Whether or not President Volodymyr Zelensky was ambushed or should have been more diplomatic in the Oval Office, it was a disastrous visit for Ukraine.

For those watching in Kyiv, the future of their country hung in the balance.

“It was an emotional conversation, but I understand our president,” Yulia tells me next to Kyiv’s golden-domed St Sofia’s cathedral.

“Maybe it wasn’t diplomatic, but it was sincere. It’s about life, we want to live.”

Yulia reflects a political pattern in Ukraine: the more the country is attacked, the more unity there is.

Before the full-scale invasion in 2022, President Zelensky’s trust rating was 37%. Afterwards, it rocketed to 90%.

Before Donald Trump returned to office at the start of 2025, it was 52%. After he blamed Ukraine for starting the war, it hit 65%.

“They [Donald Trump and JD Vance] were so rude,” says 30-year-old Andriy. “They don’t respect the people of Ukraine.”

“It looks like Washington supports Russia!” observes Dmytro, 26.

You wonder what the last 24 hours has done to President Zelensky’s popularity.

“When the situation becomes worse, we have another rallying around the flag,” explains Volodymyr Paniotto, director of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology which conducted some of the polling.

World leaders’ popularity often wanes over time, and Mr Paniotto says President Zelensky has not been immune.

His ratings especially took a hit with Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive of 2023, and his sacking a year later of the popular commander in chief of his armed forces, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi.

But Donald Trump’s new, transactional, often-hostile approach to Ukraine has forced the country to unite and brace for further uncertainty.

Not least with his warming to Russia.

The initial reaction was that of shock,” says opposition MP Inna Sovsun.

“It was difficult to watch a president who’s been a victim of Russian aggression being attacked by the leader of the free world,” she adds. “It’s painful.”

Ukrainian TV channels reported yesterday’s scenes in a more measured way: that a minerals deal between Ukraine and the US was simply not signed.

Perhaps, given it didn’t include the American security guarantees that Kyiv and Europe desperately want, it wasn’t as tantalising for Zelensky as had been suggested.

“We need to find stronger allies in Europe and Canada, Australia and Japan, who’ve all been supporting us,” argues Sovsun.

There are clearly deep feelings of resentment between Washington and Kyiv. However, Sovsun doesn’t think Ukraine should give up on negotiations, but should instead reframe the debate.

“It’s important to find the right mediator,” she says. “Someone Trump can recognise, but someone we trust too. Someone like Georgia Meloni of Italy.

“Under no circumstances should we agree to calls for the president to resign, and I’m saying that as an opposition MP. That defies the very idea of democracy.”

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President Zelensky hoped his Washington visit would lead to a deeper co-operation with the US which could, in turn, bring a lasting peace. Something Sovsun thinks nobody wants more than Ukrainians.

“We are the ones who are suffering, it’s extremely difficult to live under this stress,” she adds. “Just this morning, I read that my friend’s son was killed, his second son in this war.”

What the MP and countless Ukrainians don’t want is a rushed settlement. Attempted ceasefires with Russia in 2014 and 2015 only allowed Moscow to prepare for its full scale-invasion years later.

Ukrainian MP Ivanna Klympush-Tsyntsadze anticipated a second Trump presidency being less sympathetic to her country’s cause, but not to this extent.

“This mineral agreement does not oblige America to help us militarily, or to upscale or continue the support it’s currently giving,” she says.

While there is still parliamentary unity behind President Zelensky and suspended elections, MPs like Klympush-Tsyntsadze have been calling for more involvement in negotiations.

Her European Solidarity Party’s chairman is former President Petro Poroshenko, a fierce rival to Zelensky.

He was even recently sanctioned by Ukraine’s leader over what Ukraine’s security service labelled as “threats to national security” and “creating obstacles to economic development”. Mr Poroshenko said it was “politically motivated”.

Despite this, the former president said he recognised Zelensky’s legitimacy as leader, to combat both American and Russian claims to the contrary.

As sirens wail and missiles slam into cities, this is a war still raging, despite all of the talk of ending it.

Russia is not backing down on its demands for Ukraine’s political capitulation and the complete control of four regions.

“This war is not for some area, town or treeline in the east,” says Taras Chmut, head of the Come Back Alive foundation.

After Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, the organisation was set up to crowdsource military equipment for fighting Ukrainian troops.

“This is the war that will define the world order for future decades. Whether this world will still exist depends on how this war goes,” he says.

As he ruthlessly pursues his “America First” policy, Trump wants Europe to provide security on a continent where he is less willing to do so. But Europe is divided on this, and where there is agreement it is that peace is not possible without the US as a safety net.

“Europe and the world once again want to close their eyes and believe in a miracle, but miracles do not happen,” says Mr Chmut.

“Countries must accept the reality of the situation and do something about it. Otherwise, you will be the one to disappear next – after Ukraine.”

Where next? The first six-week phase of the Gaza ceasefire ends on Saturday.

The 42 days since 19 January have seen their fair share of uncertainty, hope, grief and anger, but everything that should have happened in that time has.

Israeli hostages – the living and the dead – have been released. Palestinian prisoners set free.

But negotiations on phase two, including the release of all remaining living hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, have barely begun.

Talks opened in Cairo on Friday but Israel’s delegation returned home in the evening.

Reports suggested that negotiations would continue “at a distance” and that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to hold late-night talks with the delegation, senior ministers and intelligence chiefs.

For such a meeting to take place late on the sabbath was highly unusual. But as of mid-morning on Saturday, no details have been released.

Israel appears to be looking to extend the current phase for another six weeks, to get more hostages back and release more Palestinian prisoners but without withdrawing its troops.

