear the danger.

When Moe was set to be sent to another dangerous front line, he asked the Watermelon unit to smuggle him out into a resistance-controlled area. They do this using an underground network of monasteries and safe houses.

He left in the dead of night. The next morning, when he did not show up for duty, soldiers came round to the house. They interrogated his wife Cho, but she remained tight-lipped.

After days on the run Moe arrived at one of Daeva’s bases. Daeva thanked him over video call, before asking him what role he wanted to play now. Moe replied that, given his young family, he would like a non-combat role and would instead share his knowledge of military training.

A few weeks later he crossed into Thailand. Cho and the children fled their home too and hope to eventually join him and build a new life there.

The military is aggressively trying to reclaim lost territory, carrying out a wave of deadly bombings. With Chinese- and Russian-made fighter jets, it is in the air that it has the upper hand. It knows that the resistance is far from being one homogenous group and is seeking to exploit divisions between them.

“As the junta loses control, their brutality increases. It’s getting worse. The loss of life… the brutality, the torture as they lose ground, literally and figuratively,” says UN special rapporteur Tom Andrews.

The military is also conducting sweeps for Watermelons.

“When I heard about the sweeps, I stopped for a while,” says Kyaw. He says he always acts like a staunch supporter of the military to avoid unwanted attention.

But he is scared and doesn’t know how long he can stay hidden. Defecting is not an option, as he worries about abandoning his ageing parents, so for now, he will keep acting as a military spy, hoping to see a day when the revolution is over.

If and when that day comes, Watermelons like Kyaw and Moe will not be forgotten, Win Aung vows.

“We will treat them with honor, and allow them to choose what they want to do next in their lives.”

The military did not respond to the BBC’s request for an interview.

Kenyan business student Nelson Amenya has been hailed as a hero by those campaigning for greater transparency in the deals his government makes with private firms.

Recent Kenyan history is littered with stories of huge contracts that have resulted from corruption – and despite laws that are supposed to prevent this from happening, there are suspicions that it continues to take place.

Thirty-year-old Mr Amenya, who is studying in France for an MBA, leaked details on social media of what he said was a proposed agreement between Kenya and the Adani Group, an Indian multinational, in July.

It concerned the management of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) – the country’s – and region’s – biggest airport, which is long overdue a complete overhaul.

“The first feeling I had [when I was passed the documents] was that it was just another government deal… I did not understand the magnitude or the seriousness of it,” Mr Amenya, whose profile as an anti-corruption activist had been on the rise, tells the BBC.

The documents detailed a $2bn (£1.6bn) proposal by the Adani Group to lease JKIA for 30 years in order to modernise and run it.

As he started to go through the papers, he felt that if it was to go ahead, it “was going to hurt the Kenyan economy” while all the benefit would go to the Indian multinational.

The deal appeared unfair to him, according to what he read, as Kenya would still be putting in the largest share of the money but not reaping the financial rewards.

Mr Amenya had good reason to think the papers were genuine as “the people who were giving me these documents were from very legitimate departments of government”, he says.

The Adani Group is involved in infrastructure, mining and energy projects globally, in countries such as Israel, the UAE, France, Tanzania, Australia and Greece. Its founder Gautam Adani is a big player in India’s economy and is a close ally of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Through further reading, Mr Amenya says he discovered that the Adani deal with Kenya could have left his country with an obligation to pay the company if it did not recoup its investment.

“This was a great breach of trust of the people by the leadership of the president, the Kenya Airports Authority, the minister – they all betrayed the people,” he alleges.

Despite the evidence in his hands, Mr Amenya wrestled with what to do next. His own safety was at risk, though being in France he was better off than being in Kenya, where anti-corruption activists have been targeted and some killed.

“I was a bit scared. I didn’t know what’s going to happen. I’m risking my career, I’m risking my life, why should I take the risk to do this?” he asked himself at the time.

However, in the end he felt that staying quiet was not an option.

“You know, it’s only cowards who live long.”

After spending weeks going through what he had been sent, Mr Amenya leaked the documents on his X page in July, immediately sparking outrage in Kenya.

JKIA airport workers went on strike demanding that the deal be scrapped.

“It felt like a duty for me, for my country. Even if I am far away, I still have a duty for my country. I want to see a better Kenya, my home country becoming developed, industrialised and an end to corruption.”

He worried that the airport deal was a harbinger of what might come next.

Mr Amenya says it was not just the unusual terms and lack of transparency that rang alarm bells, it was also, he alleges, that Kenyan laws appeared to have been systematically ignored.

“[The authorities] never did due diligence for this company… they did not follow the due process of procurement.”

He alleges that some government officials hoped to bypass the legal requirements, including public consultation, that are supposed to prevent taxpayers’ money from being misspent.

A report in April by the Kenya Airports Authority on the proposed deal highlighted that there was no plan to consult stakeholders on the plan.

“This was in April, and by July when I was exposing this, they had not done any public participation. It was quite secret this deal, and by that time they were just a month away from signing the deal,” Mr Amenya alleges.

“After I exposed this deal is when they hurriedly tried to come and do like a sham public participation – they called the Kenya Airports Authority staff and started to have stakeholder meetings.”

Various officials and branches of the state denied allegations of corruption in the process and the authorities went ahead to sign another multimillion dollar deal with the Adani Group – this time to construct power lines.

The Adani Group said Mr Amenya’s claims were baseless and malicious.

A spokesperson told the BBC that “the proposal was submitted following Kenyan Public Private Partnership regulations and was intended to create a world class airport and significantly enhance the Kenyan economy by creating numerous new jobs”.

The Adani Group further says that no contract was signed as “discussions did not progress to a binding agreement”.

The company also says the proposal for the energy deal was above board and that the company “categorically refutes all allegations and insinuations of any violation of Kenyan laws in our operations or proposals.

“Every project we undertake is governed by a strong commitment to compliance, transparency and the laws of the respective countries in which we operate,” the statement read.

But it was not Mr Amenya’s leak that actually changed the government’s mind.

It was only when the US authorities indicted Gautam Adani for alleged involvement in a $250m (£200m) bribery scheme that Kenya acted.

Representatives from the Adani Group denied the allegations from US prosecutors and called them “baseless”.

At a state-of-the-nation address in parliament last month, Kenya’s President William Ruto announced the cancellation of both Adani deals.

“In the face of undisputed evidence or credible information on corruption, I will not hesitate to take decisive action,” Ruto said in a speech met with loud cheers inside parliament.

Kenyans celebrated the decision which Ruto attributed to new information provided by investigative agencies and partner nations.

“I was in class when this announcement came. I couldn’t believe it,” Mr Amenya says.

“I think in the first one hour, I had tears in my eyes. I was so happy.”

Although he does not see himself as a hero, messages of support poured in from everywhere, including from India.

Forty minutes after the class ended, he posted his now-famous tweet “Adios Adani!!” – goodbye Adani.

“It was momentous… All that I did finally paid off.”

The feeling of triumph, however, came after months of personal struggle and pressure.

Soon after exposing the airport deal, Mr Amenya was sued for defamation by an Adani Group representative and a Kenyan politician, making him question whether he should continue.

“Some people were coming to me from the government, they were even ready to pay me, they were telling me: ‘You need to cash out and just stop this fight with the government,'” he recalls.

“It would have been the biggest mistake of my life to give up, a betrayal to the Kenyan people.”

But even after scrapping the deals, President Ruto still questions why Kenyans opposed this and many other projects he has championed. He says he will find a way to upgrade the airport.

“I saw them saying that those who stopped the upgrading of our airport are heroes. Heroes? What do you gain when you stop the building of an airport in your country?” Ruto asked at a public function in early December.

“You have no clue how it’s going to be built, and those who are opposed have never even stepped foot inside an airport, you just want to oppose.”

Mr Amenya, who is still facing the defamation cases, is now fundraising to help with his legal fees, and says his future in Kenya is uncertain.

“I have received threats from credible intelligence agencies and people in Kenya that have warned me not to go back because obviously there’s some people who are very angry with what I did,” he says.

A hefty price, but one Mr Amenya says he would gladly pay again.

“We don’t really need to wait for someone to save us,” he says.

• Gautam Adani: Asia’s richest man
• PODCAST: Kenya airports: Who is Adani group?
• Kenya’s top judge: No-one has ever tried to bribe me
• How Kenya’s judges stood up to President William Ruto

As the new Syria struggles to take shape, old threats are re-emerging.

The chaos since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad is “paving the way” for the so-called Islamic State (IS) to make a comeback, according to a leading Kurdish commander who helped defeat the jihadist group in Syria in 2019. He says the comeback has already begun.

“Activity by Daesh [IS] has increased significantly, and the danger of a resurgence had doubled’, according to General Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a mainly Kurdish militia alliance backed by the US. “They now have more capabilities and more opportunities.”

He says that IS militants have seized some arms and ammunition left behind by Syrian regime troops, according to intelligence reports.

And he warns there is “a real threat” that the militants will try to break into SDF-run prisons here in north-east Syria, which are holding about 10,000 of their men. The SDF is also holding about 50,000 of their family members in camps.

Our interview with the general was late at night, at a location we can’t disclose.

He welcomed the fall of the Assad regime – which detained him four times. But he looked weary and admitted to frustration at the prospect of fighting old battles once again.

“We fought against them [IS] and paid 12,000 souls,” he said, referring to the SDF’s losses. “I think at some level we will have to go back to where we were before.”

The risk of an IS resurgence is heightened, he says, because the SDF is coming under increasing attacks from neighbouring Turkey – and rebel factions it supports – and must divert some fighters to that battle. He tells us the SDF has had to stop counter terrorism operations against IS, and hundreds of prison guards – from a force of thousands – have returned home to defend their villages.

Ankara views the SDF as an extension of the PKK – banned Kurdish separatists who have waged an insurgency for decades, and are classed as terrorists by the US, and the EU. Turkey has long wanted a 30km “buffer zone” in the Kurdish region in northeastern Syria. Since Assad’s fall, it is pushing harder to get it.

“The number one threat is now Turkey because its airstrikes are killing our forces,” said General Abdi. “These attacks must stop, because they are distracting us from focusing on the security of the detention centres,” he said, “though we will always do our best.”

Inside Al-Sina, the largest prison for IS detainees, we saw the layers of security and felt the tension among the staff.

The former educational institute in the city of Al-Hasakah holds about 5,000 men – suspected fighters or supporters of IS.

Every cell door is padlocked and secured with three bolts. The corridors are divided into sections by heavy iron gates. The guards are masked, with batons in hand. Getting access here is rare.

We were allowed a glimpse inside two cells but could not speak to the men inside. They were told we were journalists and were given the option of hiding their faces. Few did. Most sat silently on blankets and thin mattresses. Two men paced the floor.

Kurdish security sources say most of the prisoners in Al-Sina were with IS until its last stand and were deeply committed to its ideology.

We were taken to meet a 28-year-old detainee – thin and softly spoken – who did not want to be named. He said he was speaking freely, though on the key issues he wouldn’t say much.

He told us he left his native Australia at the age of 19, to visit his grandmother in Cyprus.

“From there, one thing led to another,” he said, “and I ended up in Aleppo.” He claimed he was working with an NGO in the city of Raqqa when IS took over.

I asked if he had blood on his hands, and was involved with killing anyone? “No, I wasn’t,” he replied, barely audibly.

And did he support what IS was doing? “I don’t wish to answer that question because it might have an effect on my case,” he replied.

He hopes to get back to Australia one day, though he’s unsure if he will be welcome.

About three hours drive from Al-Sina, behind the wire of Roj camp, many believe that freedom is coming. Somehow.

This bleak expanse of tents – ringed by walls, fences and watch towers – is home to almost 3,000 women and children. They have never been tried or convicted but they are the families of IS fighters and supporters.

There are several British women in the camp. We met three of them, briefly. All said they had been told by their lawyers not to speak.

In a windswept corner we came across a woman willing to talk – Saida Temirbulatova, 47, a former tax inspector from Dagestan. Her nine-year-old son, Ali, stood quietly by her side. She hopes the overthrow of Assad will mean freedom for them both.

“The new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa [the head of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham] made an address, saying he will give everyone their freedom. We also want freedom. We want to leave, most likely for Russia. It’s the only country that will take us.”

The camp manager tells us that others believe IS will come to their rescue and break them out. She asked us not to use her name as she fears for her safety.

“Since the fall of Assad, the camp is calm. Typically, when it’s this quiet, it means the women are organising themselves,” she said. “They have packed their bags ready to go. They say: ‘We will get out of this camp soon and renew ourselves. We will come back again as IS.'”

She says there’s a visible change, even in the children, who chant slogans and swear at passersby. “They say: ‘We will come back and get you. It [IS] is coming soon.'”

During our time in the camp many children raised the index finger of their right hands. This gesture is used by all Muslims in daily prayer, but it’s also widely used by IS militants.

The women in Roj camp aren’t the only ones packing their bags.

Some Kurdish civilians in the city of Al-Hasakah are doing the same – fearing a comeback by the jihadis and another ground offensive by Turkey in north-eastern Syria. This would be the fourth invasion by Turkish forces. It’s expected soon.

Jewan, 24, who teaches English, is getting ready to go – reluctantly.

“I have packed my bag, and I am preparing my ID and my important documents, “he tells me. “I don’t want to leave my home and my memories, but we are all living in a state of constant fear. The Turks are threatening us, and the doors are open for IS. They can attack their jails. They can do whatever they want.”

Jewan was displaced once before from the north-western city of Aleppo, at the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011. He is wondering where to go, this time.

“The situation demands urgent international intervention to protect civilians,” he says. I ask if he thinks it will come. “No,” he replies softly. But he asks me to mention his plea.

French President Emmanuel Macron has paid tribute to Gisèle Pelicot for the strength she showed in the mass rape trial of her husband and 50 other men.

Describing her as a trailblazer for women, he said her “dignity and courage moved and inspired France and the world”.

Her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, 72, was given a maximum 20 years in jail for aggravated rape, after confessing to drugging her for almost a decade and recruiting dozens of men to rape her while she lay comatose in bed.

After 50 other men were given lesser sentences, Gisèle Pelicot said the trial was a difficult ordeal, but she believed in a future where women and men could “live in harmony with respect and mutual understanding”.

It was her decision to waive her anonymity and throw the trial open to the public that drew global attention to the issues of rape and drug-induced sexual assault.

Judges in Avignon in southern France found all 51 defendants aged 27 to 74 guilty, but a lawyer for Gisèle Pelicot said on Friday that “no sentence will give her back her ruined life”.

Her three children were said to have been disappointed that many of the sentences had been shorter than the terms requested by prosecutors. They ranged from three to 15 years, rather than the maximum of 18 sought by prosecutors.

Forty-one of the men have been sent to jail immediately, reports say. Many of those convicted are likely to appeal against their sentences.

Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer said he had been “somewhat stunned” by his 20-year jail term and would decide whether to appeal in the coming days. Judges say he will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence before being eligible for parole.

Campaigners against sexual violence have stood outside the court throughout the trial and hope it could bring about reform of France’s rape laws and change the debate on rape culture and drug-induced sexual assault.

“Shame changes sides” has become one of the slogans of the case and, in an indication of the importance of the trial, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz thanked Gisèle Pelicot for giving women around the world “a strong voice”.

“The shame always lies with the perpetrator,” Scholz added.

One of her lawyers, Antoine Camus, told France Info radio on Friday that the trial would serve as a “building block” and that by making the proceedings public Gisèle Pelicot had sought to enable society to “get to grips with [the issues] and ask the right questions”.

The president of France’s National Assembly, Yaël Braun Pivet, said a taboo had been broken: “The world is no longer the same thanks to you.”

French ex-prime minister Gabriel Attal hoped that the mass rape trial would send a “shock wave” through the education of every young boy – “because this is where the fight for equality and respect begins”.

An amphibious mouse with webbed feet and a blob-headed fish are among 27 new species scientists have discovered in Peru.

