A Saudi national alleged to have carried out a deadly attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, which killed five and injured more than 200, had warned on social media that “something big will happen”.

The 50-year-old doctor is in police custody after a black BMW SUV ploughed 400 metres through a crowded market at speed, driving over some people and flinging others up into the air. A nine-year-old girl is among the dead.

There are 41 people in a critical condition with life-threatening injuries and the injured are being treated at 15 clinics around the country.

Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, who came to Germany in 2006 and applied for asylum a decade later, was apprehended by armed police in a dramatic altercation as shocked bystanders looked on just minutes after the attack. He was repeatedly told to “lie on the ground” adjacent to the battered BMW that moments before had mown scores of people to the ground.

Forensic scientists are investigating the possibility that Abdulmohsen had deliberately turned off the emergency braking mechanism on the BMW X3, which he had hired before the attack, in order to maximise its impact.

At a press conference held by police and prosecutors on Saturday evening, officials said initial questioning of Abdulmohsen, who has been charged with five murders and 200 attempted murders, had taken place, but declined to reveal anything the suspect had said. However, when asked about his motivation, the chief state prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said: “It could be he was dissatisfied with the way in which Saudi Arabian refugees were dealt with in Magdeburg.”

Nopens said the attacker had bypassed security bollards and made use of a corridor for emergency service vehicles to be able to enter the market, which should have been blocked for anything other than ambulances and police vehicles.

Amid questions as to whether the attacker could have been stopped, Nopens added: “We didn’t have the perpetrator in our focus.”

Among the many threats of violence reportedly made on social media by Abdulmohsen, a self-declared critic of Islam and defender of Saudi women, was the wish to kill former chancellor Angela Merkel for her attempts to “Islamise Europe” by allowing refugees into the country in large numbers in 2015.

He had accused German authorities of trying to censor him. He said he had been isolated by friends and family after officially announcing he had renounced his Muslim faith. Patients – often asylum seekers – at the clinic 15km south of Magdeburg, where he worked as a consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist, had accused him of being a “bad person” for doing so, he said.

Saudi authorities have told German media they warned German authorities more than once that he posed a threat. It is unclear if the warnings were acted upon.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who visited the scene of the attack on Saturday accompanied by members of his government and the leader of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, described the attack as “terrible and insane”.

After laying a white rose at the market, on the lane between wooden stalls down which the BMW had barrelled, Scholz said the choice of a Christmas market for an attack was particularly shocking, as was the timing.

It was almost eight years to the day since an Islamist terrorist had slammed a stolen lorry at speed into a Christmas market on Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz, killing 12 and injuring many more.

“There is no place more peaceful and joyful than a Christmas market,” Scholz said. “People come together for a few days before Christmas … to be together in contemplation but also to celebrate. To drink a glühwein, to eat a bratwurst. What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality.”

He cited the “almost 40” victims who had been injured “so seriously that we have to be very worried about them”.

Eyewitnesses described watching in horror as the car careered into the market at high speed about 7pm local time on Friday night, despite the hefty bollards erected around the square, which were disguised as giant colourful lego bricks. These have become customary across Germany following the Breitscheidplatz attack.

One woman said it appeared that the driver of the car, which headed towards the town hall, seemed to have specifically aimed at a fairytale-themed section of the market, where a large number of families with young children were gathered.

Terrorist experts expressed their astonishment at the nature of the attack, which lasted two to three minutes.Peter Neumann from King’s College London, a veteran terrorist expert, wrote on X: “After 25 years in this business, you think nothing could surprise you any more.

“But a 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim who lives in East Germany, loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance towards Islamists – that really wasn’t on my radar.”

Abdulmohsen had created a website to assist opponents of the regime in Saudi Arabia, in particular women, to escape the country and apply for asylum in Europe.

He had made considerable efforts to be taken seriously as a militant critic of Islam, describing himself in a 2019 interview in the august Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as “the most aggressive critic of Islam in history”.

He also demonstrated considerable support for the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the anti-Islam, anti-immigrant party that is currently second in the polls.

His attention in recent months appeared to have turned to criticism of German authorities and a bias he thought they had against Saudis such as himself and female asylum seekers in particular who had renounced Islam.

In August, in one post, he reportedly wrote: “If Germany wants to kill us, we’ll massacre them, die, or go with pride to prison.”

The attack, one of the worst terrorist offences in the country’s history, comes at a critical moment for Germany. The country is in the thick of an election campaign after the collapse of Scholz’s three-way coalition last month over differences in how to deal with myriad challenges including a deep economic downturn, and profound differences over how to tackle immigration.

Across Germany, security was yet again tightened at many of the thousands of Christmas markets that are a feature of most towns and cities from the end of November until the end of December. Some markets closed amid safety concerns.