The government here is adamant that Hamas, the group responsible for the massacres of 7 October 2023 and the taking of 251 hostages, has to lay down its arms and relinquish any form of authority in the Gaza Strip.

Israel also says it is not yet ready to leave the Philadelphi corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border – a process that should have begun on Saturday.

In a statement sent to reporters on Friday, an unnamed Israeli official said: “We will not allow the Hamas murderers to again roam our borders with pickup trucks and guns, and we will not allow them to rearm through smuggling.”

Such anonymous quotes are often believed to come directly from the prime minister’s office.

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Last summer, efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza faltered when Netanyahu insisted on keeping Israeli troops stationed along the Philadelphi corridor.

On Friday night, Hamas said it would not agree to any extension of phase one without guarantees from American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators that phase two would eventually take place.

Hamas seems determined to remain a force in Gaza, even if it might be willing to hand over day-to-day governance to other Palestinian actors, including the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.

Egypt has been working on a reconstruction plan for Gaza, as an alternative to Donald Trump’s proposal to take the area over and evacuate its entire civilian population.

But Western diplomats are not optimistic that the plan, due to be unveiled at an Arab League summit in Cairo next Tuesday, has the sort of robust security and governance arrangements that will be needed to meet Israeli demands.

This is a critical moment.

For all the emotional turmoil of the last few weeks, Israelis have come to expect the gradual release of hostages. There are believed to be 24 alive, still waiting to be freed, with another 39 presumed to be dead.

Israelis desperately want them all back, without the sort of propaganda displays that have disgusted and infuriated the entire country.

If the whole process now grinds to a halt, public anger – at Hamas and their own government – will mount. Further street protests are planned, including one on Saturday night in the place in Tel Aviv that all Israelis now know as Hostages Square.

“We demand the return of all 59 remaining hostages by day 50 of the agreement,” reads the invitation from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum HQ.

“Now is our only window of opportunity – we won’t get another.”

UN Secretary General António Guterres has weighed in, urging the parties “to spare no effort to avoid a breakdown of this deal”.

There’s a widespread belief that, sooner or later, the war will begin again.

It’s a bleak prospect, for the hostages and for two million Palestinians in Gaza who are trying to put their lives back together in the current, fragile peace.

In a place where families are still digging bodies from the rubble, sometimes with their bare hands, the thought of a resumption of a conflict which has already claimed tens of thousands of lives is chilling.

Areas in the middle of the Gaza Strip that have so far escaped the worst of the conflict would likely suffer badly from any return to war, making it even harder to sustain life in this ravaged strip of land.

When Luna Sofia Miranda approached Sean Baker in a strip club in New York in 2022, she tried her best to charm him.

But he “very clearly did not want to buy a lap dance,” she says.

Miranda, who was 23 at the time, started asking why he and his wife were there.

“I’m very nosy,” she says. “So I kept asking them questions and I finally got it out of them. They were making a film about strippers.”

She told them she had studied acting, and – after a successful audition – got a call on her 24th birthday, to offer her a part in the film.

That film, Anora, is now seen as one of the frontrunners heading into the Oscars on Sunday.

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It’s directed by Baker, and stars Mikey Madison, who is up for best actress for her role as a New York stripper.

Madison, 25, relied on real-life strippers to help her perfect the part.

When she won a Bafta film award last month, she dedicated it to the sex worker community.

“I have been able to meet some of that community through my research of the film, and that’s been one of the most incredible parts of making the film,” she told us backstage.

They “deserve respect and don’t often get it. And so I had to say something,” she added.

We’ve been speaking to the actresses, strippers and dancers in the film about their experiences of working on it – and their thoughts on the finished product.

Some praised the film as realistic, particularly in its portrayal of the rejection and exhaustion that sex workers often feel. But others said the film was “limited”.

Edie Turquet was initially unsure whether to take part in the film.

The 21-year-old, who is British and appeared in Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts as a child, now lives in New York where she’s a student and a stripper.

She got cast as a background dancer in Anora after a casting agent spotted her in the club where she was working. But Turquet says the night before filming, she debated not showing up.

“I didn’t want to be part of a bad stripper film, or anything doing a disservice to our industry, so I was apprehensive,” she told me.

“Most films about strippers are super over-aestheticised, or bad and exploitative.”

Turquet points to 2020 film Zola, about a waitress who goes to Florida for a weekend of stripping for quick cash. “I found it hyperbolic, totally overglamourising the work, and it felt like it was talking down to women,” she said.

“And don’t get me started on Pretty Woman, which is infuriating, especially the idea of a street worker played by Julia Roberts. Come on.”

But when Turquet realised Anora was a Sean Baker film, she changed her mind.

“His films are based on realism, he has a fly-on-the-wall style of filmmaking, which I love,” she said. “So I was down.”

Baker’s filmmaking skills were also what attracted Lindsey Normington to the film. The actress and stripper stars as Diamond, Anora’s workplace enemy.

She says she saw him at afterparty for a film premiere, and went up to him to tell him she was a fan.

They connected on Instagram, and months later, he contacted her to tell her he might have a role for her in a new film. “I fell to my knees in my house,” Normington said.

In the film, Anora is offered a chance at a fairytale escape when she meets and falls for the son of a wealthy Russian.

Miranda, an actress and stripper who plays Lulu, Anora’s best friend, says she was tasked with helping Madison sound like a real sex worker from New York.

“I shared a PDF of language and slang terms that only strippers from New York will understand,” she said.