They were found in an expedition to Alto Mayo – which includes the Amazon rainforest – by scientists from the non-profit organisation Conservation International and members of local indigenous groups.

Up to 48 other new species may also have been found, although further study will be needed to determine whether they are new, Conservation International says.

“Discovering so many new species of mammals and vertebrates is really incredible, especially in such a human-influenced landscape,” said Trond Larsen, senior director at Conservation International.

Alto Mayo is a protected area in northern Peru with multiple ecosystems and Indigenous territories.

It has a relatively high population density, putting pressure on environmentalism through deforestation and agricultural expansion, Conservation International said.

Yulisa Tuwi, an Awajún woman who assisted with the research, said the report “allows the Awajún to protect our culture, natural resources and our territory”, as it gives them a better understanding of the ecosystems.

“[The Awajún] have extensive traditional knowledge about the forests, animals and plants they live side-by-side with,” Mr Larsen said.

The expedition also found a new species of dwarf squirrel, eight types of fish, three amphibians and 10 types of butterfly.

This “blob-headed” fish is a new discovery to science, but the Indigenous Awajún people who helped with the expedition were already aware of its existence.

The fish scientists were particularly shocked by its enlarged head – something they had never seen before.

This dwarf squirrel measures just 14cm (5.5in), half the length of an average grey squirrel in the UK, which ranges from 24 to 29cm, according to the UK Squirrel Accord.

“[It] fits so easily in the palm of your hand. Adorable and beautiful chestnut-brown colour, very fast,” Larsen said.

“It jumps quickly and hides in the trees.”

Scientists discovered a new species of spiny mouse – named after the especially stiff guard hairs found on their coats, which function similar to the spines of a hedgehog.

They also found a new “amphibious mouse”, which has partially webbed feet and eats aquatic insects.

It belongs to a group of semi-aquatic rodents considered to be among the rarest in the world, with the few species known to exist only spotted a handful of times by scientists.

A seven-year-old child has been killed and other children injured after man entered a primary school in Croatia and attacked a teacher and students with a knife.

Three children were taken to hospital following the incident in Zagreb, the Croatian capital, on Friday. They are now “out of danger”, Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said.

The alleged attacker, a 19-year-old man and former pupil, was arrested near the scene. He is also being treated for self-inflicted injuries.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said he was “horrified” by the incident at Precko Elementary School, in the west of the city.

Photographs from the scene show police officers, ambulance staff and forensic teams outside the building.

Health Minister Irena Hrstic told reporters outside a children’s hospital that the attacker had entered the school before stabbing staff and pupils.

A total of five people were hospitalised following the incident, she added.

Bozinovic said the suspect had a history of mental health issues and that the police had “stopped him from committing suicide”.

He added the man initially fled the scene and locked himself inside a room at a nearby health centre, before being detained.

Parents at the school spoke of panic as they searched for their children.

“It’s disastrous that when I rushed into the school, I had no information regarding my child’s whereabouts, no one was willing to provide any details,” Marko Palada told Reuters.

Croatia will observe a day of mourning on Saturday because of the attack.

Sir Paul McCartney has reunited with his former Beatles bandmate Sir Ringo Starr during a gig at London’s O2 Arena.

The drummer was brought on stage to thunderous applause before the pair launched into classics Helter Skelter and Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

“I’ve had a great night and I love you all,” Sir Ringo said later as he walked offstage.

Thursday’s performance was the last in Sir Paul’s Got Back tour, which saw the 82-year-old play in France, Spain and Brazil.

Sir Ringo was not the only musical guest appearance on Thursday night. Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood joined Sir Paul for a rendition of Get Back, during which the latter played his original Hofner 500/1 bass guitar for the first time in more than 50 years.

The instrument was stolen in 1972 but Sir Paul was reunited with it earlier this year.

Sir Paul and Sir Ringo, who are the last surviving members of The Beatles, have played together a number of times since the band broke up in 1970.

That includes at Sir Ringo’s 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction and on Sir Paul’s last tour, Freshen Up, in 2019.

Sir Paul is known for treating his fans to jumbo performances packed with hits from his lengthy musical career, which also includes the band Wings and several solo albums.

Thursday night was no different, with him playing nearly 40 songs on various instruments.

Other highlights from Thursday’s gig included a performance of In Spite of All the Danger. This was the first song recorded by The Quarrymen, the first band Sir Paul was a member of, along with the late John Lennon and George Harrison.

He was also joined by a children’s choir to sing his festive favourite Wonderful Christmastime.

It was something in Dominique Pelicot’s swagger, his “élan” – as the French might put it – that immediately struck the psychiatrist as odd.

There he stood. A 68-year-old pensioner who had already spent several months inside one of France’s most notorious prisons, Les Baumettes in Marseilles. The prison was a grim, intimidating place, crowded with members of the port city’s warring drug gangs.

And yet the man in the visiting room who rose to greet Dr Laurent Layet on a cold day in February 2021 seemed “clean, polished… He had just cut his own hair. He came towards me with this assertive attitude.” Dr Layet was surprised, to put it mildly.

The psychiatrist was the first of many people to scrutinise Dominique Pelicot. Each expert was looking for clues to explain how this apparently genial pensioner could have committed such grotesque crimes and deceived his unsuspecting victim for so long.

In all his years interviewing hundreds of rapists and suspected rapists on behalf of French police and prosecutors, Dr Layet had never come across anyone quite like this grey-haired former electrician, calmly awaiting prosecution for drugging his wife Gisele and inviting dozens of strangers to rape her as she lay, unconscious, in the couple’s bedroom.

“Something didn’t fit. I had never encountered such an exceptional case,” Dr Layet remembers thinking at the time.

At the end of a gruelling, four-month trial that has enraged people across France and far beyond – even as they were inspired by the dignity and courage of Gisele – Dominique Pelicot’s confident demeanour, a grandiose presence in the courtroom in Avignon, remained intact.

One might expect a man in Pelicot’s position – a globally reviled sexual predator, and rapist, facing the near-certain prospect of dying in prison – to cut a wretched figure. And there have been a handful of brief moments when he wept, openly, in court – usually for himself.

But for the most part, he struck an imperious pose, courtroom microphone in one hand, his body slouched in a throne-like chair (to accommodate the accused’s health issues), sometimes looking bored, occasionally interjecting like a ringmaster seeking to keep an unruly circus – the 50 other men on trial beside him – in their place.

“I am a rapist, like the others in this room. They knew everything,” he intoned, speaking with the confidence of a man who assumed his words would put an end to all further discussion.

But what are we to make of that domineering performance? And what have we really learned of this jowly, grey-haired figure, with his black cane and scarf, seated in a glass cage; this serial rapist whose cruelty has almost been eclipsed in the public imagination by the dignity and courage shown by his former wife?

Dr Layet first encountered Dominique in the late summer of 2020 at a police station in the nearby town of Carpentras, immediately after his arrest for filming with a camera up women’s skirts in a local supermarket. Called in to assess Pelicot, Dr Layet noted how breezily he dismissed his crime, like a genteel grandfather caught pocketing a few cigarettes.

Dr Layet detected a “dissonance” in the man’s behaviour, and the strong implication that he was hiding something more serious. He told the police that this one was worth closer inspection.

In court, years later, after two long prison interviews with Pelicot and with more than 20 of the other accused, Dr Layet presented a more detailed assessment to the panel of judges.

A measured and eloquent expert witness, Dr Layet stressed that Pelicot exhibited no signs of severe mental illness. He could not be dismissed as a “monster”. Nor was he psychotic – unable to tell reality from fiction.

And yet. There was a “fissure”, a split, in Pelicot’s personality.

A showier witness might have borrowed from popular culture to compare him to a tormented Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, or perhaps to Hannibal Lecter, stiff-backed in his prison cell in The Silence of the Lambs.

Instead, Dr Layet reached for a mundane image.

“Almost like a hard drive,” he suggested. A fitting metaphor, given that Pelicot had stored video evidence of his crimes on a computer memory card.

Later, in an interview with the BBC at his office in Carpentras, Dr Layet explained that Pelicot’s mind had become divided, over time, like a partitioned computer disk, into two entirely separate “water-tight parts… with no leakage between them. His split personality is very effective and very solid. We either have the ‘normal Mr Pelicot’ or the other Mr Pelicot at night, in the bedroom.”

Asked in court to explain that “other” Pelicot, Dr Layet said that he had detected a range of emotional and sexual abnormalities. They are, perhaps, most neatly captured in their original French, in a prosecution document seen by the BBC:

“Egomania, narcissistic fragility, emotional disorders… an abnormal sexual deviancy combining candaulism [exposing your female partner to others for sexual enjoyment], voyeurism and somnophilia.”

Pelicot’s own defence lawyer, Beatrice Zavarro, enthusiastically embraced the “split” personality theory in her closing arguments at the trial. She suggested that the charming young man Gisele Pelicot had fallen in love with and quickly married back in 1973 “was not the man that had harmed her”.

But that is not what Dr Layet – or the other psychiatrists we have consulted for this article – meant.

There may be two sides to Pelicot’s behaviour, but there is – to stick with Dr Layet’s computing metaphor – only one operating system that controls his cruel, private urges and his public demeanour.

A simpler way of putting it is that Pelicot has an antisocial personality disorder – a term preferred by psychiatrists these days to words such as psychopath or sociopath. Several experts have concluded it is a reasonable diagnosis to use in the context of Pelicot’s warped mind.

He is not “mad” – he cannot claim diminished responsibility for his actions. But he does show well-established traits of a personality disorder characterised by a lack of empathy towards other humans. Those traits may have been sharpened by the sexual abuse he experienced as a child.

Which brings us to another key question. Did Pelicot only become a rapist in retirement, or was he preying on women long before he began drugging his wife?

Sitting towards the back of the courtroom one Tuesday afternoon late in the trial, surrounded by journalists tapping away on their laptops, Florence Rault looked at Dominique Pelicot with a particularly well-informed sense of disgust.

“It can be assumed that what happened in Mazan… is only the culmination of a long process,” she said later, in a BBC interview.

Ms Rault, a lawyer specialising in criminal cases, knew something deeply troubling about Pelicot – allegations of appalling crimes arguably more disturbing than those for which he was about to be convicted.

For many years, she had been fighting for justice for two women who were the victims of violent ordeals in the 1990s.

More than 20 years before the rapes for which he has now been sentenced – in 1999 – Pelicot is accused of assaulting and attempting to rape a 23-year-old estate agent, known by the pseudonym Marion, in the suburbs of Paris. She fought the attacker off.

He eventually admitted to being present at the scene in 2021 after DNA – a spot of blood on the victim’s shoe – was finally found to match Pelicot’s. But he continues to deny he attempted to rape her and the investigation continues.

“Once he was told that his DNA was found at the crime scene, he said ‘Yes, it’s me,'” Ms Rault remembered.

And that discovery quickly led to a link to an even older cold case. In 1991, another young estate agent, Sophie Narme, had been raped and murdered. Although crucial DNA evidence had gone missing, the similarities between the scenes were so striking that Pelicot is under investigation for the crime, which he denies. The search for other potential links to older crimes is also ongoing.

If you’ve been affected by issues of sexual abuse, information and support is available at BBC Action Line.

Ms Rault is not expecting any more confessions from Pelicot in relation to the cold cases.

“Until he’s confronted with indisputable proof, he will deny [everything],” said Ms Rault, who once sat beside Pelicot at a hearing and was struck, like Dr Layet, by his “relaxed, rather serene” demeanour.

Ms Rault now watched him in the Avignon courtroom and saw the same behaviour. She also noted how Pelicot emphatically and tearfully denied drugging and raping his own daughter, Caroline, despite having taken deeply troubling photos of her, asleep, and without her knowledge.

“She’s convinced that he sexually abused her too. But since we don’t have any formal evidence like DNA to put in front of him, of course he will continue to deny it,” said Rault, arguing that, for Caroline, the agony of uncertainty was as cruel and traumatic as the suffering of a victim who knew exactly what had happened to her.

Pelicot’s attitude towards his family in court was often revealing. The psychiatrist, Dr Layet, pointed out that the accused narcissistically focused on the love his wife and children once felt for him, not his betrayal of their trust.

For Pelicot, this “started out as a love story” and he “doesn’t want this to be ignored”, said Dr Layet.

But Ms Rault had come to court to look for other signs. Above all, she wanted to shore up her sense that Pelicot’s crimes were highly premeditated.

“Serial rapists… usually have an impulse. They commit rape. They leave, and then they forget. This is not the case with [Pelicot] at all,” she said.

Ms Rault recalled the methodical actions of Marion’s attacker inside an estate agent’s office in 1999. The way he had made an excuse to return to his car – almost certainly to collect a rope and a bottle of ether to drug her. Then Ms Rault noted that the man in the glass cage in Avignon demonstrated a similar self-possession and saw it as further evidence that this was a deeply calculating criminal.

“When he says he has urges and acts on impulse, it’s nothing like that. He is very calm.”

On the same day that Ms Rault was in the Avignon courtroom, I was sitting nearby. Gisele Pelicot was a few metres to our right. Dozens of the accused sat in front of us. Dominique Pelicot was over to the left side of the room.

During a break in proceedings, I walked over to him. According to French law, journalists are not allowed to talk to the accused. Instead, I stood for a while and watched him as he sat in his chair, behind his glass wall, one hand on his stick. Then his head turned towards me, and he held my gaze for what must have been 20 seconds – although it felt much longer.

His expression did not change. He did not seem to blink. And then, like a bored man switching between equally boring television channels, he looked away.

The once formidable Myanmar military is cracking from within – riddled with spies secretly working for the pro-democracy rebels, the BBC has found.

The military only has full control of less than a quarter of Myanmar’s territory, a BBC World Service investigation reveals.

The junta still controls the major cities and remains “extremely dangerous” according to the UN special rapporteur on Myanmar. But it has lost significant territory over the past 12 months – see map below.

The soldier spies are known as “Watermelons” – green on the outside, rebel red within. Outwardly loyal to the military but secretly working for the pro-democracy rebels whose symbolic colour is red.

A major based in central Myanmar says it was the military’s brutality that prompted him to switch sides.

“I saw the bodies of tortured civilians. I shed tears,” says Kyaw [not his real name]. “How can they be so cruel against our own people? We are meant to protect civilians, but now we’re killing people. It’s no longer an army, it’s a force that terrorises.”

More than 20,000 people have been detained and thousands killed, the UN says, since the military seized power in a coup in February 2021 – triggering an uprising.

Kyaw initially thought about defecting from the army, but decided with his wife that becoming a spy was “the best way to serve the revolution”.

When he judges it safe to do so, he leaks internal military information to the People’s Defense Forces [PDF] – a network of civilian militia groups. The rebels use the intelligence to mount ambushes on the military or to avoid attacks. Kyaw also sends them some of his wage, so they can buy weapons.

Spies like him are helping the resistance achieve what was once unthinkable.

The BBC assessed the power balance in more than 14,000 village groups as of mid-November this year, and found the military only has full control of 21% of Myanmar’s territory, nearly four years on from the start of the conflict.

The investigation reveals that ethnic armies and a patchwork of resistance groups now control 42% of the country’s land mass. Much of the remaining area is contested.

The military now controls less than at any time since they first took control of the country in 1962, according to the US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (Acled).

Co-ordinated operations between ethnic armies and civilian militia groups have put the military on the back foot.

After heavy territorial losses earlier this year Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing made a rare admission that his forces were under pressure.

The leaked Watermelon intelligence from within the military is helping to tip the balance. Two years ago, the resistance set up a specialised unit to manage the growing network of spies and to recruit more.

Agents like Win Aung [not his real name] collect the Watermelon leaks, verify them where possible, and then pass them on to the rebel leaders in the relevant area.

He is a former intelligence officer who defected to the resistance after the coup. He says they are now getting new Watermelons every week and social media is a key recruitment tool.

Their spies, he says, range from low-ranking soldiers to high-ranking officers. They also claim to have Watermelons in the military government – “from the ministries down to village heads”.

They are put through a strict verification process to ensure they are not double agents.