Magdeburg’s market will remain closed. Most of the lights in the city’s centre had been turned off, and a funfair close to the market was shut. But the chimes of a church clock continued to ring out with the melody of a favourite German Christmas carol, Fröhliche Weihnacht Überall (Merry Christmas Everywhere), a plaintive reminder of the celebrations that Magdeburgers had been preparing for just hours before, which were now shattered.

One city official said: “Christmas is over in Magdeburg.”

Interior minister Nancy Faeser had warned before the opening of the Christmas market season at the end of November of the potential danger of them becoming the focus of terrorist attacks, as has been the case for several years, but said there was no concrete evidence of attacks being planned. She warned visitors to the markets to remain alert to danger.

• Ukraine staged a major drone attack on the Russian city of Kazan, 1,000km (620 miles) from the frontline, on Saturday, damaging residential buildings and temporarily shutting down the airport. A drone smashed into a high-rise apartment block and damaged a skyscraper in the city of more than 1.3 million but there were no casualties, local officials said. Videos posted on Russian social media networks showed drones hitting a high-rise building and setting off fireballs. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said two drones hit a 37-storey apartment block and that Ukraine had been targeting an unspecified industrial facility but that it suffered no damage.

• Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Saturday without specifically mentioning the strike on Kazan: “We will definitely continue to strike at Russian military targets with drones and missiles.” Some Kazan residents were evacuated – Russian authorities did not provide figures – and all major public events in the area were cancelled as a precaution after the strikes. Russian civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia temporarily closed Kazan international airport, one of the country’s busiest, but reopened it later on Saturday. Alongside the drones that hit the apartment block, three drones were shot down and three were suppressed by air defence systems, the foreign ministry said. The attack on Kazan – about 800km east of Moscow – came a day after Russian strikes on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, killed one person and wounded 13, and after five were killed by a Ukrainian attack on the Russian border region of Kursk.

• Zelenskyy said on Saturday that he had met the CIA director, William Burns in Ukraine – a rare public disclosure of a meeting between the pair. The Ukrainian president said he had met Burns on multiple occasions throughout the war but their meetings had been undisclosed. “Bill Burns paid his last visit to Ukraine as CIA director,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram, posting a photo of him shaking hands with Burns in front of a state crest of Ukraine. “He and I have had many meetings during this war, and I am grateful for his help. Usually, such meetings are not publicly reported, and all our meetings – in Ukraine, in other European countries, in America, and in other parts of the world – were held without official information.” Burns is set to leave the CIA post as US president-elect Donald Trump brings in his own candidate.

• Russia’s defence ministry said the army captured a new village on Saturday near the key city of Kurakhove in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces have made major advances in recent months. The village of Kostiantynopolske is about 10km south-west of Kurakhove, an industrial town that is a looming Russian target.

• The Russian embassy in London on Saturday described the UK’s planned transfer to Ukraine of more than £2bn ($2.5bn) backed by frozen Russian assets as a “fraudulent scheme”. Britain said in October it would lend Ukraine £2.26bn pounds as part of a much larger loan from the Group of Seven nations backed by frozen Russian central bank assets to help buy weapons and rebuild damaged infrastructure. The UK defence minister, John Healey, said the money would be solely for Ukraine’s military and could be used to help develop drones capable of travelling further than some long-range missiles.

Tyson Fury described Oleksandr Usyk’s victory over him as a “Christmas gift” from the three judges who all scored the fight 116-112 in favour of the champion. The verdict was justifiably much more clear-cut than the split-decision ruling which had also given Usyk victory in May.

But Fury offered his contrasting belief at the post-fight press conference: “I thought I won that fight. I thought I won both fights but I’m going home with two losses on my record. There’s not much I can do about it. I can just fight my heart out.

“I will believe til the day I die that I won that fight. I was aggressive, on the front foot all night, landing to the body and head. Frank Warren [his promoter] had me three or four rounds up. A lot of people had me at least two rounds up. But I’m not going to cry over spilled milk. I can’t change the decision. When you don’t get the KO this is what happens: you can’t guarantee a win.”

Asked by a Ukrainian journalist if he agreed that Usyk was inspired by the defiant spirit of his war-torn country, Fury said dolefully: “I didn’t feel no spirit. I felt a bit of Christmas spirit in there and think he got a Christmas gift from those judges.”

Fury was told that even the experimental use of Artificial Intelligence had gone against him. The AI “judge” recorded a score of 118-112 to Usyk. Fury responded amusingly when he considered his view of AI. “By the review of that, absolutely shit,” he said. “Fuck all the computers, keep the humans going. More jobs for humans, less jobs for computers. Fuck electric cars too, while we’re at it.”

He was asked what he would like to do next. “Go home and have a good Christmas. I’ve been away 12 weeks working for this fight. I’m gonna go home now and enjoy it. We go home to a new year. Let’s see what it brings.”