One of those words was “whale”, which, Miranda explains, “is a customer who is like a bottomless pit of money. He will make your night. And he won’t make you work very hard for it at all.”

Miranda said a lot of the film’s themes, on heartbreak and rejection, were relatable for her.

“Sometimes I feel like this shiny toy, that people want to play with. They go, ‘wow like you’re a stripper. You’re so cool.’ And then they just cast you aside and abandon you,” she said.

“I think about the ending a lot because I feel like Anora a lot.”

Turquet agrees, calling the ending “very relatable and poignant”, adding that it accurately depicts the “exhaustion and fatigue” strippers often feel.

“The sex industry has trauma built into it. It felt so real. It’s an incredible vulnerable industry,” she said.

“You’re putting yourself in danger every time you go to work. It’s a complex and exhausting job.”

But overall, she said has mixed feelings about the film.

“What a lot of stripper films miss – and what Anora starts but doesn’t go far enough on – is the moral question around men who buy sex,” she said.

“It’s the question of consent. Most of these films shy away from answering it, or looking into it.”

She said it also frustrates her that these characters “never exist outside their profession”.

“[Anora] is a pretty limited character,” she said. “We never learn anything about her. The film takes the perspective of [male leads] Igor and Vanya, in defining who she is.”

“It’s better than any film I’ve seen about it, but ultimately it’s limited as it’s not told by a sex worker,” she added. “I can’t wait till we’re telling our own stories and hopefully this opens the door to that.”

For Normington, the film reflected “the insecurity and competition and jealousy” that she has personally experienced in clubs.

“I appreciate that it’s not attempting to be a quintessential stripper movie.”

For Kennady Schneider, a Los Angeles-based stripper and choreographer who trained Madison to dance, it was the film’s portrayal of the mundane nature of the job that struck a chord.

In the film’s early scenes, we see Anora at work, talking to clients in the club.

We also see her and the other strippers on a lunch break, eating from Tupperware boxes in a back room.

“It felt really accurate,” Schneider said.

“A lot of the time in [stripper] films, you have glamorisation, with money falling from the ceiling. Those moments do happen but they’re few and far between,” she said. “It’s much more of a quiet hustle.”

When Anora came out, special screenings were held for sex workers in New York and LA.

Footage circulated on social media shows the strippers banging their high-heeled platform pleaser shoes together over their heads, to show their appreciation at the end of the screenings.

“That is the most beautiful applause I’ve ever received, I don’t know if that will ever happen again,” Madison told us.

Now, all eyes are on the Oscars.

Miranda and Normington will both be attending. “It’s kind of silly to think that I’m going to the Oscars, but [at the same time] I’m at the club arguing with a stupid man over $20,” said Miranda.

“I feel like I’m living two lives.”

She said that Madison is “spot on” to say the sex worker community doesn’t get the respect it deserves, and said she hopes that Anora’s success will change that.

“My hope is that if this film wins an Oscar, it marks the beginning of a shift in Hollywood, where sex workers are respected, as workers in their own fields, but also as entertainers,” she said.

“If this film wins an Oscar, I want to see that.”

Friday’s drama in the Oval Office sparked a swift reaction from many world leaders.

But not from Vladimir Putin. There’s been no comment so far from the Kremlin leader.

Then again, he doesn’t really need to say anything. President Putin can afford to sit back and watch events unfold.

Donald Trump predicted that the very public spat with President Zelensky was “going to be great television”.

There’s little doubt that Vladimir Putin will have enjoyed the “show”, the dramatic spectacle of Volodymyr Zelensky, leader of the country President Putin invaded, being berated by the president and vice-president of the United States in front of the world’s media.

Some Russian officials have commented, though, on events in Washington.

In a post on social media, former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of the Russian security council, wrote that President Zelensky had received “a slap down in the Oval Office”. He called on the US to stop military assistance to Ukraine.

How Moscow would welcome that.

Writing on Telegram, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova praised Trump and JD Vance for their “miracle of restraint” at not hitting Ukraine’s president.

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It’s a sign of the new world in which we seem to be now that, while US-Ukraine relations are at risk of implosion, the opposite is true for US-Russia ties.

In recent weeks, Trump and Putin have spoken on the phone and pledged to work closely together; there’s talk of a possible summit sometime soon; lower-level US-Russia talks to reset relations and discuss potential economic cooperation have already started.

President Putin has dangled the carrot of lucrative joint projects with the Americans involving rare earth minerals and aluminium production.

The implications of a breakdown in relations between Ukraine and the US are potentially very serious for Kyiv, but very positive for Moscow.

If the flow of American weapons to Ukraine were to stop, it would be much harder for Ukrainians to defend themselves against the Russian forces who have invaded their country, even if Ukraine enjoys solidarity and strong support from European leaders.

For some time now, Moscow has believed that the war in Ukraine has been going Russia’s way. The shouting-match in the Oval Office will have cemented that view.

At least four people have died and several others are missing after an avalanche hit the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, authorities have said.

A rescue operation has been under way after the avalanche swept away road construction workers in the village of Mana, which shares a border with Tibet, on Friday.

Some 50 people who were buried under snow and debris were rescued, but four died from their injuries, the Indian army said.

Helicopters have been deployed in the search for five people who are still unaccounted for in the Himalayan mountain state, it added.

Uttarakhand state chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said rescue teams were “continuously engaged in relief efforts” following the avalanche, which hit a Border Roads Organisation camp.

He added that the government was committed to providing all possible assistance to those affected “in this hour of crisis”.

Footage posted on X on Friday by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police showed rescuers carrying people on stretchers and walking through several feet of snow – even as more snow continued to fall.