Motivations for becoming a spy vary. While in Kyaw’s case it was anger, for a man we are calling “Moe” – a corporal in the navy – it was simply a desire to survive for his young family.

His wife, pregnant at the time, pushed him to do so, convinced the military was losing and he would die in battle.

He began leaking information to the Watermelon unit about weapons and troop movements.

This kind of intelligence is crucial, says pro-democracy rebel leader Daeva.

The ultimate goal of his resistance unit is to take control of Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city and his former home. But they are a long way off.

The military retains the majority of major urban areas – home to crucial infrastructure and revenue.

“It’s easier said than done to attack and occupy [Yangon], Daeva says. “The enemy will not give up on [it] easily.”

Unable to physically penetrate the city, Daeva from his jungle base directs targeted attacks by underground cells in Yangon using Watermelon intelligence.

In August, we witnessed him making one such call. We were not given the details but were told it was to direct an assassination attempt on a colonel.

“We will do it inside the enemy’s security parameters,” he told them. “Be careful, the enemy is losing in every direction,” he added, telling them that this meant they were more likely to be on alert for infiltrators and spies.

Daeva says several major attacks by his unit have been the result of tip-offs.

“We started with nothing and now look at our success,” says Daeva.

But it comes at a cost. Watermelons have to live in fear of both sides, as navy corporal-turned spy Moe discovered.

Deployed from Yangon to Rakhine – a border region where the military is fighting an ethnic group siding with the resistance – he had to live with the terror that his intelligence could mean he himself was attacked.

In March this year, his anchored ship was hit with a projectile missile, followed by open fire. “There was no place to run. We were like rats in a cage.” Seven of his fellow soldiers were killed in the rebel attack.

“Our ability to protect [the moles] is very limited,” admits Win Aung. “We can’t publicly announce that they are Watermelons. And we can’t stop our forces from attacking any particular military convoy.”

He says that when this is explained to the Watermelons, however, they do not falter. Some have even responded: “When it comes to that moment, don’t hesitate, shoot.”

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But there are times when the spies can no longer bear the danger.

When Moe was set to be sent to another dangerous front line, he asked the Watermelon unit to smuggle him out into a resistance-controlled area. They do this using an underground network of monasteries and safe houses.

He left in the dead of night. The next morning, when he did not show up for duty, soldiers came round to the house. They interrogated his wife Cho, but she remained tight-lipped.

After days on the run Moe arrived at one of Daeva’s bases. Daeva thanked him over video call, before asking him what role he wanted to play now. Moe replied that, given his young family, he would like a non-combat role and would instead share his knowledge of military training.

A few weeks later he crossed into Thailand. Cho and the children fled their home too and hope to eventually join him and build a new life there.

The military is aggressively trying to reclaim lost territory, carrying out a wave of deadly bombings. With Chinese- and Russian-made fighter jets, it is in the air that it has the upper hand. It knows that the resistance is far from being one homogenous group and is seeking to exploit divisions between them.

“As the junta loses control, their brutality increases. It’s getting worse. The loss of life… the brutality, the torture as they lose ground, literally and figuratively,” says UN special rapporteur Tom Andrews.

The military is also conducting sweeps for Watermelons.

“When I heard about the sweeps, I stopped for a while,” says Kyaw. He says he always acts like a staunch supporter of the military to avoid unwanted attention.

But he is scared and doesn’t know how long he can stay hidden. Defecting is not an option, as he worries about abandoning his ageing parents, so for now, he will keep acting as a military spy, hoping to see a day when the revolution is over.

If and when that day comes, Watermelons like Kyaw and Moe will not be forgotten, Win Aung vows.

“We will treat them with honor, and allow them to choose what they want to do next in their lives.”

The military did not respond to the BBC’s request for an interview.

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Javed Iqbal, a Pakistani carpenter working in Saudi Arabia, tells BBC Urdu that he deeply regrets his decision to illegally send his 13-year-old son to Europe.

“The agents had sent dozens of boys from the village to Greece and Italy,” he says. “My son, who was stubborn and fell for their tricks, told us repeatedly, ‘If you don’t send me to Europe, I will leave home.'”

Javed’s son, Mohammad Abid, was among five Pakistani nationals who authorities confirm died in waters near Greece after three boats carrying migrants capsized last week.

Pakistani authorities have urged parents to stop their children from embarking on such journeys. But it has not stopped hundreds of youths from trying.

While 47 people from the recent disaster have been rescued, according to embassy officials in Greece, the 35 who remain missing are now presumed dead after the Greek Coast Guard called off rescue efforts on Wednesday.

BBC Urdu spoke to the grieving families of two victims from the district of Pasrur, in central Punjab.

Of Javed’s four children, Abid was the third.

“Abid’s elder brother and sister go to school, but Abid stopped going to school,” says Javed, who lives and works in Saudi Arabia.

Over the past two years, several of their relatives, as well as other boys from their village, have gone to Greece through agents, he added.

All these boys would upload videos on social media after they arrived in Greece. After seeing social media videos shared by these boys, Abid would ask, “When will the day come when I too will go to Europe?”

“I explained to him many times that you are still young, you can go when you grow up, but he remained adamant,” says Javed. “I told him to come to me in Saudi Arabia, but his only wish was to do go Europe.”

In a recent press conference, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Greece, Aamar Aftab Qureshi, expressed surprise that a child was among the five Pakistani nationals who died in the accidents. He added that young children were among the survivors.

“This trend of sending children illegally is extremely dangerous,” he said.

But Javed says that whenever Abid returned home after meeting these agents, he would threaten to leave home if his mother did not raise money to send him.

“She would make me talk to him on the phone, and I would explain to him. He would agree temporarily, but after a day or two, he would go off the rails again,” Javed says.

So Javed sold part of his farm land and his wife sold some of her jewellery. They paid the agent 2.56 million Pakistan rupees (£7,300; $9,200) to bring Abid to Europe.

Javed says that his son arrived in Egypt from Faisalabad airport and then went to Libya, where he stayed for two months and kept in contact daily with his family.

“He was happy and kept saying that there were some difficulties, but that they were temporary and he would soon reach his destination,” says Javed. “We didn’t know that his destination was not Europe, but death.”

“When there was a rumour about a boat capsizing in the sea near Greece, we tried to get information but nothing was coming out,” he recalls.

The family eventually managed to get in touch with a friend in Greece, who went to the migrant hospital and found Abid’s body. They also subsequently received a call from the Pakistani embassy in Greece.

In Ucha Jajja, another village in central Punjab, is another family grieving the death of their son. Irfan Arshad’s 19-year-old son Muhammad Sufyan was also killed in the accident, as confirmed by Pakistani authorities in Greece.

According to Irfan Arshad, the agent deceived them until the last moment, saying that he was sending their son safely in a boat and that there was no need to worry.

“When there was chatter in the village that the boat had capsized near Greece, darkness fell before our eyes,” Irfan says. “It feels like I bought my son’s death with my own hands by paying three million rupees.”

Irfan, who owns an oil and fertiliser shop, has four sons. Two of them are living in Bahrain, while the third son is already in Greece. He sold an acre of land to send his youngest son to Greece.

The FIA has filed a human trafficking case against four people over the death of Muhammad Sufyan. According to Irfan’s account in the report, after Sufyan was taken to Libya, the agent had assured them that Sufyan would be transferred to Greece soon. Instead, Sufyan was kept in a safe house in Libya for two months and only given one meal a day.

“My son got cholera from eating stale food, which made him very weak,” Irfan says. “Whenever we talked to Sufyan, he sounded very worried. We kept thinking maybe it was because he was away from home for the first time, and when he reached Greece, he would be very happy.”

After he was finally put on a boat to Greece, Sufyan’s family received a call from his companions about his death.

In 2023, a boat carrying illegal immigrants sank around the same area of Greece, resulting in the death of 262 Pakistanis. After the tragedy, authorities vowed a strong response against agents involved in human trafficking.

Such sentiments were echoed again on Wednesday as officials met to discuss the latest tragedy. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the repeated occurrence of such incidents is a matter of concern for Pakistan, and vowed strict action against those involved in human trafficking.

Abdul Qadir Qamar, regional director of the Federal Investigation Agency, told BBC Urdu that the suspects have been running a human trafficking ring in different countries for a long time.

“The FIA’s investigation so far has revealed that the suspects who illegally sent youths abroad in Pasrur belong to the same family,” he said. “And these suspects have so far sent hundreds of people abroad illegally.”

The problem, he said, was that the families of boat accident survivors often do not want to take action against the agents.

The court has recorded 174 cases of human trafficking so far. Only four have been convicted.

Irfan says that Pakistan’s foreign ministry told him Sufyan’s body would reach Pakistan in early January – but that is too long a wait for his family.

“We are dying moment by moment,” Irfan says. “Until we see our son’s body, we will be neither living nor dead.

“How can those whose sons die ever have peace?”

The People’s Republic of China has a “magic weapon”, according to its founding leader Mao Zedong and its current president Xi Jinping.

It is called the United Front Work Department – and it is raising as much alarm in the West as Beijing’s growing military arsenal.

Yang Tengbo, a prominent businessman who has been linked to Prince Andrew, is the latest overseas Chinese citizen to be scrutinised – and sanctioned – for his links to the UFWD.

The existence of the department is far from a secret. A decades-old and well-documented arm of the Chinese Communist Party, it has been mired in controversy before. Investigators from the US to Australia have cited the UFWD in multiple espionage cases, often accusing Beijing of using it for foreign interference.

Beijing has denied all espionage allegations, calling them ludicrous.

So what is the UFWD and what does it do?

The United Front – originally referring to a broad communist alliance – was once hailed by Mao as the key to the Communist Party’s triumph in the decades-long Chinese Civil War.

After the war ended in 1949 and the party began ruling China, United Front activities took a backseat to other priorities. But in the last decade under Xi, the United Front has seen a renaissance of sorts.

Xi’s version of the United Front is broadly consistent with earlier incarnations: to “build the broadest possible coalition with all social forces that are relevant”, according to Mareike Ohlberg, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund.

On the face of it, the UFWD is not shadowy – it even has a website and reports many of its activities on it. But the extent of its work – and its reach – is less clear.

While a large part of that work is domestic, Dr Ohlberg said, “a key target that has been defined for United Front work is overseas Chinese”.

Today, the UFWD seeks to influence public discussions about sensitive issues ranging from Taiwan – which China claims as its territory – to the suppression of ethnic minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang.

It also tries to shape narratives about China in foreign media, target Chinese government critics abroad and co-opt influential overseas Chinese figures.

“United Front work can include espionage but [it] is broader than espionage,” Audrye Wong, assistant professor of politics at the University of Southern California, tells the BBC.

“Beyond the act of acquiring covert information from a foreign government, United Front activities centre on the broader mobilisation of overseas Chinese,” she said, adding that China is “unique in the scale and scope” of such influence activities.

China has always had the ambition for such influence, but its rise in recent decades has given Beijing the ability to exercise it.

Since Xi became president in 2012, he has been especially proactive in crafting China’s message to the world, enouraging a confrontational “wolf warrior” approach to diplomacy and urging his country’s diaspora to “tell China’s story well”.

The UFWD operates through various overseas Chinese community organisations, which have vigorously defended the Communist Party beyond its shores. They have censored anti-CCP artwork and protested at the activities of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. The UFWD has also been linked to threats against members of persecuted minorities abroad, such as Tibetans and Uyghurs.

But much of the UFWD’s work overlaps with other party agencies, operating under what observers have described as “plausible deniability”.

It is this murkiness that is causing so much suspicion and apprehension about the UFWD.

When Yang appealed against his ban, judges agreed with the then secretary of state’s report that Yang “represented a risk to national security” – citing the fact that he downplayed his ties with the UFWD as one of the reasons that led them to that conclusion.

Yang, however, maintains that he has not done anything unlawful and that the spy allegations are “entirely untrue”.

Cases like Yang’s are becoming increasingly common. In 2022, British Chinese lawyer Christine Lee was accused by the MI5 of acting through the UFWD to cultivate relationships with influential people in the UK. The following year, Liang Litang, a US citizen who ran a Chinese restaurant in Boston, was indicted for providing information about Chinese dissidents in the area to his contacts in the UFWD.

And in September, Linda Sun, a former aide in the New York governor’s office, was charged with using her position to serve Chinese government interests – receiving benefits, including travel, in return. According to Chinese state media reports, she had met a top UFWD official in 2017, who told her to “be an ambassador of Sino-American friendship”.

It is not uncommon for prominent and successful Chinese people to be associated with the party, whose approval they often need, especially in the business world.

But where is the line between peddling influence and espionage?

“The boundary between influence and espionage is blurry” when it comes to Beijing’s operations, said Ho-fung Hung, a politics professor at Johns Hopkins University.

This ambiguity has intensified after China passed a law in 2017 mandating Chinese nationals and companies to co-operate with intelligence probes, including sharing information with the Chinese government – a move that Dr Hung said “effectively turns everyone into potential spies”.

The Ministry of State Security has released dramatic propaganda videos warning the public that foreign spies are everywhere and “they are cunning and sneaky “.

Some students who were sent on special trips abroad were told by their universities to limit contact with foreigners and were asked for a report of their activities on their return.

And yet Xi is keen to promote China to the world. So he has tasked a trusted arm of the party to project strength abroad.

And that is becoming a challenge for Western powers – how do they balance doing business with the world’s second-largest economy alongside serious security concerns?

Genuine fears over China’s overseas influence are playing into more hawkish sentiments in the West, often leaving governments in a dilemma.

Some, like Australia, have tried to protect themselves with fresh foreign interference laws that criminalise individuals deemed to be meddling in domestic affairs. In 2020, the US imposed visa restrictions on people seen as active in UFWD activities.

An irked Beijing has warned that such laws – and the prosecutions they have spurred – hinder bilateral relations.

“The so-called allegations of Chinese espionage are utterly absurd,” a foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters on Tuesday in response to a question about Yang. “The development of China-UK relations serves the common interests of both countries.”

Some experts say that the long arm of China’s United Front is indeed concerning.

“Western governments now need to be less naive about China’s United Front work and take it as a serious threat not only to national security but also to the safety and freedom of many ethnic Chinese citizens,” Dr Hung says.

But, he adds, “governments also need to be vigilant against anti-Chinese racism and work hard to build trust and co-operation with ethnic Chinese communities in countering the threat together.”

Last December, Di Sanh Duong, a Vietnam-born ethnic Chinese community leader in Australia, was convicted of planning foreign interference for trying to cosy up to an Australian minister. Prosecutors argued that he was an “ideal target” for the UFWD because he had run for office in the 1990s and boasted ties with Chinese officials.

Duong’s trial had centred around what he meant when he said the inclusion of the minister at a charity event would be beneficial to “us Chinese” – did he mean the Chinese community in Australia, or mainland China?

In the end, Duong’s conviction – and a prison sentence – raised serious concerns that such broad anti-espionage laws and prosecutions can easily become weapons for targeting ethnic Chinese people.

“It’s important to remember that not everyone who is ethnically Chinese is a supporter of the Chinese Communist Party. And not everyone who is involved in these diaspora organisations is driven by fervent loyalty to China,” Dr Wong says.

“Overly aggressive policies based on racial profiling will only legitimise the Chinese government’s propaganda that ethnic Chinese are not welcome and end up pushing diaspora communities further into Beijing’s arms.”

What Haneul remembers most about his time in the North Korean military is the gnawing, continuous hunger. He lost 10kg in his first month of service, due to a diet of cracked corn and mouldy cabbage.

Three months into training, he says almost his entire battalion was severely malnourished and needed to be sent to a recovery centre to gain weight.

When they were later deployed as frontline guards to the border with South Korea, rice replaced corn. But by the time it reached their bowls, much had been siphoned off by rear units, and the remainder had been cut with sand.

Haneul says his unit was among the best-fed, a tactic to stop them defecting to South Korea. But it failed to prevent Haneul.

In 2012, he made a death-defying dash across the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) – the strip of land dividing the North from the South.