Usyk is the only man to have beaten Fury, who began his professional career 16 years ago this month, but the British fighter remained grudging in his praise. He would not even accept that Usyk is the best man he has ever faced. “Not really. In that fight he never hurt me once. I’ve got a few flesh wounds – and they’ll be gone in a few days. I know what’s happened and that’s it.”

Fury repeated his belief that, “In my opinion it was a Christmas gift. It’s not Oleksandr’s fault – congrats to him and his team.”

Usyk, typically, was far more gracious towards Fury: “He is a great fighter. He is a great opponent. He gave an unbelievable 24 rounds for my career. Thank you very much.”

Oleksandr Usyk remains the shining king of boxing’s dark and chaotic world. The great Ukrainian retained his three titles as the heavyweight champion of the world when he defeated Tyson Fury on points in a defining contest in the early hours of Sunday morning in Riyadh. Usyk boxed with clinical authority to win clearly by a score of 116-112 on all three cards.

The pace was unrelenting and, ultimately, Usyk was just too fast, too smart and too skilled for Fury. His movement, accuracy and precision of punching were exemplary. Fury fought brilliantly at times but he could not sustain any real pitch of intensity. He began to flag at key moments of the bout as Usyk pulled away to secure his ­comprehensive victory.

That was not how Fury saw it, shaking his head in disbelief and leaving the ring without saying a word. His promoter, Frank Warren, said: “How did Tyson only get four rounds in this fight? It’s impossible … It’s nuts. It’s nuts, I don’t get it. I’m really disappointed with that.”

Fury walked out initially to Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You, looking a little like Santa himself in a red and white gown and with his big bushy beard that he had allowed to grow wild and free all through his long training camp. Usyk, meanwhile, strode fast to the ring with a deep seriousness of purpose and an expression of ferocious intensity etched across his face. Once between the ropes he knelt down in his corner and prayed.

The names of both fighters were chanted by small pockets of the crowd as they walked to the centre of the ring for the referee’s final instructions.

Fury, weighing over 50 pounds more than Usyk, was notably fleshy around the midriff as they stalked each other. Usyk, despite being much the smaller man, was intent on finding a way to get on the front foot but Fury pumped out his jab effectively and shaded the first two rounds. But Usyk set sharp puzzles of movement and he won the third and the fourth when he briefly rocked Fury.

Fury’s best round of the fight was the fifth, when he used his trademark uppercut with bludgeoning force. Usyk was forced to retreat near the end of the round but in the sixth, as the pace slowed for the first time, the champion clipped Fury with a ­searing left.

There was still parity halfway through the fight but, from the seventh round on, Usyk began to dominate. The massive weight difference seemed to work against the hulking Fury, who began to tire and take in deep gulps of breath. Usyk’s lateral movement and crisp punching enabled him to stretch ahead and in the last third of the bout there was little doubt that he would retain his titles.

As the lights shone down on the two fighters, the sweat glistened on Fury’s back in a sign of how much effort he was being forced to exert. Usyk bobbed, weaved and skittered, moving in and out, befitting his nickname of the Cat, and then landed crunching punches which bruised and marked up his opponent’s face.

But the defeated Fury still fought valiantly and the last round featured numerous brutal exchanges. Fury, in search of a knockout, landed some heavy shots but Usyk would not buckle and he fired back. It was an exhilarating end to a gripping contest.

This was another extraordinary achievement for Usyk. The former undisputed world cruiserweight champion replicated the feat at heavy­weight – which is clearly a division above his natural weight – and he remains the WBA, WBC and WBO champion. Boxing politics meant the IBF belt was stripped from him in the summer and handed to Daniel Dubois – whom Usyk beat last year. But there can be no doubting either the gravitas or the lustre of the true champion.

Having suffered a split-decision loss to Usyk in their first fight in May, Fury had locked himself away in a 12-week training camp to prepare himself for the rematch. He apparently did not speak even once to his wife, Paris, throughout the isolation of that brutal training regime and insisted this past week that his focus on Usyk has been relentless.

But Fury also piled on extra weight in a clear strategy to use his immense bulk to dominate Usyk physically. Allied to his height advantage – with Fury being half a foot taller than Usyk – the 36-year-old from Morecambe in Lancashire was intent on trying to rough up the indomitable champion. Fury’s strategy didn’t work against a superior fighter.

Earlier this week, the 37-year-old Usyk had to be coaxed into considering his impact on the battered morale of his country. While trying to downplay his status, Usyk told a moving story of how news of his victory last May spread down the frontline of Ukrainian soldiers. Their weariness turned to elation as they heard that he had overcome all odds to defeat Fury.

A second straight victory over his giant opponent will feel all the sweeter now.

Usyk raised his arms high, relief and joy coursing through him. This remarkable champion and his ­beleaguered yet defiant country deserve to exalt in his enduring supremacy.