Gaurav Kunwar, a former village council member of Mana, told BBC News on Friday the area where the avalanche hit was a “migratory area” and “no-one lives there permanently”.

“Only labourers working on border roads stay there in the winter,” he added.

“There’s also some army presence there. We’ve heard that it has been raining in the area for two days. The road workers were in a camp when the avalanche hit.”

The India Meteorological Department warned on Friday of heavy rainfall and snow in the northern Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, as well as Jammu and Kashmir.

Orange alerts were also issued for snowfall in several districts of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Don’t insult the leaders. Don’t insult the ideology. And don’t judge.

These are the rules tour guides read out to Western tourists as they prepare to drive across the border into North Korea, arguably the most secretive and repressive country in the world.

Then there is the practical information. No phone signal, no internet, no cash machines.

“The North Koreans aren’t robots. They have opinions, goals, and a sense of humour. And in our briefing we encourage people to listen to and understand them,” says Rowan Beard, who runs Young Pioneer Tours, one of two Western companies which resumed trips to the country last week, after a five-year hiatus.

North Korea sealed its borders at the outset of the pandemic, shutting out diplomats, aid workers and travellers, and making it nearly impossible to know what was happening there.

Since then, it has further isolated itself from most of the world, relying on support from Russia and China. Many doubted whether Westerners would ever be allowed back.

But after years of cajoling and several false starts, Rowan and some other tour leaders were given the green light to restart operations. He pulled together a group of eager travellers in just five hours, desperate to not miss the opportunity. Most were vloggers and travel addicts, some wanting to tick the final country off their list, along with the odd North Korea enthusiast.

Last Thursday the tourists, from the UK, France, Germany and Australia, drove over the border from China into the remote area of Rason for a four-night trip.

Among them was 28-year-old British YouTuber Mike O’Kennedy. Even with its reputation, he was startled by the extreme level of control. As with all trips to North Korea, the tourists were escorted by local guides, who followed a strict, pre-approved schedule. It included carefully choreographed trips to a beer factory, a school, and a new, fully stocked pharmacy.

Ben Weston, one of the tour leaders from Suffolk, likened visiting North Korea to “being on a school trip”. “You can’t leave the hotel without the guides,” he said.

“A couple of times I even had to let them know when I wanted to use the bathroom,” said Mike. “I’ve never had to do that anywhere in the world.”

Despite the chaperoning, Mike was able to spot snippets of real life. “Everyone was working, it didn’t feel like anyone was just hanging out. That was kind of bleak to see.”

On his trip to the school, a group of eight-year-olds performed a dance to animations of ballistic missiles hitting targets. A video of the spectacle shows girls and boys with red neckties, singing, while explosions flare on a screen behind them.

For now, tourists are being kept well away from the capital Pyongyang. Greg Vaczi from Koryo Tours, the other tour company allowed back in, admits the current itinerary lacks the “big-hitting monuments” of Pyongyang. He suspects authorities have chosen Rason as their guinea pig because the area is relatively contained and easy to control.

Set up as a special economic zone, to trial new financial policies, it operates as a mini capitalist enclave inside an otherwise socialist state. Chinese businesspeople run joint enterprises with North Koreans, and can travel in and out fairly freely.

Joe Smith, a seasoned North Korea traveller and former writer for the specialist North Korea platform NK News, was there on his third trip. “I feel like the more times you visit the less you know. Each time you get a little peek behind the curtain, which just leaves you with more questions,” he said.

Joe’s highlight was a surprise off-agenda visit to a luxury goods market, where people were selling jeans and perfumes, along with fake Louis Vuitton handbags and Japanese washing machines, probably imported from China. Here, the tourists were not allowed to take photos – an attempt to hide this consumer bubble from the rest of the country, they suspected.

“This was the only place people weren’t expecting us,” Joe said. “It felt messy and real; a place North Koreans actually go. I loved it.”

But according to the experienced tour leaders, the group’s movements were more restricted than on previous trips, with fewer opportunities to wander the streets, pop into a barbershop or supermarket, and talk to locals.

Covid was often cited as the reason, said Greg from Koryo Tours. “On the surface they are still concerned. Our luggage was disinfected at the border, our temperatures were taken, and about 50% of people are still wearing masks.” Greg cannot work out whether the fear is genuine, or an excuse to control people.

It is thought Covid hit North Korea hard, though it is difficult to know the extent of the suffering.

Local guides repeated the government line that the virus entered the country in a balloon sent over from South Korea, and was swiftly eradicated in 90 days. But Rowan, who has been to North Korea more than 100 times, sensed that Rason had been impacted by the tough Covid regulations. A lot of Chinese businesses had closed, he said, and their workers had left.

Even Joe, the experienced North Korea traveller, commented on how dilapidated the buildings were. “Places were dimly lit and there was no heating, apart from in our hotel rooms,” he said, noting a trip to a cold, dark and deserted art gallery. “It felt like they opened the doors just for us.”

The regime’s photographs might make North Korea look clean and shiny, Joe said, but in person you realise “the roads are awful, the pavements are wobbly, and the buildings are weirdly constructed”. His hotel room was old-fashioned and filthy, he said, resembling “his grandma’s living room”. The whole window was cracked.

“They’ve had five years to fix things. North Koreans are so sensitive about what they show tourists. If this is the best they can show, I dread to think what else is out there”, he said. Most of the country is kept well hidden, with more than four in 10 people believed to be undernourished and needing help.

One of the few chances tourists in North Korea get to interact with local people is through their guides, who sometimes speak English. On these recent trips they were surprisingly well-informed, despite the regime’s intense propaganda machine and information blockade. This is probably because they speak to the Chinese businesspeople who come and go, said Greg.