His experience and that of other military defectors helps shed light on the condition of thousands of North Korean troops deployed to the frontline in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Pyongyang has reportedly sent around 11,000 troops to help Russian forces reclaim part of its Kursk region taken by Ukraine in a surprise summer offensive.

Earlier this week, Seoul, Washington and Kyiv said the soldiers had now entered the fight “in significant numbers”, and reported the first casualties, with South Korean officials estimating more than 100 had already been killed and more injured. This figure has not been confirmed.

However, defectors and other military experts have told the BBC these troops should not be underestimated.

According to South Korean intelligence, most belong to the elite Storm Corps unit, and have “high morale”, but “lack an understanding of contemporary warfare”.

Only the taller, sportier men are selected for the Storm Corps, says defector Lee Hyun Seung, who trained North Korea’s special forces in the early 2000s before defecting in 2014.

He taught them martial arts, how to throw knives and make weapons out of cutlery and other kitchen utensils.

But even though the Storm Corps’ training is more advanced than that of regular North Korean units, the soldiers are still underfed and even malnourished.

Online videos, reportedly of the troops in Russia, show younger, “frail” soldiers, Haneul says. They are a stark contrast to Pyongyang’s propaganda videos, where men are seen bursting out of iron chains and smashing blocks of ice with their bare hands.

During his entire time in the army, Haneul says he fired only three bullets in a single live-fire training session.

The closest he came to combat was when a hungry farmer stumbled into the DMZ looking for vegetables. Haneul says he ignored instructions to “shoot any intruders” and let the man go with a warning.

It is difficult to know how much has changed in the decade since Haneul defected, given the scarcity of information from North Korea. It appears that the country’s leader Kim Jong Un has directed much of his limited resources into missiles and nuclear weapons rather than his standing army.

But according to another soldier, Ryu Seonghyun, who defected in 2019, the first three years in the military are “incredibly tough”, even for the special forces. The 28-year-old, who worked as a driver in the air force for seven years, says that during his service, conditions deteriorated and rice gradually disappeared from meals.

“The soldiers are sent into the mountains for days with a small amount of rice, and are told it is part of their survival training.”

Given these troops have been trained to fight in the mountainous Korean Peninsula, the defectors question how well they will adapt to fighting on the flatlands and in the trenches of Kursk.

Crucially, the Storm Corps are not a frontline unit. “Their mission is to infiltrate enemy lines and create chaos deep within enemy territory,” Ryu says.

But, he adds, Kim Jong Un has no alternative to sending special forces, as regular soldiers spend most of their time farming, building or chopping wood.

“Kim Jong Un had to send men who could demonstrate at least a certain level of combat ability, to avoid damaging North Korea’s reputation in Russia.”

The language barrier seems to have created an additional hurdle. On Sunday, Ukraine’s defence intelligence unit said communication issues had resulted in North Korean soldiers accidentally firing on a Russian battalion, killing eight.

With these assessments, it could be easy to dismiss the troops as “cannon fodder” and a sign of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s desperation. But that would be a mistake, the defectors say. Their loyalty to the regime and fighting spirit will count for a lot.

“Most of the soldiers in the Storm Corps come from working-class or farming families, who are highly obedient to the party and will follow orders unquestionably,” says Haneul, whose father and cousin were in the special forces.

Intense, ideological “brainwashing” sessions, held every morning, will further ensure they are mentally ready, Lee adds. He believes the North Korean troops “will become accustomed to the battlefield, learn how to fight the enemy, and find ways to survive”.

Although the soldiers will not have been given a choice over whether to be deployed, Ryu thinks many will have wanted to go. The ambitious will see it as an opportunity to advance their careers, he says.

And given how tough it is to serve in North Korea, some will have relished the chance to experience life abroad for the first time.

“I think they’ll be more willing to fight than Russian troops,” he adds, admitting that in their situation, he too would have wanted to be sent.

Chun In-bum, a former commander of South Korea’s special forces, agrees with the defectors’ appraisals. “Just because they lack food and training, does not mean they are incapable. They will acclimatise quickly. We should not underestimate them.”

While 11,000 troops are unlikely to turn the tide of such an attritional war – it is estimated Russia is suffering more than a thousand casualties a day – experts and officials believe this could be just the first tranche, with Pyongyang potentially able to send up to 60,000 or even 100,000 if they are rotated.

In these numbers, Mr Chun believes they could end up being effective.

Also, Kim Jong Un will be able to shoulder big losses without affecting the stability of his regime, the former soldiers say.

“Those who have been sent will be men without influence or connections – to put it bluntly, those who can be sacrificed without issue,” Haneul says.

He remembers being shocked to learn there were no children of high-ranking parents in his frontline unit: “That’s when I realised we were expendable.”

He does not expect much resistance from the families of the deceased, whose sons, he says, will be honoured as heroes.

“There are countless parents who have lost a child after sending them to the military,” he adds, recalling his second cousin who died. His aunt received a certificate, praising her son for his heroic contribution.

The loyalty of the soldiers and their families could blunt Ukrainian and South Korean hopes that many will simply defect once they enter the fight. Kyiv and Seoul have discussed conducting psychological operations along the frontline to encourage the men to surrender.

But it seems they do not have access to mobile phones. According to Ukrainian intelligence, even Russian soldiers’ phones are seized before they encounter North Korean troops.

So, possible infiltration strategies include broadcasting messages through loudspeakers or using drones to drop leaflets.

Both Ryu and Haneul decided to defect after reading anti-regime propaganda sent across the border from South Korea. But they are doubtful this would work so far from home.

They say it takes a long time to build up the desire and courage to defect.

Furthermore, Haneul suspects the officers will have been ordered to shoot anyone who attempts to flee. He remembers his comrades opening fire as he made his daring sprint across the DMZ.

“Twelve bullets flew just a metre over my head,” he says.

Even capturing the North Korean troops may prove challenging for Ukraine.

In the North, being a prisoner of war is considered extremely shameful and worse than death. Instead, soldiers are taught to take their own lives, by shooting themselves or detonating a grenade.

Ryu recalls a famous military song entitled Save the Last Bullet. “They tell you to save two bullets, one to shoot the enemy and one to shoot yourself.”

Nevertheless, the former special forces trainer Lee is determined to help. He has offered to go to the frontline to communicate directly with the soldiers.

“It’s unlikely they will defect in large numbers, but we have to try. Hearing familiar voices like mine, and others from North Korea, might impact their psychology,” he says.

Haneul just hopes they get home to North Korea. He knows there is a chance some of his relatives are among the troops sent to help Russia.

“I just hope they make it through and return safely.”

Kenyan business student Nelson Amenya has been hailed as a hero by those campaigning for greater transparency in the deals his government makes with private firms.

Recent Kenyan history is littered with stories of huge contracts that have resulted from corruption – and despite laws that are supposed to prevent this from happening, there are suspicions that it continues to take place.

Thirty-year-old Mr Amenya, who is studying in France for an MBA, leaked details on social media of what he said was a proposed agreement between Kenya and the Adani Group, an Indian multinational, in July.

It concerned the management of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) – the country’s – and region’s – biggest airport, which is long overdue a complete overhaul.

“The first feeling I had [when I was passed the documents] was that it was just another government deal… I did not understand the magnitude or the seriousness of it,” Mr Amenya, whose profile as an anti-corruption activist had been on the rise, tells the BBC.

The documents detailed a $2bn (£1.6bn) proposal by the Adani Group to lease JKIA for 30 years in order to modernise and run it.

As he started to go through the papers, he felt that if it was to go ahead, it “was going to hurt the Kenyan economy” while all the benefit would go to the Indian multinational.

The deal appeared unfair to him, according to what he read, as Kenya would still be putting in the largest share of the money but not reaping the financial rewards.

Mr Amenya had good reason to think the papers were genuine as “the people who were giving me these documents were from very legitimate departments of government”, he says.

The Adani Group is involved in infrastructure, mining and energy projects globally, in countries such as Israel, the UAE, France, Tanzania, Australia and Greece. Its founder Gautam Adani is a big player in India’s economy and is a close ally of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Through further reading, Mr Amenya says he discovered that the Adani deal with Kenya could have left his country with an obligation to pay the company if it did not recoup its investment.

“This was a great breach of trust of the people by the leadership of the president, the Kenya Airports Authority, the minister – they all betrayed the people,” he alleges.

Despite the evidence in his hands, Mr Amenya wrestled with what to do next. His own safety was at risk, though being in France he was better off than being in Kenya, where anti-corruption activists have been targeted and some killed.

“I was a bit scared. I didn’t know what’s going to happen. I’m risking my career, I’m risking my life, why should I take the risk to do this?” he asked himself at the time.

However, in the end he felt that staying quiet was not an option.

“You know, it’s only cowards who live long.”

After spending weeks going through what he had been sent, Mr Amenya leaked the documents on his X page in July, immediately sparking outrage in Kenya.

JKIA airport workers went on strike demanding that the deal be scrapped.

“It felt like a duty for me, for my country. Even if I am far away, I still have a duty for my country. I want to see a better Kenya, my home country becoming developed, industrialised and an end to corruption.”

He worried that the airport deal was a harbinger of what might come next.

Mr Amenya says it was not just the unusual terms and lack of transparency that rang alarm bells, it was also, he alleges, that Kenyan laws appeared to have been systematically ignored.

“[The authorities] never did due diligence for this company… they did not follow the due process of procurement.”

He alleges that some government officials hoped to bypass the legal requirements, including public consultation, that are supposed to prevent taxpayers’ money from being misspent.

A report in April by the Kenya Airports Authority on the proposed deal highlighted that there was no plan to consult stakeholders on the plan.

“This was in April, and by July when I was exposing this, they had not done any public participation. It was quite secret this deal, and by that time they were just a month away from signing the deal,” Mr Amenya alleges.

“After I exposed this deal is when they hurriedly tried to come and do like a sham public participation – they called the Kenya Airports Authority staff and started to have stakeholder meetings.”

Various officials and branches of the state denied allegations of corruption in the process and the authorities went ahead to sign another multimillion dollar deal with the Adani Group – this time to construct power lines.

The Adani Group said Mr Amenya’s claims were baseless and malicious.

A spokesperson told the BBC that “the proposal was submitted following Kenyan Public Private Partnership regulations and was intended to create a world class airport and significantly enhance the Kenyan economy by creating numerous new jobs”.

The Adani Group further says that no contract was signed as “discussions did not progress to a binding agreement”.

The company also says the proposal for the energy deal was above board and that the company “categorically refutes all allegations and insinuations of any violation of Kenyan laws in our operations or proposals.

“Every project we undertake is governed by a strong commitment to compliance, transparency and the laws of the respective countries in which we operate,” the statement read.

But it was not Mr Amenya’s leak that actually changed the government’s mind.

It was only when the US authorities indicted Gautam Adani for alleged involvement in a $250m (£200m) bribery scheme that Kenya acted.

Representatives from the Adani Group denied the allegations from US prosecutors and called them “baseless”.

At a state-of-the-nation address in parliament last month, Kenya’s President William Ruto announced the cancellation of both Adani deals.

“In the face of undisputed evidence or credible information on corruption, I will not hesitate to take decisive action,” Ruto said in a speech met with loud cheers inside parliament.

Kenyans celebrated the decision which Ruto attributed to new information provided by investigative agencies and partner nations.

“I was in class when this announcement came. I couldn’t believe it,” Mr Amenya says.

“I think in the first one hour, I had tears in my eyes. I was so happy.”

Although he does not see himself as a hero, messages of support poured in from everywhere, including from India.

Forty minutes after the class ended, he posted his now-famous tweet “Adios Adani!!” – goodbye Adani.

“It was momentous… All that I did finally paid off.”

The feeling of triumph, however, came after months of personal struggle and pressure.

Soon after exposing the airport deal, Mr Amenya was sued for defamation by an Adani Group representative and a Kenyan politician, making him question whether he should continue.

“Some people were coming to me from the government, they were even ready to pay me, they were telling me: ‘You need to cash out and just stop this fight with the government,'” he recalls.

“It would have been the biggest mistake of my life to give up, a betrayal to the Kenyan people.”

But even after scrapping the deals, President Ruto still questions why Kenyans opposed this and many other projects he has championed. He says he will find a way to upgrade the airport.

“I saw them saying that those who stopped the upgrading of our airport are heroes. Heroes? What do you gain when you stop the building of an airport in your country?” Ruto asked at a public function in early December.

“You have no clue how it’s going to be built, and those who are opposed have never even stepped foot inside an airport, you just want to oppose.”

Mr Amenya, who is still facing the defamation cases, is now fundraising to help with his legal fees, and says his future in Kenya is uncertain.

“I have received threats from credible intelligence agencies and people in Kenya that have warned me not to go back because obviously there’s some people who are very angry with what I did,” he says.

A hefty price, but one Mr Amenya says he would gladly pay again.

“We don’t really need to wait for someone to save us,” he says.

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Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has arrived in court ahead of a verdict in his trial for kidnap and dereliction of duty over his refusal to let a migrant rescue boat dock in Italy in 2019.

Prosecutors in Sicily have asked judges to sentence him to six years in jail.

Salvini, who’s leader of the right-wing Lega party and a government ally of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, has already said he will lodge an appeal if found guilty.

He has pushed back against the accusations, repeatedly alleging the judges were being “political” and maintaining he was only guilty of wanting to “protect Italy”.

Arriving in court on Friday he said it was a beautiful day “because I am proud to have defended my country”.

One of the prosecutors, Geri Ferrara, told the court in September that human rights had to prevail over the “protection of state sovereignty”.

“A person stranded at sea must be saved and it is irrelevant whether they are classified as a migrant, a crewmember or a passenger”, she said.

An NGO ship called Open Arms was carrying 147 migrants picked up off the Libyan coast when it was prevented from docking on the Italian island of Lampedusa on the orders of Salvini, who was interior minister at the time.

The Open Arms remained at sea for almost three weeks, and the health situation of the migrants on board seriously deteriorated.

Eventually, the prosecutor in the Sicilian city of Agrigento, Luigi Patronaggio, ordered the vessel to be preventatively seized after inspecting it and noting the “difficult situation on board”.

Salvini maintained that the then-government of Giuseppe Conte had backed him fully in his mission to “close the ports” of Italy to NGO rescue ships.

PM Giorgia Meloni has stood by her deputy prime minister, saying he had her and her government’s “solidarity”.

“Turning the duty to protect Italy’s borders from illegal immigration into a crime is a very serious precedent,” she posted on X earlier this year.

She has never indicated that she would expect his resignation in case of a guilty verdict, and for his part Salvini has said he would not step down.

In recent months he has frequently referenced the trial and the forthcoming verdict in social media posts and during public speeches and interviews.

“I want to believe that Italy is a normal country, and in a normal country someone who defends borders isn’t found guilty,” he told Italian media earlier this week. If that was the case, he said, “it would be terrible news for the country and a reason to celebrate for people smugglers and enemies of Italy”.

He has also alleged that the Italian judiciary was “politicised” and that some magistrates were “clearly following left-wing politics”.

Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left opposition Democratic Party, accused Salvini of “spreading propaganda and fuelling a serious institutional clash”.

The three female prosecutors in the case have been under police protection since September after being harassed online and receiving threats.

Members of Salvini’s Lega party have rallied around him and are preparing demonstrations in his support.

On Wednesday, Lega MEPs turned up at a European Parliament session in Strasbourg wearing t-shirts that read “Guilty of defending Italy” – a slogan Salvini has used in the past.

“A conviction would be an incredibly serious matter,” said Lega deputy secretary Andrea Crippa: “It would be like convicting the entire Italian people, the Italian parliament and the elected government.”

Lombardy’s Lega party president, Attilio Fontana, said a guilty verdict would be “so aberrant, even from a judicial point of view, that I don’t even want to think about it”.

Others outside Italy have waded into the debate too.

“That mad prosecutor should be the one who goes to prison for six years,” Elon Musk tweeted, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a close ally of Salvini, called the trial “shameful”.