Round 1

Usyk and Fury practically sprint from their corners to meet each other in the center of the ring and Fury is already looking more aggressive than in round one of the first fight, pumping his jab with urgency. Usyk bursts into the pocket and lands a right hand upstairs. The 55lb weight difference looks even starker under the lights than at the weigh-in. Fury targeting Usyk’s body with straight shots. Both fighters opening up, eschewing the typical feeling-out period. More body shots from Fury. Usyk’s balletic footwork creating an elusive target for the challenger. Usyk barrels in and clips Fury with a left hand. A frantic pace!

How they scored it Bryan Graham 10-9 Fury Judges 10-9 Fury; 10-9 Fury; 10-9 Usyk

Round 2

Fury showing good variation with his lead hand, but Usyk has claimed the center of the ring. Fury is throwing less than he did in the first round while Usyk continues to work the body. A double-jab from Fury backs Usyk up but the champion keeps with in-and-out movement. Usyk is really punishing Fury with a barrage of hard left hands to the midsection. Those could pay off down the road. But Fury does enough to nick a very even round with a crisp right hand to Usyk’s temple.

How they scored it Bryan Graham 10-9 Fury Judges 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Fury

Round 3

Usyk continues to move in and out of Fury’s range, doing his best to neutralize the challenger’s attack with deft footwork. Usyk is barely missing with combinations but Fury is looking a bit more tentative than he did in the opening minutes. The champion continues with dedicated body work, but Fury is finding success with the lead left hook. Another very close round but Usyk has done just enough to take it on our card.

How they scored it Bryan Graham 10-9 Usyk Judges 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Fury; 10-9 Usyk

Round 4

The frenetic pace continues as Usyk continues to land more while throwing less. Fury switches to a southpaw stance and Usyk lands a one-two combination followed by a massive left hand that appears to hurt Fury! He’s backed up to the ropes and the crowd swells! Fury switches back to orthodox and fires back with confidence, holding off the oncoming champion with a flush right uppercut. This is high-level stuff from both men with so little to separate them after four rounds.

How they scored it Bryan Graham 10-9 Usyk Judges 10-9 Fury; 10-9 Fury; 10-9 Fury

Round 5

Fury lands a punishing right uppercut to the body, his best shot of the fight. He’s finally using his size and crowding the champion, tying Usyk up along the ropes and trying to lean on him, only the first time he’s managed to get him in the clinch. The round ends with Fury walking down his foe, throwing and landing more shots. Another very competitive round but the easiest of the fight to score thus far.

How they scored it Bryan Graham 10-9 Fury Judges 10-9 Fury; 10-9 Fury; 10-9 Fury

Round 6

The pace has slowed a touch at the start of the sixth but who can blame them? Usyk lands an overhand right but Fury returns with a jab-left hook combination. Usyk lands a crisp one-two combo to the head punctuated by a left hand over the top. More excellent lateral movement from Usyk, who catches Fury with his guard down near the end of the round and lands a flush overhand left hand upstairs that buzzes the challenger! Halfway through the scheduled 12 rounds and we’ve got another classic in the offing.

How they scored it Bryan Graham 10-9 Usyk Judges 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk

Round 7

Usyk fighting off the front foot in the first minute of the seventh as Fury appears to be feeling the pace. The referee is breaking up all of these clinches quickly, which plays in the champion’s favor. Usyk lunges in and lands a left hand upstairs that hurts Fury! Fury is on the back foot, his activity slowing down quite a bit, with Usyk hunting him down. Fury switches to southpaw again near the end of the round and Usyk catches him with another left to the head. That Usyk left hand won the round by itself.

How they scored it Bryan Graham 10-9 Usyk Judges 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk

Round 8

Fury is slowing down and you begin to wonder if the career-high weight is working against him. Usyk continues to keep the pressure on, moving forward relentlessly and firing away with left hands over the top. Now Fury comes forward while trying to re-establish his jab, but Usyk remains a slippery target before catching him with a combination upstairs followed by a body shot. What poise and composure from the champion, say nothing of his conditioning!

How they scored it Bryan Graham 10-9 Usyk Judges 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk

Round 9

Compubox’s punch statistics through eight rounds indicate Usyk is throwing and landing more shots and doing so at a higher percentage, but this is still a competitive fight. For now, at least. The champion is really pushing this pace and Fury is having trouble keeping up. Usyk’s body work is slowing the challenger down, allowing the smaller man to stalk his foe and take the power out of Fury’s shots. By the end of the round Fury is moving entirely in reverse and looks completely exhausted.

How they scored it Bryan Graham 10-9 Usyk Judges 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Fury

Round 10

Fury is trying to hold the center of the ring but Usyk remains on the attack. Fury throws shots then leans on Usyk in clinches with greater success than in previous rounds. Usyk lands a couple of shots upstairs. A left hand from Usyk to the head and Fury immediately clinches. Fury lands an uppercut but Usyk fires right back with a combination! A two-way firefight near the end of the round but Usyk gets the better of it. Very close round, almost too close to call.