They knew about Trump’s tariffs and the war in Ukraine – even that North Korean troops were involved. But when Joe showed a photo from Syria, his guide was unaware President Assad had been toppled. “I carefully explained that sometimes when people don’t like their leader, they rise up and force them out, and at first he didn’t believe me.”

Such conversations need to be delicately handled. Strict laws prevent North Koreans from speaking freely. Ask or reveal too much and the tourists might put their guide or themselves at risk.

Mike admits there were times this made him nervous. On a trip to a North Korea-Russia Friendship House, he was invited to write in the visitors’ book. “I went blank and wrote something like ‘I wish the world peace.’ Afterwards my guide told me that was an inappropriate thing to write. That made me paranoid,” he said.

“Generally, the guides did a great job of making us feel safe. There were just a couple of moments when I thought, this is bizarre.”

For Greg from Koryo Tours, these interactions bring a deeper purpose to North Korea tourism: “North Koreans get the chance to engage with foreigners. This allows them to come up with new ideas, which, in a country this closed, is so important.”

But tourism to North Korea is contentious, especially as travellers have been allowed back before aid workers and most Western diplomats, including the UK’s. Critics, including Joanna Hosaniak from the Citizens Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, argue these trips mainly benefit the regime.

“This is not like tourism in other poor countries, where local people benefit from the extra income. The vast majority of the population don’t know these tourists exist. Their money goes to the state and ultimately towards its military,” she said.

One conversation has stuck in YouTuber Mike’s head. During his trip to the school, he was surprised when a girl, after meeting him, said she hoped to visit the UK one day. “I didn’t have the heart to tell her that her chances were very, very slim,” he said.

Was it pruning or felling?

The alleged chopping of centuries-old chinar trees in Indian-administered Kashmir has sparked outrage, with locals and photos suggesting they were cut down, while the government insists it was just routine pruning. The debate has renewed focus on the endangered tree and efforts to preserve it.

The chinar is an iconic symbol of the Kashmir valley’s landscape and a major tourist draw, especially in autumn when the trees’ leaves light up in fiery hues of flaming red to a warm auburn.

The trees are native to Central Asia but were introduced to Kashmir centuries ago by Mughal emperors and princely kings. Over the years, they have come to occupy an important place in Kashmiri culture.

But rapid urbanisation, illegal logging and climate change are threatening their survival, prompting authorities to take steps to conserve them.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has been geotagging chinar trees in an effort to keep track of them and their health. The project involves attaching a QR code to each tree with information about its location, age and other physical characteristics.

“We are ‘digitally protecting’ chinar trees,” says Syed Tariq, a scientist who’s heading the project. He explains that information provided by the QR code can help locals and tourists get to known more about a tree, but it can also help counter problems like illegal or hasty cutting of them.

The project has geotagged about 29,000 chinar trees so far, with another 6,000–7,000 still left to be mapped.

Despite its heritage value, there was no proper count of these trees, says Mr Syed. While government records cite 40,000, he calls the figure debatable but is certain their numbers have declined.

This is a problem because the tree takes at least 50 years to reach maturity. Environmentalists say new plantations are facing challenges like diminishing space. Additionally, chinar trees need a cool climate to survive, but the region has been experiencing warmer summers and snowless winters of late.

But on the bright side, these trees can live for hundreds of years – the oldest chinar tree in the region is believed to be around 700 years old. A majority of the trees are at least a few centuries old and have massive trunks and sprawling canopies.

The trees received maximum patronage during the Mughal period, which stretched from the early 1500s to the mid-1800s. Many of the trees that exist in the valley were planted during this period, Mr Syed says.

The Mughal kings, who ruled many parts of erstwhile India, made Kashmir their summer getaway due to its cool climate and beautiful scenery. They also erected “pleasure gardens” – landscaped gardens famous for their symmetry and greenery – for their entertainment.

The chinar enjoyed pride of place in these gardens and the trees were usually planted along water channels to enhance the beauty of the place. Many of these gardens exist even today.

According to government literature, in the 16th Century Mughal emperor Akbar planted around 1,100 trees in one such pleasure garden near the famous Dal Lake in Srinagar, but about 400 have perished over the years due to road-widening projects and diseases caused by pests.

Emperor Jahangir, Akbar’s son, is said to have planted four chinar trees on a tiny island in Dal Lake, giving it the name Char Chinar (Four Chinars) – now a major tourist draw. Over time, two trees were lost to age and disease, until the government replaced them with transplanted mature trees in 2022.

Interestingly, the chinar is protected under the Jammu and Kashmir Preservation of Specified Trees Act, 1969, which regulates its felling and export and requires official approval even for pruning. The law remains in force despite the region losing statehood in 2019.

But environmental activist Raja Muzaffar Bhat says authorities often exploit legal loopholes to cut down chinar trees.

“Under the garb of pruning, entire trees are felled,” he says, citing a recent alleged felling in Anantnag district that sparked outrage.

“The government is geotagging trees on one side, but cutting them on the other,” he says. He adds that while authorities remove trees for urban projects, locals also fell them illegally.

Chinar trees have durable hardwood, ideal for carvings, furniture and artefacts. Locals also use them for firewood and making herbal medicine.

Government projects like geotagging are raising awareness, says Mr Bhat. He adds that Kashmiris, deeply attached to the chinar as part of their heritage, now speak out against its felling or damage.

Last week, many posted photos of the allegedly chopped trees in Anantnag on X (formerly Twitter) while opposition leaders demanded that the government launch an investigation and take action against the culprits.