If convicted, Salvini has said he will appeal against the verdict “all the way to the Supreme Court of Cassation” – Italy’s highest court.

That process could take months and Salvini’s position in the government and parliament would be unaffected.

The prime minister is expected to name Lord Peter Mandelson – one of the best known figures in British politics – as the UK’s next ambassador to the US.

The Labour grandee served in multiple ministerial roles under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown before taking up a life peerage in the Lords, and was considered to be one of the frontrunners for the position.

Dubbed the “Prince of Darkness” during his years as New Labour’s spin doctor, the 71-year-old will now be the key link between the prime minister and Donald Trump’s incoming administration during a crucial time for US-UK diplomacy.

Like other senior Labour figures, Lord Mandelson has a record of criticising Donald Trump, once describing him as “little short of a white nationalist and racist”.

In a recently unearthed interview with an Italian journalist in 2019, Lord Mandelson described Trump as a “reckless and a danger to the world”.

“What Donald Trump represents and believes is anathema to mainstream British opinion and the idea that as a result of Brexit, we have to kowtow to an American president who holds those views will outrage people in Britain,” he added.

In a 2018 interview with the Evening Standard, he also called Trump “a bully” who thinks “the US will gain in trade only when others are losing”.

Since being touted as a potential candidate for the US-ambassador role, considered the most prestigious diplomatic post in the UK government, Lord Mandelson has softened his language on Trump.

In November he made a pitch on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme to create “a new relationship rather than a special one” with the US.

He also spoke to the News Agents podcast, and said the new Trump presidency was going to have a profound impact on the security and economic stability of the rest of world.

“It’s absolutely essential that we establish a relationship with President Trump that enables us not only to understand and interpret what he’s doing but to influence it”, he said.

He added that the Labour government should try to “reconnect” with Trump’s ally and tech multi-billionaire Elon Musk, who has been critical of Sir Keir’s government and has been appointed head of new advisory team the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).

As first reported in The Times, Lord Mandelson will replace Dame Karen Pierce, whose term in Washington DC is due to end as Trump enters the White House in early 2025.

UK ambassadors are normally career diplomats or civil servants, but Downing Street said choosing a leading Labour politician “shows just how importantly we see our relationship with the Trump administration”.

Labour Health Minister Stephen Kinnock said Lord Mandelson would make “an excellent appointment” as US ambassador.

Kinnock, whose father Neil Kinnock gave Lord Mandelson his first senior role in Labour in the 1980s, pointed to the former EU Trade Commissioner’s “really strong experience in trade”.

“He’s got very good political contacts in Washington DC and I think his appointment would be a reflection of the importance of the US-UK special relationship and I think Peter Mandelson would be a very good person to take that relationship forward,” Kinnock added.

But Lord Mandelson has been a divisive figures in British politics over many years.

He resigned twice as a minister – once for failing to declare a home loan from a cabinet colleague, and a second time over accusations of using his position to influence a passport application.

As a staunch critic of Brexit and advocate for global free-trade, he does not appear to be an obvious fit with the incoming Trump administration.

But the former cabinet minister and EU trade negotiator has enormous political experience, and Downing Street may have judged that sending someone so close to the big political figures in the UK may go down well at the White House.

Trump had once called Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage a “great choice” for ambassador – but Labour were unlikely to choose a political opponent such as Farage.

Lord Mandelson has suggested making use of Farage’s connections in the US as a “bridgehead, both to President Trump and to Elon Musk and others”.

“You’ve got to be pragmatic, practical about this,” he said.

Farage has meanwhile said that he “might disagree with Mandelson on his politics, but he’s a very intelligent man” and would be good choice for ambassador.

Sir David Manning, who served as the UK’s ambassador to the US between 2003 and 2007, told BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight programme that Lord Mandelson was a “very articulate, highly intelligent, extremely experienced operator”.

However, he cautioned that the role would see him coming up against “all sorts of issues that will be contentious and difficult” including climate change, dealing with China and the situation in the Middle East.

Lord Mandelson was the Labour MP for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004, during which time he served as Northern Ireland secretary and business secretary under Blair. He stood down as an MP in 2004 to become a European Commissioner before returning to the UK to become Gordon Brown’s most senior minister.

Throughout his career Lord Mandelson has been seen as a networker, cultivating contacts with senior figures in global and domestic politics.

Sir Keir said on Thursday the UK would “have to make sure that we avoid tariffs” when asked about Trump’s comments, and reiterated that he wanted to improve trade with Washington.

Trump has pledged to impose wide-ranging tariffs on his first day in office, which experts say could cost the UK £22bn.

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.

A holidaymaker from Northern Ireland who was detained in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after posting a negative Google review about his former employer has said returning home is a “Christmas miracle”.

Craig Ballentine, from Cookstown, County Tyrone, was arrested in Abu Dhabi airport in October because of his critical comments.

Under the UAE’s strict cybercrime laws, he was accused of slander and faced potential jail time.

The 33-year-old arrived in Dublin on Thursday morning after his travel ban had been lifted and he told BBC News NI he was “happy to be on Irish grass now”.

“It has been very overwhelming, because it has been quite confusing,” he said.

“One minute everything changes.

“It has been a Christmas miracle.

“The happiness kicked in when I just arrived at Dublin Airport, when I saw Dublin from the sky, that was it.

“I will have an extra big fry in the next hour or two and then it will be mainly focusing on seeing friends and family.

“On Christmas Eve, we are going to do the 12 pubs of Christmas – there are a few friends from Liverpool coming over, we do it every year – and I texted them this morning, saying, ‘I’m coming’.”

There were interventions from a number of politicians to highlight Mr Ballentine’s case, including Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill, former UUP leader Sir Reg Empey and Mid Ulster councillor Trevor Wilson.

Upon Mr Ballentine’s return, O’Neill said: “I am delighted to hear the news that Craig has arrived back in Ireland. It has been a difficult few months for him and his family who were concerned for his safety.

“My office was happy to assist in any way we could throughout this ordeal. I hope that Craig can now enjoy time at home in the company of his family and friends who have supported him throughout this difficult situation.”

Cllr Wilson also welcomed Mr Ballentine’s arrival home.

“It was a very stressful time for him and his family and hopefully he can now enjoy the Christmas festivities with his family and friends,” the UUP councillor said.

Mr Ballentine had previously told BBC News NI that all he wanted was to get home for Christmas to his family.

He said the last few weeks have been tough on them.

Mr Ballentine has already paid a fine but said he may have to return to Dubai at the end of January for a further court hearing.

He said that with regard to his case, he would have to “play it by ear”.

“On Christmas Eve, we will know a bit of a verdict of the court judgement,” he added.

“Have to wait for another 30 days and then they might appeal again, so it could be February, March, April, or else it could just be lifted just like that, finished.”

In 2023, Mr Ballentine got a job in a dog grooming salon in Dubai.

After working there for almost six months, he needed time off due to illness and so he gave his employer a doctor’s certificate as proof of his condition.

But when he did not show up for work, he was registered as “absconded” with the UAE authorities, which meant he could not leave the country.

Mr Ballentine later managed to get that travel ban lifted and went home to Northern Ireland, but doing so took two months and cost him thousands of pounds.

While he was back in Northern Ireland, he wrote an online review of the dog grooming salon, outlining the problems his former boss had allegedly caused him.

He told BBC News NI his Google post “explained the ordeal that I went through”.

In late October, Mr Ballentine returned to the UAE for a short holiday, at which point he was immediately arrested for the alleged slander.

He was transferred from Abu Dhabi to Dubai where he had to await the outcome of the case.

For the uninitiated, sorting one’s rubbish can be a convoluted process in Japan – a country that boasts one of the world’s strictest waste disposal rules.

But in the city of Fukushima, things are about to get even tougher.

Starting in March, the city government will go through bags of rubbish that fall afoul of regulations – such as those which have not been sorted correctly, or which exceed size limits – and in some cases publicly identify their owners.

The new regulations, passed in a municipal meeting on Tuesday, comes amid Japan’s long push to enhance its waste management system.

While many cities in Japan open rubbish bags to inspect them, and some allow for the disclosure of offending businesses, Fukushima is believed to be the first city that plans to disclose the names of both individuals and businesses.

In a statement to the BBC, the Fukushima Waste Reduction Promotion Division said that waste which had not been properly disposed has previously led to scattered rubbish and the proliferation of crows.

“The improper disposal of waste is a major concern as it deteriorates the living environment of local residents,” said the department.

Waste which is not properly sorted also leads to more landfill, the department added, “which imposes a burden on future generations”.

“Therefore, we consider waste sorting to be very important.”

Last year, Fukushima reported over 9,000 cases of non-compliant rubbish.

Currently, instead of collecting rubbish that does not comply with disposal rules, workers usually paste stickers on the bags informing residents of the violation. Residents would then have to take them back inside, re-sort it and hope they get it right the next time collectors come around.

Under Fukushima’s new rules, if the rubbish remains unsorted for a week, city workers can go through it and try to identify the offenders via items such as mail. The violators will be issued a verbal warning, followed by a written advisory, before the last resort: having their names published on the government website.

Amid privacy concerns, Fukushima authorities said that the inspection of the rubbish would be carried out in private.

Japanese cities each have their own guides on how to dispose of rubbish. In Fukushima, rubbish bags have to be placed at collection points every morning by 0830 – but cannot be left out from the night before.

Different types of waste – separated into combustibles, non-combustibles, and recyclables – are collected according to different schedules.

For items that exceed stipulated dimensions, like household appliances and furniture, residents have to make an appointment for them to be collected separately.

Fukushima’s mayor, Hiroshi Kohata, said that the new rules were meant to promote waste reduction and proper disposal methods.

“There is nothing illegal about publicising malicious waste generators who do not abide by the rules and do not follow the city’s guidance and advisory,” the Mainichi quoted authorities as saying.

Rubbish is taken very seriously in Japan, where since the 1990s the government has made it a national goal to shift away from landfills, reduce waste and promote recycling. Local authorities have introduced their own initiatives in line with this goal.

Residents in Kamikatsu, a Japanese town with an ambitious zero-waste goal, proudly sort their rubbish into 45 categories. Kagoshima prefecture has made it mandatory for residents to write their names on their rubbish bags. And last year the city of Chiba piloted an AI assistant to help residents dispose their rubbish properly.

Eight people accused of abetting the jihadist murder of French teacher Samuel Paty are to learn their fate after a six-week trial in a Paris court.

They include the father of a schoolgirl whose lie about Paty’s alleged discrimination against Muslims in the classroom set in motion the chain of events which led to his beheading on a street in October 2020.

Also on trial are a Muslim activist who led an online campaign against Paty, two boyhood friends of Chechen-born killer Abdoullakh Anzorov who allegedly helped him acquire weapons, and four radicalised men with whom he exchanged messages on social media.

Anzorov was shot dead by police minutes after killing the 47 year-old history-geography teacher outside his secondary school in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Saint-Honorine.

He was fired up by claims circulating on the internet that a few days earlier Paty had ordered Muslims to leave his class of 13-year-olds before revealing obscene pictures of the prophet Muhammad.

In fact Paty had been conducting a lesson on freedom of speech, and before showing one of the controversial images first published by Charlie Hebdo magazine, he advised pupils to avert their eyes if they feared being offended.

The schoolgirl, named as Z. Chnina, had not even been in class when this happened, but told her father she had been punished for raising an objection.

The trial has centred on legal arguments over whether people who in advance had no knowledge of the attack – or in some cases even of its perpetrator – could by their words nonetheless be guilty of “terrorist association”.

Summing up in court this week, prosecution lawyers asked for jail terms of between 18 months suspended and 16 years for the accused, saying their actions had indirectly led to the atrocity.

However, the prosecution had also angered members of Paty’s family by refusing to push for maximum sentences, and by downgrading the qualification of some of the imputed crimes.

During the trial, the court heard the first public testimony from the girl, Z. Chnina, now aged 17.

A year ago she was given a short suspended sentence for slander by a juvenile court, whose hearings were conducted behind closed doors.

“I want to apologise to all the [Paty family] because were it not for my lies they would not be here today,” she said, in sobs.

“And I want to apologise to my father because when he made the video it was partly because of my lie.”

In the days following Paty’s freedom-of-speech class, her father Brahim Chnina made videos denouncing the teacher by name. He also enlisted the help of activist Abdelhakim Sefrioui to spread the campaign through his social media network.

Chnina and Sefrioui never called for action against Paty, and they were unaware of the existence of Anzorov until the killing took place.

But for the prosecution they were nonetheless guilty of “terrorist association”, because they knew of the possible consequences of their campaign.

“No-one is saying they wanted the death of Samuel Paty, but in lighting 1,000 digital fuses they knew that one of them would lead to jihadist violence against the teacher,” according to prosecution’s submission.

The context in October 2020 was one of heightened tensions over jihadist violence, after Charlie Hebdo republished some of the controversial Muhammad cartoons. Five years earlier most of the staff of the magazine had been murdered in a jihadist gun attack at their Paris office.

This week in court the longest jail terms were requested for the two friends of Anzorov who accompanied him when he bought a knife and a fake gun. One of them also drove Anzorov to the school on the afternoon of the attack.

Neither of these defendants is a radicalised Muslim, and it was not established in court that they knew of Anzorov’s plans.

That was why the prosecution downgraded the charge against them from “complicity in a terrorist attack” which carries a possible life sentence.

The four other accused are people with whom Anzorov conversed on chatlines, again without him ever revealing his intention to kill Paty.

One of these, a convert to Islam called Priscilla Mangel, admitted making “provocative” remarks online about the Paty case but said she would never have made them had she known Anzorov’s intentions.

“For me this was an anodyne discussion with an anonymous person.”

For defence lawyers, none of the accused would have faced criminal proceedings for what they said, had it not been for the murder of Paty.

So the key legal question facing the court is whether utterances can become illegal depending on what follows.

The legal case against Luigi Mangione expanded on Thursday, with the federal government filing four criminal charges against him, including one punishable by death.

Mr Mangione, who is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month, arrived by helicopter in Manhattan in the afternoon after being extradited from Pennsylvania.

He disembarked in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs and, surrounded by officials and armed guards, walked before cameras and journalists to the van that would take him to court.

The 26-year-old will remain behind bars as his lawyers said that they would not yet present an application for bail.

During a 15-minute hearing, where he appeared wearing a blue sweater and khaki pants with his feet shackled, a judge read out loud the four federal charges against him.

Mr Mangione’s hearing was packed with reporters, members of the public and court staff. Several people outside protested in support of him, holding a sign saying: “Luigi freed us”.

The level of protection being provided to Mr Mangione is equivalent to what visiting diplomats and dignitaries typically receive when they visit New York, Felipe Rodriguez, a former detective sergeant who served on the NYPD for 21 years, told the BBC.

Mr Rodriguez, who now teaches at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, said Mr Mangione was receiving “extreme protective executive protection” – or what officers there simply call “protecting the package”.

New York Mayor Eric Adams was part of a throng police officials who met Mr Mangione’s chopper when it landed in Manhattan.

Mr Mangione’s day began with a hearing in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested on 9 December, to discuss extraditing him back to New York, where the shooting occurred. He appeared shackled in the orange jumpsuit, and afterwards was taken by plane to an airport on Long Island, New York, then to Manhattan.

Mr Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after Mr Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare CEO, was shot and killed. He was found with a fake ID and so-called “ghost gun”, police have said.

During the New York hearing on Thursday, Mr Mangione sat between his two lawyers – Karen Friedman Agnifilo, and her husband, Mark Agnifilo, who also is representing rapper Sean “Diddy Combs” in his sex trafficking case.

Mr Mangione nodded along during the hearing as New York Magistrate Judge Katherine Parker read him his rights, including the right to remain silent.

She also read the charges against him: two counts of stalking, a firearms offense, and murder through use of a firearm, which opens up the possibility of the death penalty.

The proceedings were largely standard, but Mr Mangione’s lawyer, Ms Agnifilo, who appeared in the courtroom on crutches, asked prosecutors to clarify how many cases Mr Mangione would face.