How they scored it Bryan Graham 10-9 Fury Judges 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk

Round 11

Usyk’s comprehensive boxing is making a bigger statement than Fury’s occasional pockets of success, which have mostly come with the uppercut. Usyk continues to press forward, throwing shots to the head and body from creative angles that Fury can’t account for. The challenger lands a pair of lumbering shots to the midsection but Usyk just smiles. Usyk’s dexterity is really taking over. He lands a left square on Fury’s chin that appears to stun the bigger man. The champion is in full command. Speed kills.

How they scored it Bryan Graham 10-9 Usyk Judges 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk

Round 12

Fury is pressing forward with urgency, seemingly knowing he needs a knockout, but he’d better be careful as Usyk is timing him carefully and looking to catch him on the way inside. Fury really letting his hands go, attacking with abandon while alternating between southpaw and orthodox stances, but Usyk is taking the shots well and giving back as good as he’s getting. The final bell sounds after three minutes of riveting two-way action and Usyk stands in the center of the ring looking skyward with gloves to the side. As good as it gets at the heavyweight level. What a fight!

How they scored it Bryan Graham 10-9 Fury Judges 10-9 Fury; 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk

Final scores

Bryan Graham 115-113 Usyk Judges 116-112 Usyk; 116-112 Usyk; 116-112 Usyk

Donald Trump has appointed Mark Burnett, a British television producer who helped produce Trump’s show The Apprentice, as the US’s special envoy to the UK.

In an announcement on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump hailed 64-year-old Burnett, saying: “With a distinguished career in television production and business, Mark brings a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition to this important role.”

Trump went on to cite multiple shows that Burnett had created and produced including Survivor, Shark Tank, The Voice and, most notably, The Apprentice, which ran from 2004 to 2017 and featured Trump as its host.

As the former chair of MGM Worldwide Television Group, Burnett has won 13 Emmys.

“Mark will work to enhance diplomatic relations, focusing on areas of mutual interest, including trade, investment opportunities, and cultural exchanges,” Trump said, adding: “Congratulations Mark!”

Burnett’s appointment, which does not require Senate confirmation, follows Trump’s tapping of Republican mega-donor and investment banker Warren Stephens as the US’s ambassador to the UK.

Trump’s other picks also include individuals who lack diplomatic and foreign policy experience. He recently tapped the former NFL player Herschel Walker as ambassador to the Bahamas, as well as his son-in-law’s father, Charles Kushner, as ambassador to France.

During Walker’s failed Senate nomination bid two years ago, throughout which he touted his anti-abortion beliefs, reports emerged of him allegedly pressuring multiple women – with whom he had had intimate relationships with – to obtain abortions. Meanwhile, Kushner, whose son Jared is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, pleaded guilty in 2005 to 18 counts of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and wire tampering. Trump pardoned Kushner in 2020.

Trump has also appointed Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former romantic partner of Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr, as ambassador to Greece.

Also on Saturday, David Fink was named administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration.

“David will bring his 45+ years of transportation leadership and success, which will deliver the FRA into a new era of safety and technological innovation,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

In a separate post, Trump picked billionaire Houston Rockets NBA team owner Tilman Fertitta to be his administration’s ambassador to Italy.

Fertitta is the chair and owner of Landry’s, which operates a large collection of restaurants, hotels and casinos throughout the United States.

Trump, in his social media post, lauded the 67-year-old Texas native as an “accomplished businessman” and philanthropist.

Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of Donald Trump, said on Saturday she had removed her name from consideration to replace the outgoing US senator Marco Rubio.

Rubio has been tapped by Trump to serve as secretary of state. The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, will pick a replacement for Rubio, who is expected to resign as senator when Trump takes office on 20 January.

There was speculation that Lara Trump, who served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee in the lead-up to the 2024 election, would succeed Rubio in the Senate.

However, in a post on X, she said she had decided to remove herself from consideration “after an incredible amount of thought, contemplation, and encouragement from so many”.

“I could not have been more honored to serve as RNC co-chair during the most high-stakes election of our lifetime and I’m truly humbled by the unbelievable support shown to me by the people of our country, and here in the great state of Florida,” she said.

Trump is married to Eric Trump, Donald Trump’s son.

Trump added she had a “big announcement” to share in January but did not provide details. She said she remains passionate about public service and looks forward to serving in the future.

While noting there was already strong interest from possible candidates, DeSantis said last month that a selection will likely be made by early January.

A ferry overloaded with people returning home for Christmas capsized on the Busira River in north-eastern Congo, leaving 38 people confirmed dead and more than 100 others missing, officials and eyewitnesses said on Saturday.

Twenty people have been rescued so far.

The sinking of the ferry late on Friday came less than four days after another boat capsized in the country’s north-east, killing 25 people.

The ferry was travelling as part of a convoy of other vessels and the passengers were primarily merchants returning home for Christmas, said Joseph Joseph Kangolingoli, the mayor of Ingende, the last town on the river before the site of the accident.