“The government should protect the trees in letter and in spirit,” Mr Bhat says.

“Because without chinar, Kashmir won’t feel like home.”

Outlawed Kurdish group the PKK has declared a ceasefire with Turkey after its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan called on the movement to lay down its arms and dissolve itself.

In a statement on Saturday, the PKK said it hoped Turkey would release Ocalan, who has been imprisoned in solitary confinement since 1999, so he can lead a process of disarmament.

It follows his call this week aimed at ending four decades of armed struggle in south-eastern Turkey in which tens of thousands of people have been killed.

His announcement came months after Devlet Bahceli, the leader of Turkey’s ultra-nationalist MHP party and an ally of the Turkish government, launched an initiative to bring an end to the conflict.

Ocalan – affectionately referred to as Apo by Kurdish nationalists – met MPs from a pro-Kurdish party this week on Imrali, an island in the Sea of Marmara, south-west of Istanbul, where he is imprisoned.

“In order to pave the way for the implementation of leader Apo’s call for peace and democratic society, we are declaring a ceasefire effective from today,” the PKK executive committee said in a statement on Saturday, quoted by the pro-PKK ANF news agency.

“None of our forces will take armed action unless attacked,” it added.

The PKK – which stands for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party – said Ocalan’s prison conditions must be eased, adding he “must be able to live and work in physical freedom and be able to establish unhindered relationships with anyone he wants, including his friends”.

The group has waged an insurgency since 1984, with the aim of carving out a homeland for Kurds, who account for about 20% of Turkey’s 85 million people. It is banned as a terrorist group in Turkey, the EU, UK and US.

• Who are the Kurds?

Calling for disarmament, Ocalan had appealed to members of the PKK in a letter read out by Dem party members Ahmet Turk and Pervin Buldan in both Kurdish and Turkish.

He said “all groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself”, adding that his movement was formed primarily because “the channels of democratic politics were closed”.

However, Bahceli, backed by positive signals from Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other political parties, had created the right environment for the PKK to lay down its arms, Ocalan added.

Kurdish leaders largely welcomed the development. Local reports said thousands of people gathered to watch the statement on big screens in the cities of Diyarbakir and Van in the predominantly Kurdish south-east.

However, significant questions remain among both the Kurdish and Turkish public over what the next steps might be – and not everyone was convinced things would change.

Last week, senior PKK commander Duran Kalkan said Turkey’s ruling party, the AKP, was not looking for a solution but to “take over, destroy and annihilate”.

Turkish-backed forces in north-eastern Syria have intensified their campaign against Kurdish forces and last month called on Syria’s new leaders to eliminate the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

Pro-Kurdish politicians have been targeted by a wave of arrests and jail sentences in recent years.

Some 40,000 people have died since the PKK’s insurgency began.

There was a spike in violence in south-eastern Turkey from 2015 to 2017 when a two-and-a-half year ceasefire broke down.

More recently, in October the PKK claimed an attack on the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) headquarters near Ankara which left five people dead.

These were already turbulent times in Romania.

But as people here navigate the late winter ice and slush on Bucharest’s elegant streets, the abrupt departure of the Tate brothers by private jet has left a fresh trail of confusion and unanswered questions in its wake.

A country grappling with a cancelled presidential election, its future in Europe, its support for neighbouring Ukraine, widespread corruption, and collapsing faith in public institutions, is now left pondering why two controversial foreigners, facing a raft of complex but serious criminal charges, have been treated with such apparent lenience; their confiscated assets and their passports suddenly returned to them.

Was a secret deal done between Romania’s government and the Trump administration? If so, in these increasingly transactional times, what does Romania get in return? Or was this more like a pre-emptive gesture of good will towards the American president, a gift to lay at Donald Trump’s imperious feet?

Or are we searching for conspiracies when the truth is probably far more chaotic?

As foreign leaders – from Volodymyr Zelensky to Sir Keir Starmer – travel to Washington DC bearing deals and other apparent peace offerings, one might ask who could blame Romania, a staunch NATO ally navigating a host of internal and external challenges, for trying to keep an increasingly unpredictable US administration on side?

“It’s a matter of life (or death) for Romania,” said security analyst George Scutaru, describing his country’s need to shore up Western support in the face of growing pressure from the Kremlin.

Declining to comment on the Tate issue specifically, Scutaru said it was clear Moscow was seeking to undermine Romania’s democracy and that the government had good reason to seek ways to remind the Trump administration of the many advantages – commercial, diplomatic, and military – of continuing to back it.

But if the Tate brothers are part of that equation, it is already clear that many Romanians are not impressed.

This is a country already facing a strong populist backlash against an elite ruling class that is widely seen as corrupt and out of touch with the struggles of ordinary people who feel treated as second-class citizens – a mere source of cheap labour – within the European Union.

So, the sight of the Tates appearing to receive special treatment plays into the notion that Romania’s institutions are hollow and cater only to those with money.

“For me, what has happened is unacceptable. We cannot allow Romania’s image to be tarnished by impunity and defiance,” fumed Elena Lasconi, a prominent presidential candidate here, expressing deep concern that Romanian prosecutors’ sudden decision to relax the Tates’ travel restrictions was the result of “external influence.”

“It’s my personal perception that probably there is… pressure on the Romanian political system, as logically the prosecutor would have applied very strict rules to control (the Tates) and probably the United States would have been a place where they would be allowed to travel (due to concerns they would not be extradited if they failed to return),” said international human rights lawyer, Silvia Tabusca.