• Who was Brian Thompson, healthcare CEO gunned down in New York?
• How Luigi Mangione’s legal defence could take shape

He already was indicted on state charges in New York, including first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism, and now also faces federal charges.

Ms Agnifilo told the court that the overlapping cases – and a murder charge against Mr Mangione that makes him eligible for the death penalty – were “confusing” and “highly unusual”.

“I’ve never seen anything like what is happening here” in 30 years of practicing law, she said.

The suspect is being held at Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) Brooklyn.

New York prosecutors began to share evidence in their case against Mr Mangione with a grand jury last week. The evidence against him includes a positive match of his fingerprints with those discovered at the crime scene, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

According to New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the suspect arrived in New York City on 24 November, staying in a Manhattan hostel while using a fake ID before carrying out the attack against Mr Thompson 10 days later.

In addition to the ghost gun – a gun assembled from untraceable parts – and fake ID, a passport and a handwritten document indicating “motivation and mindset” also were found on Mr Mangione when he was arrested, police said.

More than 11,000 Starbucks baristas in the US have begun a five-day strike in a dispute over pay and working conditions.

The walk outs began on Friday at stores in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Seattle, Starbucks Workers United said. The union added the strike action would spread each day and reach hundreds of stores by Christmas Eve unless a deal is reached.

It follows the union calling for the coffee shop giant to raise wages and staffing, as well as implement better schedules for its workers.

“We are ready to continue negotiations to reach agreements. We need the union to return to the table,” a Starbucks spokesperson said in response to the strike announcement.

The strike marks the biggest Workers United action since the organisation started trying to negotiate a contract with the company more than two years ago.

The union has been picking up members since the first store in the US voted to join in 2021. It now represents more than 500 shops across 45 US states.

“It’s a last resort, but Starbucks has broken its promise to thousands of baristas and left us with no choice,” said Fatemeh Alhadjaboodi, a Starbucks barista from Texas said in a statement sent to the BBC by the union.

Workers United has highlighted what it sees as an unfair pay disparity between its members and senior Starbucks bosses, including chief executive Brian Niccol.

His annual base pay is $1.6m. He could also get a performance-related bonus of as much as $7.2m and up to $23m a year of Starbucks shares.

Starbucks has previously defended the plan, saying that Mr Niccol was “one of the most effective leaders in our industry” and that his compensation was “tied directly to the company’s performance and the shared success of all our stakeholders”.

The company, which has more than 16,000 stores in the US, also highlighted that it offers average pay of over $18 (£14.40) an hour, as well as “best-in-class benefits.”

“Taken together they are worth an average of $30 per hour for baristas who work at least 20 hours per week,” it said.

The strike comes at a tricky moment for the company.

The world’s biggest coffee shop chain has seen flagging sales as it grappled with a backlash to price increases and boycotts sparked by the Israel-Gaza war.

It replaced former boss Laxman Narasimhan in August, naming Mr Niccol to lead a turnaround.

Under Mr Narasimham, the company had softened its once combative approach to the union, pledging earlier this year to work toward a deal.

The strike at Starbucks comes as one of the most powerful labour unions in the US is staging a protest against Amazon, aiming to put pressure on the technology giant as it rushes out packages in the final run-up to Christmas.

The Teamsters union said Amazon delivery drivers at seven facilities in the US had walked off the job on Thursday, after the company refused to negotiate with the union about a labour contract.

Syria’s rebel leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has dismissed the online controversy over videos showing him gesturing to a young woman to cover her hair before he posed for a photo with her last week.

The incident sparked criticism from both liberal and conservative commentators amid intense speculation about the county’s future direction after rebels swept to power.

Liberals saw the request from the head of the Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) as a sign that he might seek to enforce an Islamic system in Syria after leading the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, while hardline conservatives criticised him for consenting to be photographed with the woman in the first place.

“I did not force her. But it’s my personal freedom. I want photos taken for me the way that suits me,” Sharaa said in an interview with the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen.

The woman, Lea Kheirallah, has also said that she was not bothered by the request.

She said he had asked in “gentle and fatherly way”, and that she thought “the leader has the right to be presented in the way he sees fit”.

However, the incident demonstrated some of the difficulties any future leader of Syria might have in appealing to and uniting such a religiously diverse country.

Sunni Muslims make up the majority of the population, with the remainder split between Christians, Alawites, Druze and Ismailis.

There is also a wide range of views among the various political and armed groups who were opposed to Assad, with some wanting a secular democracy and others wanting governance according to Islamic law.

HTS, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, initially imposed strict behaviour and dress codes rules when it seized control of the former rebel stronghold of Idlib province in 2017. However, it revoked those rules in recent years in response to public criticism.

The Quran, Islam’s holy book, tells Muslims – men and women – to dress modestly.

Male modesty has been interpreted to be covering the area from the navel to the knee – and for women it is generally seen as covering everything except their face, hands and feet when in the presence of men they are not related or married to.

Lea Kheirallah asked to take a photo with Sharaa – who was previously known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani – when he toured the Mezzeh area of Damascus on 10 December.

Before agreeing, Sharaa gestured for her to cover her hair and she complied, raising the hood on her jumper and then standing beside him for the photo.

Many video clips and pictures of the incident were shared on social media, sparking widespread outrage among ordinary users and media commentators.

People with liberal or non-conservative views saw it as a troubling glimpse into Syria’s possible future under HTS, fearing increasingly conservative policies like the requirement for all women to wear a hijab, or headscarf.

France 24’s Arabic channel discussed the incident, with a headline asking if Syria was “heading towards Islamic rule”.

Others were sharper in their condemnation. One Syrian journalist said: “We replaced one dictator with a reactionary dictator.”

On social media, other commentators warned of “ultra-extremists” ascending to power, while others decried the “forcing of a free woman” to adopt a conservative look.

Islamist hardliners on Telegram criticised Sharaa for agreeing to be filmed and photographed next to a young woman in the first place.

Some called Ms Kheirallah a “mutabarijah” – a negative term for women considered immodestly dressed or wearing make-up.

Such hardline figures ranged from clerics to influential commentators whose views are often shared and read by Syria-focused conservative communities online, and are likely to reach HTS supporters and possibly officials.

Most of them appear to be based in Syria, mainly in the former HTS-dominated rebel stronghold of Idlib, with some having previously served in HTS ranks.

They argued that it was religiously impermissible for unrelated men and women to interact closely and accused Sharaa of seeking “vain public attention” and showing “indulgence” in matters contrary to strict religious teachings.

A post on one Telegram channel called Min Idlib (From Idlib) said the HTS leader was “too busy taking selfies with young ladies” to address demands for releasing prisoners from HTS jails in Idlib.

Many of the conservative figures who spoke out against the photo have criticised Sharaa in the past for political as well as religious reasons, and include clerics who have left HTS.

The government shutdown showdown of December 2024 is becoming the first big test of president-elect Donald Trump’s influence over congressional Republicans.

At least so far, he is struggling.

One day after Trump derailed a bipartisan government funding bill – with a big assist from tech multibillionaire Elon Musk – he issued a new demand, for a stripped-down government funding bill that would also raise the limit on how much new debt the federal government can issue to fund its deficit spending.

It was a big ask for many congressional conservatives who have long demanded that any debt increase at least be accompanied by cuts to what they view as out-of-control government spending. Trump’s demand was also a tacit admission that his legislative agenda, heavy on tax cuts and new military spending, was unlikely to deliver the kind of deficit reduction that many on the right have been hoping for.

On Thursday night, this slimmed-down bill, along with a two-year suspension of the debt limit, came up for a vote in the House. Thirty-eight Republicans joined nearly every Democrat in rejecting it. This amounted to a stunning rebuke of the president-elect, who had enthusiastically endorsed the legislation and threatened to unseat any Republicans who opposed it.

Since that defeat, Republican leaders have been huddling behind closed doors in an effort to come up with a new plan.

They could remove the debt-limit increase– winning over some recalcitrant Republicans but angering Trump. They could renegotiate with Democrats, who may be wary of striking any new deal after Trump torpedoed the first one. They could try bringing each component of the legislative package – government funding, disaster relief, health-care fixes and a debt-limit increase – to separate votes.

Or they could throw up their hands and let the government shut down less than a week before Christmas. That would mean federal workers, including members of the US military, would could miss paycheques just as holiday bills come due – a politically fraught option.

Even the best-case scenario for Republicans at this point only pushes the next shutdown fight a few months down the road, when the party will have to juggle funding the federal government while also trying to enact Trump’s legislative agenda on immigration, taxes and trade, all with an even narrower House majority.

A worst-case scenario has all this, coming after an extended government shutdown, followed by a debt-limit battle in the summer, when deficit-minded conservatives may be even less willing to fall in line behind the president.

However this ends, this latest drama underscores just how tenuous the Republican majority in the House is – and the limits to Donald Trump’s power.

Republicans abhor compromise with the Democrats, but they will be hard-pressed to muster a majority without them.

Trump and Elon Musk can kill legislation, but they can’t necessarily rally the support to get their proposals over the finish line.

The Malaysian government says it has agreed in principle to resume the search for a passenger jet that vanished 10 years ago in one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 while on its way to Beijing, China, from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia with 239 people on board.

Efforts to locate the wreckage of the Boeing 777 have sputtered over the years and hundreds of families of those on board remain haunted by the tragedy.

On Friday, Malaysia’s transport minister Anthony Loke said the cabinet approved in principle a $70m (£56m) deal with US-based marine exploration firm Ocean Infinity to find the aircraft.

Under a “no find, no fee” arrangement, Ocean Infinity will get paid only when the wreckage is found.

A 2018 search for the MH370 wreckage by Ocean Infinity under similar terms ended unsuccessfully after three months.

A multinational effort that cost $150m (£120m) ended in 2017 after two years of scouring vast waters. The governments of the three nations involved – Malaysia, Australia and China – said the search would only be resumed “should credible new evidence emerge” of the aircraft’s location.

While the government has “in principle” accepted Ocean Infinity’s offer, Loke said negotiations over specific terms of the deal were still ongoing and would be finalised early next year.

The new search will cover a 15,000 sq km patch in the southern Indian Ocean, based on new data that Kuala Lumpur found to be “credible”, the minister said.

“We hope this time will be positive,” Loke said, adding that finding the wreckage would give closure to the families of those on board.

Relatives of passengers on MH370 welcomed the Malaysian government’s approval of a new search.

“I am so happy for the news… [It] feels like the best Christmas present ever,” Jacquita Gonzales, the wife of MH370 inflight supervisor Patrick Gomes, told the New Straits Times.

“This announcement stirs mixed emotions – hope, gratitude, and sorrow. After nearly 11 years, the uncertainty and pain of not having answers have been incredibly difficult for us,” Intan Maizura Othaman also told the papers. Her husband, Mohd Hazrin Mohamed Hasnan, was a member of the cabin crew.

Jiang Hui, whose mother was on the plane, told the Reuters news agency the Malaysian government must have a “more open approach” to the search to allow more players to take part.

In a statement, Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Plunkett said the Malaysian government’s decision was “great news”, adding: “We look forward to sharing further updates in the new year once we’ve finalised the details and the team gets ready to go.”

Flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur in the early hours of 8 March 2014. It lost communication with air traffic control less than an hour after take-off and radar showed that it deviated from its planned flight path.

Investigators generally agree that the plane crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean – though it is unclear as to why it happened.

Pieces of debris, believed to be from the plane, have washed up on shores of the Indian Ocean in the years after the disappearance.

A host of conspiracy theories have sprouted up around the aircraft’s disappearance, from speculation that the pilot had deliberately brought down the plane to claims that it had been shot down by a foreign military.

A 2018 investigation into the aircraft’s disappearance found that the plane’s controls were likely deliberately manipulated to take it off course – but drew no conclusions about who had been behind it.

Investigators said at the time that “the answer can only be conclusive if the wreckage is found”.

A funny thing happened on the way to a bipartisan agreement to fund US government operations and avoid a partial shutdown this week.

Conservatives in Congress – encouraged by tech multi-billionaire Elon Musk – balked.

Republicans tried to regroup on Thursday afternoon, offering a new, slimmed-down package to fund the government. That vote failed, as 38 Republicans joined most Democrats in voting no.

All this political drama provides just a taste of the chaos and unpredictability that could be in store under unified Republican rule in Washington next year.

The man at the centre of this week’s drama holds no official government title or role. What Elon Musk does have, however, is hundreds of billions of dollars, a social media megaphone and the ear not just of the president of the United States but also rank-and-file conservatives in Congress.

On Wednesday morning, the tech tycoon took to X, which he purchased for $44bn two years ago, to disparage a compromise that Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson had struck with Democrats to temporarily fund US government operations until mid-March.

As the number of his posts about the proposed agreement stretched into triple digits, at times amplifying factually inaccurate allegations made by conservative commentators, opposition to the legislation in Congress grew.

And by Wednesday evening, Donald Trump – perhaps sensing that he needed to get in front of the growing conservative uprising – publicly stated that he, too, opposed the government funding bill.

He said it contained wasteful spending and Democratic priorities, while also demanding that Congress take the politically sensitive step of raising – or even doing away with – the legal cap on newly issued American debt that the US would reach sometime next summer.

Support for the stopgap spending bill then collapsed, forcing Johnson and his leadership team to scramble to find an alternative path forward. As they did, Musk celebrated, proclaiming that “the voice of the people has triumphed”.

It may be more accurate, however, to say that it was Musk’s voice that triumphed.

On Thursday afternoon, Republicans unveiled a new proposal that suspended the debt limit for the first two years of Trump’s second term, funded the government until March and included some disaster relief and other measures included in the original funding package.

But Musk’s involvement may not land well with some legislators. Democrats in the chamber joked about “President Musk”, while even a few Republicans publicly grumbled.

“Who?” Pennsylvania Republican Glenn Thompson responded when asked about Musk. “I don’t see him in the chamber.”

Musk may have been the instigator, but this latest congressional funding crisis reveals what has been – and is likely to continue to be – an ongoing challenge for the narrow Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

For two years, Republicans in the chamber have grappled with keeping a united front amidst a party populated, at least in part, by politicians with an active contempt for the government they help to run.

Internal divisions delayed Kevin McCarthy’s election as speaker of the House in January 2022 and led to his removal – a first in American history – the following year. Johnson ultimately replaced him, but only after weeks of leaderless limbo.

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Some Republicans had hoped that with Trump’s election, members of their majority, which will become even slimmer when the new Congress is sworn in next month, would be more willing to march in lockstep to support the new president’s agenda. And some are.

“I think President Trump pretty much laid out the plan, so I don’t know what the discussions are about,” Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna told reporters after internal Republican meetings on Thursday afternoon.

What this week has revealed, however, is that the president-elect may not always offer the legislature the clear, consistent direction it requires.

His insistence on raising the debt limit, for instance, caught many in his own party by surprise. And outside influences, such as from Musk or others, could inject extra instability into the process.

If Republicans aren’t able to reach near unanimity in the House, they will have to find ways to win over Democrats if they want to achieve any kind of legislative success. And what this week showed (once again) is that the kind of political compromises necessary could prompt a greater number of Republican defections.

Trump’s party will be challenged to effectively govern on its own – but it also may not be able to tolerate governing with the help of Democrats.

If there is no political equilibrium in the chamber, it would put Trump’s more ambitious legislative priorities at risk before he even takes office.

Republicans may yet find a way to avoid a lengthy government shutdown through a temporary budget resolution, even though the first round of pressure from Trump resulted in an embarrassing failure to win enough support within his own party.

For Johnson, however, the damage may have already been done. His authority over House Republicans has been undercut – first by Musk and then by Trump – just a few weeks before he stands for re-election as speaker of the House.

Already one Republican, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, has said he will not support Johnson’s re-election. Others, including members of Johnson’s own leadership team, have been noncommittal. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the firebrand Georgia congresswoman who unsuccessfully pushed to remove Johnson in May, suggested Musk become speaker.