According to Ingende resident Ndolo Kaddy, the ferry contained “more than 400 people because it made two ports, Ingende and Loolo, on the way to Boende, so there is reason to believe there were more deaths”.

Congolese officials have often warned against overloading boats and vowed to punish those violating safety measures on rivers. However, in remote areas many people cannot afford public transportation on the few available roads.

At least 78 people drowned in October when an overloaded boat sank in the country’s east while 80 lost their lives in a similar accident near Kinshasa in June.

The latest accident prompted anger at the government for not equipping the convoy with flotation devices.

Nesty Bonina, a member of the local government and a prominent figure in Mbandaka, the capital of the Equateur province where the ferry sank, condemned authorities for not properly handling the recent events.

“How can a ship navigate at night under the watchful eye of river service agents? And now we’re recording over a hundred deaths,” said Bonina.

The capsizing of overloaded boats is becoming increasingly frequent in this central African nation as more people are giving up the few available roads in favour of wooden vessels crumbling under the weight of passengers and their goods for security reasons.

The roads are often caught up in the deadly clashes between Congolese security forces and rebels that sometimes block major access routes.

A ferry overloaded with people returning home for Christmas capsized on the Busira River in north-eastern Congo, leaving 38 people confirmed dead and more than 100 others missing, officials and eyewitnesses said on Saturday.

Twenty people have been rescued so far.

The sinking of the ferry late on Friday came less than four days after another boat capsized in the country’s north-east, killing 25 people.

The ferry was travelling as part of a convoy of other vessels and the passengers were primarily merchants returning home for Christmas, said Joseph Joseph Kangolingoli, the mayor of Ingende, the last town on the river before the site of the accident.

According to Ingende resident Ndolo Kaddy, the ferry contained “more than 400 people because it made two ports, Ingende and Loolo, on the way to Boende, so there is reason to believe there were more deaths”.

Congolese officials have often warned against overloading boats and vowed to punish those violating safety measures on rivers. However, in remote areas many people cannot afford public transportation on the few available roads.

At least 78 people drowned in October when an overloaded boat sank in the country’s east while 80 lost their lives in a similar accident near Kinshasa in June.

The latest accident prompted anger at the government for not equipping the convoy with flotation devices.

Nesty Bonina, a member of the local government and a prominent figure in Mbandaka, the capital of the Equateur province where the ferry sank, condemned authorities for not properly handling the recent events.

“How can a ship navigate at night under the watchful eye of river service agents? And now we’re recording over a hundred deaths,” said Bonina.

The capsizing of overloaded boats is becoming increasingly frequent in this central African nation as more people are giving up the few available roads in favour of wooden vessels crumbling under the weight of passengers and their goods for security reasons.

The roads are often caught up in the deadly clashes between Congolese security forces and rebels that sometimes block major access routes.

The US military said it conducted precision airstrikes on Saturday against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility operated by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a.

In a statement, the US military’s Central Command said the strikes aimed to “disrupt and degrade Houthi operations, such as attacks against US navy warships and merchant vessels in the southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb and Gulf of Aden”.

The US military also said it struck multiple Houthi one-way drones and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea and the strike reflected its “ongoing commitment to protect US and coalition personnel, regional partners and international shipping”.

Saturday’s strike followed a similar attack last week by US aircraft against a command and control facility operated by the Houthis, who control much of Yemen.

On Thursday, Israel launched strikes against ports and energy infrastructure in Houthi-held parts of Yemen and threatened more attacks against the group, which has launched hundreds of missiles at Israel over the past year.

The Iran-backed group in Yemen has been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea for more than a year to try to enforce a naval blockade on Israel, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel’s year-long war in Gaza.

The strikes on shipping by the Houthis, who have also launched missiles at Israel, have prompted retaliatory strikes by the US and Britain.

The US attack on Sana’a came the same day that a Houthi missile struck Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv, wounding 16 people in the second such strike in days.

The US is seeking global support to give the UN clearer powers to interdict ships in the Red Sea heading for Houthi-controlled Yemen ports, as part of a concerted attempt to weaken the Iranian-backed group, according to the US special envoy.

It is also considering re-designating the Houthis as a terrorist group, a move that would make it more difficult for humanitarian organisations to operate inside Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen.

Vanuatu has been hit by another earthquake after hundreds of Australians landed on home soil from the islands and the federal government announced a new round of financial assistance.

The latest magnitude 6.1 quake shook buildings on the country’s main island at 2.30am on Sunday after it struck 30km west of the capital, Port Vila.

No tsunami alerts were triggered by the quake, unlike the initial 7.3 magnitude event which hit on Tuesday.

It came hours before the federal government announced an additional $5m in humanitarian assistance to Vanuatu.

Dozens of Australians arrived home from the island nation on RAAF flights which touched down in Brisbane on Sunday carrying 144 passengers.