It is beyond doubt that Andrew Tate’s lucrative brand of assertive masculinity has earned him allies in President Trump’s administration. One of his former lawyers, Paul Ingrassia, now works in the White House.

Many in the so-called “manosphere” see Tate as a persecuted hero who has just been rescued from Romania’s corrupt clutches.

There is also a more nebulous far-right alignment between some pro-Trump and pro-Tate figures in the US, far-right and allegedly pro-Russian forces in Romania, and the Kremlin itself, which stands accused of plotting to weaken Bucharest’s pro-western stance.

But the picture is not clear cut.

President Trump distanced himself from the brothers’ case on Thursday and there are signs of a broader push-back in the US, with the governor of Florida Ron DeSantis making it clear the Tates are “not welcome” in his state, amid plans to open a “preliminary inquiry” into allegations against them of human trafficking and violence against women.

Meanwhile in Bucharest, the theory that Romania’s government cut a deal with the US to release the brothers is treated with caution by some analysts.

“I think the chances (of such a deal) are fifty-fifty,” said Sorin Ionita, a political commentator, questioning the ability of Romania’s various institutions and ministries to arrange a “coherent” policy concerning the Tates.

“I’m not sure they coordinate. Did they manage to demand something in exchange (from the US)? I’m not sure,” said Ionita, bemoaning a situation almost designed to persuade Romania’s public to lose faith in state institutions, and speculating that lower level “satellite” figures in an equally chaotic Trump administration were probably behind any deal in order “to extract money from the Tate brothers.” The BBC has seen no evidence of this.

“It’s very depressing to see,” he added.

As for the question of whether the Tates will return to Romania, as their lawyer has promised, to continue their legal battles, a degree of uncertainty endures.

The fact that most of their assets have been unfrozen could be seen as weakening the Romanian authorities’ ability to compel them to come back. The Tates themselves have also questioned whether they can receive a fair trial in Romania, complaining of a “conspiracy” against them.

And while Andrew Tate pointed out on Thursday that he and his brother currently face “no active indictment” in Romania, a more accurate way of describing their situation might be to say there is currently a lull in a long and complex legal process. An initial case has been returned to prosecutors for amendments, while a second and more substantial prosecution case against them is now pending.

“In the second case, we have 34 victims that cooperate and have been identified as victims. Among them are two minors, one a 17-year-old girl that has been recruited in order to be exploited by the criminal group. And the second girl is 15-years-old, and there is a crime for sexual acts with a minor in which they are also involved,” said the lawyer, Silvia Tabusca, outlining the allegations in the second case.

The brothers also face arrest on separate and unrelated criminal charges in the UK. The Tates deny any wrongdoing in all these cases.

In the coming months, Romania faces far more pressing challenges than the fate of two foreign celebrities. Presidential elections have been rescheduled for May and a leading candidate – often accused of being a Kremlin puppet – has just been detained and is facing six criminal charges including fascism and undermining the constitutional order.

With their self-declared misogyny, extreme views, and online personas, Andrew and Tristan Tate do chime with some of the themes preoccupying and dividing society in America and far beyond.

Clearly, they remain influential figures, particularly among boys and young men. But the brothers face years of legal battles which may well push them, and their still lucrative brand, further to the periphery of the far larger dramas now reshaping our world.

Namibia’s founding father Sam Nujoma was “a giant among leaders” and left behind “the most precious gift of… freedom”, the country’s President, Nangolo Mbumba, has said.

He was speaking in front of the large crowd at Heroes’ Acre, where the country’s most revered citizens are buried, before Nujoma was laid to rest in a mausoleum.

The leader of Namibia’s independence struggle against apartheid South Africa died last month at the age of 95.

Nujoma was seen as the last of a generation of African figures who headed anti-colonial movements and fought for freedom.

“Therefore his departure signals an end of an era, a founding father of Africa,” President Mbumba said in an earlier speech at a national memorial service on Friday.

“We are not only mourning today, we are celebrating an extraordinary leader who has contributed significantly to our country’s independence, who will continue to inspire us for many more years to come,” Namibian Given Shiyukifein told the Reuters news agency.

• The revolutionary leader who liberated Namibia

On Saturday, Nujoma’s coffin, draped in the Namibian flag, was driven by a military gun carriage from the centre of the capital, Windhoek, where the body was lying in state, to the burial ground on the outskirts of the city.

Mourners had been arriving since the early hours, the independent Namibian newspaper reported.

It added that they waved flags and sang songs in his memory, including Sam Ouli Peni? (Sam, Where are you?) – a popular anthem from the period after independence in 1990.

Among the dignitaries present were the presidents of neighbouring countries Angola, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Nujoma, one of 10 children from a peasant family, was working on the railway in the late 1940s when he got a political education. He developed a passion for politics and yearned to see his people free from the injustice and indignity of colonialism.

He led the long fight for freedom from South Africa, which was then under white-minority rule, and helped found the liberation movement known as the South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo) in the 1960s.

As the country’s first president – a position he held for 15 years until 2005 – Nujoma is widely credited for ensuring peace and stability. His policy of national reconciliation encouraged the country’s white community to remain, and they still play a major role in farming and other sectors of the economy.

He also championed the rights of women and children, including making fathers pay for the maintenance of children born out of wedlock.

Namibia, then known as South West Africa, was under German occupation from 1884 until 1915, when Germany lost its colony in World War One.

It then fell under the rule of white South Africa, which extended its racist laws to the country, denying black Namibians any political rights, as well as restricting social and economic freedoms.

The introduction of sweeping apartheid legislation led to a guerrilla war of independence breaking out in 1966.