Meanwhile, Trump – the one man who could throw Johnson a lifeline – has been equivocal, telling Fox News that Johnson could “easily” remain speaker if he “acts decisively and tough”.

Decisiveness may not be enough, however, when every direction for the speaker appears to lead to a dead end.

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.

What Haneul remembers most about his time in the North Korean military is the gnawing, continuous hunger. He lost 10kg in his first month of service, due to a diet of cracked corn and mouldy cabbage.

Three months into training, he says almost his entire battalion was severely malnourished and needed to be sent to a recovery centre to gain weight.

When they were later deployed as frontline guards to the border with South Korea, rice replaced corn. But by the time it reached their bowls, much had been siphoned off by rear units, and the remainder had been cut with sand.

Haneul says his unit was among the best-fed, a tactic to stop them defecting to South Korea. But it failed to prevent Haneul.

In 2012, he made a death-defying dash across the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) – the strip of land dividing the North from the South.

His experience and that of other military defectors helps shed light on the condition of thousands of North Korean troops deployed to the frontline in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Pyongyang has reportedly sent around 11,000 troops to help Russian forces reclaim part of its Kursk region taken by Ukraine in a surprise summer offensive.

Earlier this week, Seoul, Washington and Kyiv said the soldiers had now entered the fight “in significant numbers”, and reported the first casualties, with South Korean officials estimating more than 100 had already been killed and more injured. This figure has not been confirmed.

However, defectors and other military experts have told the BBC these troops should not be underestimated.

According to South Korean intelligence, most belong to the elite Storm Corps unit, and have “high morale”, but “lack an understanding of contemporary warfare”.

Only the taller, sportier men are selected for the Storm Corps, says defector Lee Hyun Seung, who trained North Korea’s special forces in the early 2000s before defecting in 2014.

He taught them martial arts, how to throw knives and make weapons out of cutlery and other kitchen utensils.

But even though the Storm Corps’ training is more advanced than that of regular North Korean units, the soldiers are still underfed and even malnourished.

Online videos, reportedly of the troops in Russia, show younger, “frail” soldiers, Haneul says. They are a stark contrast to Pyongyang’s propaganda videos, where men are seen bursting out of iron chains and smashing blocks of ice with their bare hands.

During his entire time in the army, Haneul says he fired only three bullets in a single live-fire training session.

The closest he came to combat was when a hungry farmer stumbled into the DMZ looking for vegetables. Haneul says he ignored instructions to “shoot any intruders” and let the man go with a warning.

It is difficult to know how much has changed in the decade since Haneul defected, given the scarcity of information from North Korea. It appears that the country’s leader Kim Jong Un has directed much of his limited resources into missiles and nuclear weapons rather than his standing army.

But according to another soldier, Ryu Seonghyun, who defected in 2019, the first three years in the military are “incredibly tough”, even for the special forces. The 28-year-old, who worked as a driver in the air force for seven years, says that during his service, conditions deteriorated and rice gradually disappeared from meals.

“The soldiers are sent into the mountains for days with a small amount of rice, and are told it is part of their survival training.”

Given these troops have been trained to fight in the mountainous Korean Peninsula, the defectors question how well they will adapt to fighting on the flatlands and in the trenches of Kursk.

Crucially, the Storm Corps are not a frontline unit. “Their mission is to infiltrate enemy lines and create chaos deep within enemy territory,” Ryu says.

But, he adds, Kim Jong Un has no alternative to sending special forces, as regular soldiers spend most of their time farming, building or chopping wood.

“Kim Jong Un had to send men who could demonstrate at least a certain level of combat ability, to avoid damaging North Korea’s reputation in Russia.”

The language barrier seems to have created an additional hurdle. On Sunday, Ukraine’s defence intelligence unit said communication issues had resulted in North Korean soldiers accidentally firing on a Russian battalion, killing eight.

With these assessments, it could be easy to dismiss the troops as “cannon fodder” and a sign of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s desperation. But that would be a mistake, the defectors say. Their loyalty to the regime and fighting spirit will count for a lot.

“Most of the soldiers in the Storm Corps come from working-class or farming families, who are highly obedient to the party and will follow orders unquestionably,” says Haneul, whose father and cousin were in the special forces.

Intense, ideological “brainwashing” sessions, held every morning, will further ensure they are mentally ready, Lee adds. He believes the North Korean troops “will become accustomed to the battlefield, learn how to fight the enemy, and find ways to survive”.

Although the soldiers will not have been given a choice over whether to be deployed, Ryu thinks many will have wanted to go. The ambitious will see it as an opportunity to advance their careers, he says.

And given how tough it is to serve in North Korea, some will have relished the chance to experience life abroad for the first time.

“I think they’ll be more willing to fight than Russian troops,” he adds, admitting that in their situation, he too would have wanted to be sent.

Chun In-bum, a former commander of South Korea’s special forces, agrees with the defectors’ appraisals. “Just because they lack food and training, does not mean they are incapable. They will acclimatise quickly. We should not underestimate them.”

While 11,000 troops are unlikely to turn the tide of such an attritional war – it is estimated Russia is suffering more than a thousand casualties a day – experts and officials believe this could be just the first tranche, with Pyongyang potentially able to send up to 60,000 or even 100,000 if they are rotated.

In these numbers, Mr Chun believes they could end up being effective.

Also, Kim Jong Un will be able to shoulder big losses without affecting the stability of his regime, the former soldiers say.

“Those who have been sent will be men without influence or connections – to put it bluntly, those who can be sacrificed without issue,” Haneul says.

He remembers being shocked to learn there were no children of high-ranking parents in his frontline unit: “That’s when I realised we were expendable.”

He does not expect much resistance from the families of the deceased, whose sons, he says, will be honoured as heroes.

“There are countless parents who have lost a child after sending them to the military,” he adds, recalling his second cousin who died. His aunt received a certificate, praising her son for his heroic contribution.

The loyalty of the soldiers and their families could blunt Ukrainian and South Korean hopes that many will simply defect once they enter the fight. Kyiv and Seoul have discussed conducting psychological operations along the frontline to encourage the men to surrender.

But it seems they do not have access to mobile phones. According to Ukrainian intelligence, even Russian soldiers’ phones are seized before they encounter North Korean troops.

So, possible infiltration strategies include broadcasting messages through loudspeakers or using drones to drop leaflets.

Both Ryu and Haneul decided to defect after reading anti-regime propaganda sent across the border from South Korea. But they are doubtful this would work so far from home.

They say it takes a long time to build up the desire and courage to defect.

Furthermore, Haneul suspects the officers will have been ordered to shoot anyone who attempts to flee. He remembers his comrades opening fire as he made his daring sprint across the DMZ.

“Twelve bullets flew just a metre over my head,” he says.

Even capturing the North Korean troops may prove challenging for Ukraine.

In the North, being a prisoner of war is considered extremely shameful and worse than death. Instead, soldiers are taught to take their own lives, by shooting themselves or detonating a grenade.

Ryu recalls a famous military song entitled Save the Last Bullet. “They tell you to save two bullets, one to shoot the enemy and one to shoot yourself.”

Nevertheless, the former special forces trainer Lee is determined to help. He has offered to go to the frontline to communicate directly with the soldiers.

“It’s unlikely they will defect in large numbers, but we have to try. Hearing familiar voices like mine, and others from North Korea, might impact their psychology,” he says.

Haneul just hopes they get home to North Korea. He knows there is a chance some of his relatives are among the troops sent to help Russia.

“I just hope they make it through and return safely.”

A holidaymaker from Northern Ireland who was detained in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after posting a negative Google review about his former employer has said returning home is a “Christmas miracle”.

Craig Ballentine, from Cookstown, County Tyrone, was arrested in Abu Dhabi airport in October because of his critical comments.

Under the UAE’s strict cybercrime laws, he was accused of slander and faced potential jail time.

The 33-year-old arrived in Dublin on Thursday morning after his travel ban had been lifted and he told BBC News NI he was “happy to be on Irish grass now”.

“It has been very overwhelming, because it has been quite confusing,” he said.

“One minute everything changes.

“It has been a Christmas miracle.

“The happiness kicked in when I just arrived at Dublin Airport, when I saw Dublin from the sky, that was it.

“I will have an extra big fry in the next hour or two and then it will be mainly focusing on seeing friends and family.

“On Christmas Eve, we are going to do the 12 pubs of Christmas – there are a few friends from Liverpool coming over, we do it every year – and I texted them this morning, saying, ‘I’m coming’.”

There were interventions from a number of politicians to highlight Mr Ballentine’s case, including Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill, former UUP leader Sir Reg Empey and Mid Ulster councillor Trevor Wilson.

Upon Mr Ballentine’s return, O’Neill said: “I am delighted to hear the news that Craig has arrived back in Ireland. It has been a difficult few months for him and his family who were concerned for his safety.

“My office was happy to assist in any way we could throughout this ordeal. I hope that Craig can now enjoy time at home in the company of his family and friends who have supported him throughout this difficult situation.”

Cllr Wilson also welcomed Mr Ballentine’s arrival home.

“It was a very stressful time for him and his family and hopefully he can now enjoy the Christmas festivities with his family and friends,” the UUP councillor said.

Mr Ballentine had previously told BBC News NI that all he wanted was to get home for Christmas to his family.

He said the last few weeks have been tough on them.

Mr Ballentine has already paid a fine but said he may have to return to Dubai at the end of January for a further court hearing.

He said that with regard to his case, he would have to “play it by ear”.

“On Christmas Eve, we will know a bit of a verdict of the court judgement,” he added.

“Have to wait for another 30 days and then they might appeal again, so it could be February, March, April, or else it could just be lifted just like that, finished.”

In 2023, Mr Ballentine got a job in a dog grooming salon in Dubai.

After working there for almost six months, he needed time off due to illness and so he gave his employer a doctor’s certificate as proof of his condition.

But when he did not show up for work, he was registered as “absconded” with the UAE authorities, which meant he could not leave the country.

Mr Ballentine later managed to get that travel ban lifted and went home to Northern Ireland, but doing so took two months and cost him thousands of pounds.

While he was back in Northern Ireland, he wrote an online review of the dog grooming salon, outlining the problems his former boss had allegedly caused him.

He told BBC News NI his Google post “explained the ordeal that I went through”.

In late October, Mr Ballentine returned to the UAE for a short holiday, at which point he was immediately arrested for the alleged slander.

He was transferred from Abu Dhabi to Dubai where he had to await the outcome of the case.

Kenyan business student Nelson Amenya has been hailed as a hero by those campaigning for greater transparency in the deals his government makes with private firms.

Recent Kenyan history is littered with stories of huge contracts that have resulted from corruption – and despite laws that are supposed to prevent this from happening, there are suspicions that it continues to take place.

Thirty-year-old Mr Amenya, who is studying in France for an MBA, leaked details on social media of what he said was a proposed agreement between Kenya and the Adani Group, an Indian multinational, in July.

It concerned the management of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) – the country’s – and region’s – biggest airport, which is long overdue a complete overhaul.

“The first feeling I had [when I was passed the documents] was that it was just another government deal… I did not understand the magnitude or the seriousness of it,” Mr Amenya, whose profile as an anti-corruption activist had been on the rise, tells the BBC.

The documents detailed a $2bn (£1.6bn) proposal by the Adani Group to lease JKIA for 30 years in order to modernise and run it.

As he started to go through the papers, he felt that if it was to go ahead, it “was going to hurt the Kenyan economy” while all the benefit would go to the Indian multinational.

The deal appeared unfair to him, according to what he read, as Kenya would still be putting in the largest share of the money but not reaping the financial rewards.

Mr Amenya had good reason to think the papers were genuine as “the people who were giving me these documents were from very legitimate departments of government”, he says.

The Adani Group is involved in infrastructure, mining and energy projects globally, in countries such as Israel, the UAE, France, Tanzania, Australia and Greece. Its founder Gautam Adani is a big player in India’s economy and is a close ally of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Through further reading, Mr Amenya says he discovered that the Adani deal with Kenya could have left his country with an obligation to pay the company if it did not recoup its investment.

“This was a great breach of trust of the people by the leadership of the president, the Kenya Airports Authority, the minister – they all betrayed the people,” he alleges.

Despite the evidence in his hands, Mr Amenya wrestled with what to do next. His own safety was at risk, though being in France he was better off than being in Kenya, where anti-corruption activists have been targeted and some killed.

“I was a bit scared. I didn’t know what’s going to happen. I’m risking my career, I’m risking my life, why should I take the risk to do this?” he asked himself at the time.

However, in the end he felt that staying quiet was not an option.

“You know, it’s only cowards who live long.”

After spending weeks going through what he had been sent, Mr Amenya leaked the documents on his X page in July, immediately sparking outrage in Kenya.

JKIA airport workers went on strike demanding that the deal be scrapped.

“It felt like a duty for me, for my country. Even if I am far away, I still have a duty for my country. I want to see a better Kenya, my home country becoming developed, industrialised and an end to corruption.”

He worried that the airport deal was a harbinger of what might come next.

Mr Amenya says it was not just the unusual terms and lack of transparency that rang alarm bells, it was also, he alleges, that Kenyan laws appeared to have been systematically ignored.

“[The authorities] never did due diligence for this company… they did not follow the due process of procurement.”

He alleges that some government officials hoped to bypass the legal requirements, including public consultation, that are supposed to prevent taxpayers’ money from being misspent.

A report in April by the Kenya Airports Authority on the proposed deal highlighted that there was no plan to consult stakeholders on the plan.

“This was in April, and by July when I was exposing this, they had not done any public participation. It was quite secret this deal, and by that time they were just a month away from signing the deal,” Mr Amenya alleges.

“After I exposed this deal is when they hurriedly tried to come and do like a sham public participation – they called the Kenya Airports Authority staff and started to have stakeholder meetings.”

Various officials and branches of the state denied allegations of corruption in the process and the authorities went ahead to sign another multimillion dollar deal with the Adani Group – this time to construct power lines.

The Adani Group said Mr Amenya’s claims were baseless and malicious.

A spokesperson told the BBC that “the proposal was submitted following Kenyan Public Private Partnership regulations and was intended to create a world class airport and significantly enhance the Kenyan economy by creating numerous new jobs”.

The Adani Group further says that no contract was signed as “discussions did not progress to a binding agreement”.

The company also says the proposal for the energy deal was above board and that the company “categorically refutes all allegations and insinuations of any violation of Kenyan laws in our operations or proposals.

“Every project we undertake is governed by a strong commitment to compliance, transparency and the laws of the respective countries in which we operate,” the statement read.

But it was not Mr Amenya’s leak that actually changed the government’s mind.

It was only when the US authorities indicted Gautam Adani for alleged involvement in a $250m (£200m) bribery scheme that Kenya acted.

Representatives from the Adani Group denied the allegations from US prosecutors and called them “baseless”.

At a state-of-the-nation address in parliament last month, Kenya’s President William Ruto announced the cancellation of both Adani deals.

“In the face of undisputed evidence or credible information on corruption, I will not hesitate to take decisive action,” Ruto said in a speech met with loud cheers inside parliament.

Kenyans celebrated the decision which Ruto attributed to new information provided by investigative agencies and partner nations.

“I was in class when this announcement came. I couldn’t believe it,” Mr Amenya says.

“I think in the first one hour, I had tears in my eyes. I was so happy.”

Although he does not see himself as a hero, messages of support poured in from everywhere, including from India.

Forty minutes after the class ended, he posted his now-famous tweet “Adios Adani!!” – goodbye Adani.

“It was momentous… All that I did finally paid off.”

The feeling of triumph, however, came after months of personal struggle and pressure.

Soon after exposing the airport deal, Mr Amenya was sued for defamation by an Adani Group representative and a Kenyan politician, making him question whether he should continue.

“Some people were coming to me from the government, they were even ready to pay me, they were telling me: ‘You need to cash out and just stop this fight with the government,'” he recalls.

“It would have been the biggest mistake of my life to give up, a betrayal to the Kenyan people.”