In total, 568 holidaymakers, workers and other returnees have arrived back in Australia via military airlifts delivering humanitarian aid since Wednesday.

The two latest flights followed Airports Vanuatu’s announcement it would reopen Port Vila international airport to commercial airline operations on Sunday, offering some hope for increased aid and recovery resources.

The Australian government is working with Qantas, Virgin and Jetstar to resume flights.

Qantas and Virgin are both operating Port Vila-Brisbane services on Sunday and Jetstar is running a flight on the same route on Monday.

Two more final ADF flights from Vanuatu are planned for Sunday.

The magnitude 7.3 earthquake which struck Port Vila on Tuesday, killed at least 16 people, injuring at least 200 and causing massive damage to the city and surrounding areas.

The number of deaths and injuries is expected to rise as search and rescue operations continue.

A potential health crisis also looms as aid workers believe about 20,000 people on the island cannot access clean water.

Vanuatu-based Unicef water, sanitation and hygiene specialist Brecht Mommen warned illness would probably spread.

The extent of damage to Port Vila’s water infrastructure remains unclear, with repair timelines uncertain.

The latest RAAF flights delivered 9.5 tonnes of emergency relief supplies on behalf of Red Cross, UN World Food Program, CARE, Save the Children and World Vision.

About 1,000 people are estimated to have been displaced, according to the United Nations.

Albania has announced a one-year ban on TikTok following the killing of a teenager last month that raised fears over the influence of social media on children.

Edi Rama, the prime minister, confirmed the ban, part of a broader plan to make schools safer, after meeting parents’ groups and teachers from across the country.

“For one year, we’ll be completely shutting it down for everyone. There will be no TikTok in Albania,” Rama said.

TikTok, asked to comment on Saturday, requested “urgent clarity from the Albanian government” on the case of the stabbed teenager.

The company said it had “found no evidence that the perpetrator or victim had TikTok accounts, and multiple reports have in fact confirmed videos leading up to this incident were being posted on another platform, not TikTok”.

Several European countries including France, Germany and Belgium have enforced restrictions on social media use for children. In one of the world’s toughest regulations targeting big tech, Australia approved in November a complete social media ban for children under 16.

Rama has blamed social media, and TikTok in particular, for fuelling violence among youths in and outside school. His government’s decision comes after a 14-year-old schoolboy was stabbed to death in November by a fellow pupil.

Local media had reported that the incident came after arguments between the two boys on social media. Videos had also emerged on TikTok of young people supporting the killing.

“The problem today is not our children, the problem today is us, the problem today is our society, the problem today is TikTok and all the others that are taking our children hostage,” Rama said.

Albanian children comprise the largest group of TikTok users in the country, according to domestic researchers.

There has been increasing concern from Albanian parents after reports of children taking knives and other objects to school to use in quarrels or cases of bullying promoted by stories they see on TikTok.

TikTok’s operations in China, where its parent company is based, are different, “promoting how to better study, how to preserve nature … and so on”, according to Rama.

Albania is too small a country to impose on TikTok a change of its algorithm so that it does not promote “the reproduction of the unending hell of the language of hatred, violence, bullying and so on”, Rama’s office said on Saturday. It said that in China, TikTok “prevents children from being sucked into this abyss”.

Authorities have set up a series of protective measures at schools, starting with an increased police presence and closer cooperation with parents.

Rama said Albania would follow how the company and other countries react to the one-year shutdown before deciding whether to allow TikTok to resume operations in Albania.

Not everyone agreed with Rama’s decision to close TikTok. “The dictatorial decision to close the social media platform TikTok … is a grave act against freedom of speech and democracy,” said Ina Zhupa, a lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic party. “It is a pure electoral act and abuse of power to suppress freedoms.”

The ban is expected to come into effect early next year.

Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.

Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He had been well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI’s strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.

“We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir’s loved ones during this difficult time,” said a statement from OpenAI.

Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on 26 November in what police said “appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation.” The city’s chief medical examiner’s office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.

His parents, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a “happy, smart and brave young man” who loved to hike and recently had returned from a trip with friends.

Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.

“Suchir’s contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn’t have succeeded without him,” said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what had made him such an exceptional engineer and scientist was his attention to detail and ability to notice subtle bugs or logical errors.

“He had a knack for finding simple solutions and writing elegant code that worked,” Schulman wrote. “He’d think through the details of things carefully and rigorously.”

Balaji later shifted to organizing the huge datasets of online writings and other media used to train GPT-4, the fourth generation of OpenAI’s flagship large language model and a basis for the company’s famous chatbot. It was that work that eventually caused Balaji to question the technology he helped build, especially after newspapers, novelists and others began suing OpenAI and other AI companies for copyright infringement.

He first raised his concerns with the New York Times, which reported them in an October profile of Balaji.

He later told the Associated Press he would “try to testify” in the strongest copyright infringement cases and considered a lawsuit brought by the New York Times last year to be the “most serious”. Times lawyers named him in an 18 November court filing as someone who might have “unique and relevant documents” supporting allegations of OpenAI’s willful copyright infringement.

His records were also sought by lawyers in a separate case brought by book authors including the comedian Sarah Silverman, according to a court filing.

“It doesn’t feel right to be training on people’s data and then competing with them in the marketplace,” Balaji told the AP in late October. “I don’t think you should be able to do that. I don’t think you are able to do that legally.”

He told the AP that he had grown gradually more disillusioned with OpenAI, especially after the internal turmoil that led its board of directors to fire and then rehire the CEO, Sam Altman, last year. Balaji said he was broadly concerned about how its commercial products were rolling out, including their propensity for spouting false information known as hallucinations.

But of the “bag of issues” he was concerned about, he said, he was focusing on copyright as the one it was “actually possible to do something about”.

He acknowledged that it was an unpopular opinion within the AI research community, which is accustomed to pulling data from the internet, but said “they will have to change and it’s a matter of time”.

He had not been deposed and it’s unclear to what extent his revelations will be admitted as evidence in any legal cases after his death. He also published a personal blog post with his opinions about the topic.

Schulman, who resigned from OpenAI in August, said he and Balaji coincidentally left on the same day and celebrated with fellow colleagues that night with dinner and drinks at a San Francisco bar. Another of Balaji’s mentors, co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, had left OpenAI several months earlier, which Balaji saw as another impetus to leave.

Schulman said Balaji had told him earlier this year of his plans to leave OpenAI and that Balaji didn’t think that better-than-human AI known as artificial general intelligence “was right around the corner, like the rest of the company seemed to believe”. The younger engineer expressed interest in getting a doctorate and exploring “some more off-the-beaten-path ideas about how to build intelligence”, Schulman said.

Balaji’s family said a memorial is being planned for later this month at the India Community Center in Milpitas, California, not far from his hometown of Cupertino.

In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement allowing OpenAI access to part of the AP’s text archives.

Actor Blake Lively has made accusations against her former It Ends with Us co-star/director Justin Baldoni, filing a legal complaint in California claiming sexual harassment and making allegations of a coordinated PR effort to damage her reputation.

According to Lively’s complaint, matters got so bad during the production of the film, which premiered in August this year, that a meeting was held to address her claims of a hostile work environment that was attended by husband, Ryan Reynolds.

As part of the tense meeting, Lively and Reynolds demanded there would be “no more showing nude videos or images of women to Lively, no more mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous ‘pornography addiction,’ and no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Lively”.

They further stipulated that Baldoni “should not make inquiries about Lively’s weight” and make “no further mention of her dead father”.

The complaint also says Lively demanded during filming that she would no longer be asked to add sex scenes, beyond what she had approved when she signed on to the troubled project.

It claims the demands were embraced and approved by the studio but Baldoni and the production company, Wayfarer Studios, later engaged in a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” her reputation.

The plan, the complaint said, included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories critical of Lively. The complaint also says Baldoni “abruptly pivoted away from” the movie’s marketing plan and “used domestic violence ‘survivor content’ to protect his public image”.

The complaint, which the New York Times reported was filed with the California civil rights department on Friday, is a precursor to a lawsuit. It includes purported texts from Baldoni’s publicist to the studio publicist, which says Baldoni “wants to feel like [Ms Lively] can be buried”, and “We can’t write we will destroy her”.

In a statement to the Times, Lively, whose film career came after she rose to prominence in the teen drama series Gossip Girl, said: “I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.”

Baldoni hit back in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, slamming Lively’s claims. “It is shameful that Ms Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations,” Bryan Freedman, a lawyer for Baldoni, said.

The statement called Lively’s action “yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions”.

Freedman said his client previously had hired a crisis manager due to “multiple demands and threats” Lively allegedly made, including “threatening to not [show] up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met”.

The publicity campaign for It Ends with Us, based on a romance novel by Colleen Hoover that features depictions of domestic violence, got off to a rocky start in August when social media sleuths noticed that Baldoni was absent from publicity events.

Production insiders told The Hollywood Reporter that there was a fracture among the film-makers and two cuts of the movie had been produced, prompting speculation that Lively, a producer on the picture, had brought in Reynolds to help take over creative control of the film.

Soon after, an awkward interview with Lively from 2016 re-surfaced online. Hollywood journalist Kjersti Flaa said the encounter had been the “most uncomfortable situation” she had “ever” experienced and said Lively had made her want to quit her job.

Baldoni – who previously starred in the telenovela Jane the Virgin, directed Five Feet Apart and wrote Man Enough, a book pushing back against traditional notions of masculinity – responded to claims that the film romanticized domestic violence.

“If anybody has had that real-life experience, I can imagine how hard it would be to imagine their experience being in a romance novel,” he said. “To them, I would just offer that we were very intentional in the making of this movie.”

Associated Press contributed to this report