But even after scrapping the deals, President Ruto still questions why Kenyans opposed this and many other projects he has championed. He says he will find a way to upgrade the airport.

“I saw them saying that those who stopped the upgrading of our airport are heroes. Heroes? What do you gain when you stop the building of an airport in your country?” Ruto asked at a public function in early December.

“You have no clue how it’s going to be built, and those who are opposed have never even stepped foot inside an airport, you just want to oppose.”

Mr Amenya, who is still facing the defamation cases, is now fundraising to help with his legal fees, and says his future in Kenya is uncertain.

“I have received threats from credible intelligence agencies and people in Kenya that have warned me not to go back because obviously there’s some people who are very angry with what I did,” he says.

A hefty price, but one Mr Amenya says he would gladly pay again.

“We don’t really need to wait for someone to save us,” he says.

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An amphibious mouse with webbed feet and a blob-headed fish are among 27 new species scientists have discovered in Peru.

They were found in an expedition to Alto Mayo – which includes the Amazon rainforest – by scientists from the non-profit organisation Conservation International and members of local indigenous groups.

Up to 48 other new species may also have been found, although further study will be needed to determine whether they are new, Conservation International says.

“Discovering so many new species of mammals and vertebrates is really incredible, especially in such a human-influenced landscape,” said Trond Larsen, senior director at Conservation International.

Alto Mayo is a protected area in northern Peru with multiple ecosystems and Indigenous territories.

It has a relatively high population density, putting pressure on environmentalism through deforestation and agricultural expansion, Conservation International said.

Yulisa Tuwi, an Awajún woman who assisted with the research, said the report “allows the Awajún to protect our culture, natural resources and our territory”, as it gives them a better understanding of the ecosystems.

“[The Awajún] have extensive traditional knowledge about the forests, animals and plants they live side-by-side with,” Mr Larsen said.

The expedition also found a new species of dwarf squirrel, eight types of fish, three amphibians and 10 types of butterfly.

This “blob-headed” fish is a new discovery to science, but the Indigenous Awajún people who helped with the expedition were already aware of its existence.

The fish scientists were particularly shocked by its enlarged head – something they had never seen before.

This dwarf squirrel measures just 14cm (5.5in), half the length of an average grey squirrel in the UK, which ranges from 24 to 29cm, according to the UK Squirrel Accord.

“[It] fits so easily in the palm of your hand. Adorable and beautiful chestnut-brown colour, very fast,” Larsen said.

“It jumps quickly and hides in the trees.”

Scientists discovered a new species of spiny mouse – named after the especially stiff guard hairs found on their coats, which function similar to the spines of a hedgehog.

They also found a new “amphibious mouse”, which has partially webbed feet and eats aquatic insects.

It belongs to a group of semi-aquatic rodents considered to be among the rarest in the world, with the few species known to exist only spotted a handful of times by scientists.

It was something in Dominique Pelicot’s swagger, his “élan” – as the French might put it – that immediately struck the psychiatrist as odd.

There he stood. A 68-year-old pensioner who had already spent several months inside one of France’s most notorious prisons, Les Baumettes in Marseilles. The prison was a grim, intimidating place, crowded with members of the port city’s warring drug gangs.

And yet the man in the visiting room who rose to greet Dr Laurent Layet on a cold day in February 2021 seemed “clean, polished… He had just cut his own hair. He came towards me with this assertive attitude.” Dr Layet was surprised, to put it mildly.

The psychiatrist was the first of many people to scrutinise Dominique Pelicot. Each expert was looking for clues to explain how this apparently genial pensioner could have committed such grotesque crimes and deceived his unsuspecting victim for so long.

In all his years interviewing hundreds of rapists and suspected rapists on behalf of French police and prosecutors, Dr Layet had never come across anyone quite like this grey-haired former electrician, calmly awaiting prosecution for drugging his wife Gisele and inviting dozens of strangers to rape her as she lay, unconscious, in the couple’s bedroom.

“Something didn’t fit. I had never encountered such an exceptional case,” Dr Layet remembers thinking at the time.

At the end of a gruelling, four-month trial that has enraged people across France and far beyond – even as they were inspired by the dignity and courage of Gisele – Dominique Pelicot’s confident demeanour, a grandiose presence in the courtroom in Avignon, remained intact.

One might expect a man in Pelicot’s position – a globally reviled sexual predator, and rapist, facing the near-certain prospect of dying in prison – to cut a wretched figure. And there have been a handful of brief moments when he wept, openly, in court – usually for himself.

But for the most part, he struck an imperious pose, courtroom microphone in one hand, his body slouched in a throne-like chair (to accommodate the accused’s health issues), sometimes looking bored, occasionally interjecting like a ringmaster seeking to keep an unruly circus – the 50 other men on trial beside him – in their place.

“I am a rapist, like the others in this room. They knew everything,” he intoned, speaking with the confidence of a man who assumed his words would put an end to all further discussion.

But what are we to make of that domineering performance? And what have we really learned of this jowly, grey-haired figure, with his black cane and scarf, seated in a glass cage; this serial rapist whose cruelty has almost been eclipsed in the public imagination by the dignity and courage shown by his former wife?

Dr Layet first encountered Dominique in the late summer of 2020 at a police station in the nearby town of Carpentras, immediately after his arrest for filming with a camera up women’s skirts in a local supermarket. Called in to assess Pelicot, Dr Layet noted how breezily he dismissed his crime, like a genteel grandfather caught pocketing a few cigarettes.

Dr Layet detected a “dissonance” in the man’s behaviour, and the strong implication that he was hiding something more serious. He told the police that this one was worth closer inspection.

In court, years later, after two long prison interviews with Pelicot and with more than 20 of the other accused, Dr Layet presented a more detailed assessment to the panel of judges.

A measured and eloquent expert witness, Dr Layet stressed that Pelicot exhibited no signs of severe mental illness. He could not be dismissed as a “monster”. Nor was he psychotic – unable to tell reality from fiction.

And yet. There was a “fissure”, a split, in Pelicot’s personality.

A showier witness might have borrowed from popular culture to compare him to a tormented Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, or perhaps to Hannibal Lecter, stiff-backed in his prison cell in The Silence of the Lambs.

Instead, Dr Layet reached for a mundane image.

“Almost like a hard drive,” he suggested. A fitting metaphor, given that Pelicot had stored video evidence of his crimes on a computer memory card.

Later, in an interview with the BBC at his office in Carpentras, Dr Layet explained that Pelicot’s mind had become divided, over time, like a partitioned computer disk, into two entirely separate “water-tight parts… with no leakage between them. His split personality is very effective and very solid. We either have the ‘normal Mr Pelicot’ or the other Mr Pelicot at night, in the bedroom.”

Asked in court to explain that “other” Pelicot, Dr Layet said that he had detected a range of emotional and sexual abnormalities. They are, perhaps, most neatly captured in their original French, in a prosecution document seen by the BBC:

“Egomania, narcissistic fragility, emotional disorders… an abnormal sexual deviancy combining candaulism [exposing your female partner to others for sexual enjoyment], voyeurism and somnophilia.”

Pelicot’s own defence lawyer, Beatrice Zavarro, enthusiastically embraced the “split” personality theory in her closing arguments at the trial. She suggested that the charming young man Gisele Pelicot had fallen in love with and quickly married back in 1973 “was not the man that had harmed her”.

But that is not what Dr Layet – or the other psychiatrists we have consulted for this article – meant.

There may be two sides to Pelicot’s behaviour, but there is – to stick with Dr Layet’s computing metaphor – only one operating system that controls his cruel, private urges and his public demeanour.

A simpler way of putting it is that Pelicot has an antisocial personality disorder – a term preferred by psychiatrists these days to words such as psychopath or sociopath. Several experts have concluded it is a reasonable diagnosis to use in the context of Pelicot’s warped mind.

He is not “mad” – he cannot claim diminished responsibility for his actions. But he does show well-established traits of a personality disorder characterised by a lack of empathy towards other humans. Those traits may have been sharpened by the sexual abuse he experienced as a child.

Which brings us to another key question. Did Pelicot only become a rapist in retirement, or was he preying on women long before he began drugging his wife?

Sitting towards the back of the courtroom one Tuesday afternoon late in the trial, surrounded by journalists tapping away on their laptops, Florence Rault looked at Dominique Pelicot with a particularly well-informed sense of disgust.

“It can be assumed that what happened in Mazan… is only the culmination of a long process,” she said later, in a BBC interview.

Ms Rault, a lawyer specialising in criminal cases, knew something deeply troubling about Pelicot – allegations of appalling crimes arguably more disturbing than those for which he was about to be convicted.

For many years, she had been fighting for justice for two women who were the victims of violent ordeals in the 1990s.

More than 20 years before the rapes for which he has now been sentenced – in 1999 – Pelicot is accused of assaulting and attempting to rape a 23-year-old estate agent, known by the pseudonym Marion, in the suburbs of Paris. She fought the attacker off.

He eventually admitted to being present at the scene in 2021 after DNA – a spot of blood on the victim’s shoe – was finally found to match Pelicot’s. But he continues to deny he attempted to rape her and the investigation continues.

“Once he was told that his DNA was found at the crime scene, he said ‘Yes, it’s me,'” Ms Rault remembered.

And that discovery quickly led to a link to an even older cold case. In 1991, another young estate agent, Sophie Narme, had been raped and murdered. Although crucial DNA evidence had gone missing, the similarities between the scenes were so striking that Pelicot is under investigation for the crime, which he denies. The search for other potential links to older crimes is also ongoing.

If you’ve been affected by issues of sexual abuse, information and support is available at BBC Action Line.

Ms Rault is not expecting any more confessions from Pelicot in relation to the cold cases.

“Until he’s confronted with indisputable proof, he will deny [everything],” said Ms Rault, who once sat beside Pelicot at a hearing and was struck, like Dr Layet, by his “relaxed, rather serene” demeanour.

Ms Rault now watched him in the Avignon courtroom and saw the same behaviour. She also noted how Pelicot emphatically and tearfully denied drugging and raping his own daughter, Caroline, despite having taken deeply troubling photos of her, asleep, and without her knowledge.

“She’s convinced that he sexually abused her too. But since we don’t have any formal evidence like DNA to put in front of him, of course he will continue to deny it,” said Rault, arguing that, for Caroline, the agony of uncertainty was as cruel and traumatic as the suffering of a victim who knew exactly what had happened to her.

Pelicot’s attitude towards his family in court was often revealing. The psychiatrist, Dr Layet, pointed out that the accused narcissistically focused on the love his wife and children once felt for him, not his betrayal of their trust.

For Pelicot, this “started out as a love story” and he “doesn’t want this to be ignored”, said Dr Layet.

But Ms Rault had come to court to look for other signs. Above all, she wanted to shore up her sense that Pelicot’s crimes were highly premeditated.

“Serial rapists… usually have an impulse. They commit rape. They leave, and then they forget. This is not the case with [Pelicot] at all,” she said.

Ms Rault recalled the methodical actions of Marion’s attacker inside an estate agent’s office in 1999. The way he had made an excuse to return to his car – almost certainly to collect a rope and a bottle of ether to drug her. Then Ms Rault noted that the man in the glass cage in Avignon demonstrated a similar self-possession and saw it as further evidence that this was a deeply calculating criminal.

“When he says he has urges and acts on impulse, it’s nothing like that. He is very calm.”

On the same day that Ms Rault was in the Avignon courtroom, I was sitting nearby. Gisele Pelicot was a few metres to our right. Dozens of the accused sat in front of us. Dominique Pelicot was over to the left side of the room.

During a break in proceedings, I walked over to him. According to French law, journalists are not allowed to talk to the accused. Instead, I stood for a while and watched him as he sat in his chair, behind his glass wall, one hand on his stick. Then his head turned towards me, and he held my gaze for what must have been 20 seconds – although it felt much longer.

His expression did not change. He did not seem to blink. And then, like a bored man switching between equally boring television channels, he looked away.

A US government shutdown is fast approaching after the House of Representatives voted against a Donald Trump-backed spending bill.

Dozens of Republicans defied the president-elect by joining Democrats to reject a revised funding measure.

If no deal is agreed by midnight local time on Friday, some federal services will begin shutting down from the early hours.

The Republican Party’s leadership in the House vowed to find a solution to the impasse over government funding ahead of the deadline.

Unlike in much of the rest of the world, government shutdowns in the US happen relatively often due to a 1980 act which basically ruled that without a budget there can be no spending.

This means that if the US Congress – made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate – does not approve a budget, there is no money for the federal government and non-essential services soon begin shutting down and many public employees stop getting paid.

Services classed as essential – mostly related to public safety – continue to operate, and those workers are required to show up without pay.

That usually includes border protection, hospital care, air traffic control, law enforcement, and power grid maintenance.

Services deemed to be non-essential, such as the food assistance programme, federally funded pre-school, the issuing of student loans and food inspections, and the opening of national parks, will all be hit.

• Follow live updates as the deadline looms
• Musk flexes influence over Congress in shutdown drama
• Why government shutdowns seem to only happen in US
• Listen: Why has Elon Musk been pushing for a government shutdown?

The latest spending plan was the second in as many days which failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to pass the lower chamber of Congress, with 38 Republicans voting against the bill on Thursday night.

This was in defiance of Trump who the day before had thwarted a previous cross-party funding deal that the Republican House leadership had struck with Democrats, after heavy criticism of the measure by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

The Tesla founder, who Trump has tasked with identifying spending cuts by co-leading the Department of Government Efficiency (which is not an official government department), lobbied heavily against the existing deal with dozens of posts on X – the social media platform he owns.

He called it “criminal” and often referenced false statements about the bill in his posts

Musk wrote on X that any lawmaker “who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years”.

After Musk drummed up opposition for the spending bill, Trump and the incoming vice-president JD Vance dealt the final blow to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson’s deal on Wednesday evening.

They said in a joint statement they wanted streamlined legislation without the Democratic-backed provisions that Johnson had included.

They also called for Congress to raise or eliminate the debt ceiling, which determines how much the government can borrow to pay its bills, and limit the funding legislation to temporary spending and disaster relief.

They called anything else “a betrayal of our country”.

After the initial bill failed by 174 votes to 235, Johnson said he would come up with another solution before government funding lapses at midnight on Friday.

The House then voted on this revised edition on Thursday which included some concessions to Trump’s demands, but Republican rebels objected because they opposed increases in government spending, while Democrats voted against it because they said the extra borrowing would be used to give tax cuts to the wealthy.

The current deadlock can be traced back to September, when another budget deadline loomed.

Johnson failed to pass a six-month funding extension as Democrats voted against because it included a measure (the SAVE Act) to require proof of citizenship for voting.

Instead, Congress came to a bipartisan deal for a bare-bones bill that would keep the government funded until the end of 20 December.

It is not clear what will happen next.

Lawmakers are expected to return on Friday morning, with less than 24 hours on the clock until a looming shutdown.

And while the bill will need support from both sides of the chamber to pass, the partisan blame game is in full swing. After the Thursday bill was shot down, Johnson told reporters it was “very disappointing” that almost every House Democrat had voted against it.

Yet Democrats are unlikely to help Johnson with support for a revamped funding bill, blaming him for breaking their bipartisan agreement.

And others seemed to taunt Republicans for seeming to take their direction from the unelected Musk.

On the House floor on Thursday, Connecticut Representative Rosa DeLauro – the top Democratic appropriator in the House – called the billionaire “President Musk”, to laughter from fellow Democrats.

The situation also poses a challenge for Johnson, as the House is set to vote in just 15 days on who will serve as House Speaker for the next Congress.

What previously looked like a secure position for Johnson is now seeming less of a sure thing.

And it’s not only Johnson who is in a tricky situation – this was the first big test of Trump’s influence over current congressional Republicans, and in the vote on Thursday, a number of them baulked.

The last government shutdown ran from 21 December 2018 to 25 January 2019 and was the longest on record. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that it reduced economic output, external by about $11bn, including $3bn that it never regained.

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.