• Namibia turns the visa tables on Western nations
• Why voters fall out of love with liberation movements
• Germany officially recognises colonial-era Namibia genocide
• Germany returns skulls of Namibian genocide victims
• A quick guide to Namibia

A deal to take over the Duke of York’s former start-up business network now seems to be in doubt, sources close to the negotiations have told the BBC.

Dutch company Startupbootcamp (SBC) had held talks about buying Prince Andrew’s Pitch@Palace network, a sale that could have provided him with a multi-million pound financial lifeline.

But sources close to SBC say despite an announcement of an intended takeover, and talk of possible funding from Bahrain, nothing has been signed and no transactions have been carried out.

It comes as Prince Andrew’s finances have been under intense scrutiny, with questions about how he can afford to live in his Royal Lodge mansion after he was cut off financially by King Charles.

The prince has to find several million pounds per year to cover security costs and pay for the upkeep of the 19th Century, 30-room house, in Windsor.

A lucrative source of income had appeared to be on the horizon, with SBC widely reported in the UK press to be in the process of buying the contacts and network of the Pitch@Palace project.

In February SBC announced its plans: “International investment group set to take over former Pitch@Palace global network.”

Pitch@Palace had been a Dragon’s Den-style pitching competition for new business ideas, set up Prince Andrew in 2014 and run by him before he stepped down from royal duties in 2019.

SBC had said it was attracted by Pitch@Palace’s legacy of contacts, with 80,000 applications from 3,000 entrepreneurial companies in more than 60 countries.

The Dutch firm, which has been running since 2010, helps to mentor and grow start-up businesses, particularly in the technology sector, with investments in 1,700 early-stage companies and running schemes in 27 countries.

A takeover of the Pitch@Palace network had seemed imminent with SBC saying the partnership would be a “fantastic opportunity” and that it wanted to make use of a “great, but dormant” network of entrepreneurs. Jointly branded events had already been held.

But sources close to SBC now say that despite a meeting at Buckingham Palace and a positive sounding press release about seeing “immense value in the network”, nothing was concluded.

No deal with Prince Andrew was ever signed or closed, and no transactions were made, whether in Europe, the Middle East or China, according to SBC’s side of negotiations. Prince Andrew has been approached for comment.

The plans to take over the Pitch@Palace network had initially been presented as a project between SBC and its “strategic partner”, an investment company in Bahrain, called Waterberg Stirling.

That arrangement seems no longer in place, with sources close to SBC saying it now wanted to “sever ties” with the investment firm.

Waterberg Stirling had been registered in Bahrain in late 2024 by Dominic Hampshire, an adviser to Prince Andrew. The prince has had longstanding business connections with Bahrain.

There are also strong links between the UK and Bahraini royal families, with King Hamad of Bahrain visiting King Charles in Windsor in November 2024.

Mr Hampshire is the only named director of Waterberg Stirling on registration documents, but another person linked to the firm has been Adnan Sawadi.

In July 2024, the entrepreneur Mr Sawadi gave a presentation in China showing the intended partnership between SBC and the successor to Pitch@Palace, Innovate Global, which he hoped would provide a bridge connecting Middle Eastern funding with projects in China.

His speech singled out for praise Yang Tengbo – the man who later that year would be accused of being a Chinese spy, seeking influence over Prince Andrew, claims that Mr Yang has continued to reject as untrue.

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US investigators are trying to establish how Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, died after the discovery of their bodies at their home in the US state of New Mexico.

Officials said on Friday that evidence points to Hackman having been dead since 17 February – 10 days before the couples’ bodies were found.

Here is what we know so far about the death of a Hollywood legend known for such films as The French Connection and The Conversation.

The bodies of the couple and one of their dogs were found by police on Wednesday at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, after a maintenance worker called emergency services.

In a recording of the 911 call obtained by the BBC, the emotional caller can be heard telling a dispatcher how he found the two bodies.

Hackman, 95, was discovered in a side room near the kitchen while Arakawa, 65, was found in a bathroom, at the property on Old Sunset Trail in Hyde Park.

The couple appeared to have been “dead for quite a while”, said Sheriff Adan Mendoza.

Arakawa’s body showed signs of “decomposition”, and “mummification” in the hands and feet, a sheriff’s detective said.

Hackman’s remains “showed obvious signs of death, similar and consistent” with those on his spouse.

A German Shepherd dog owned by the couple was found dead in a bathroom closet near to Arakawa.

No cause was given in police statements immediately after the announcement of the deaths.

The authorities reported no signs of injury but deemed the deaths “suspicious enough” to investigate and did not rule out foul play.

A carbon monoxide poisoning test came out negative for both Arakawa and Hackman, the Santa Fe Sheriff’s office said on Friday.

Near Arakawa’s head was a portable heater, which the detective determined could have been brought down in the event that she had abruptly fallen to the ground.

An autopsy and toxicology tests have been requested for both Hackman and Arakawa. Authorities said it could be a few months before the results of those are released.

The local utility company found no sign of a gas leak in the area and the fire department detected no indication of a carbon monoxide leak or poisoning, according to the search warrant.

A prescription bottle and scattered pills lay on the bathroom countertop close to Arakawa’s body. Prescription pills found in the home were common medications for thyroid and high blood pressure, according to a search warrant.

Hackman was discovered wearing grey tracksuit bottoms, a blue long-sleeve T-shirt and brown slippers. Sunglasses and a walking cane lay next to his body.

The detective suspected that the actor had suffered a sudden fall.

The circumstances of their death were deemed “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation”, the search warrant says, because the worker who called emergency services had found the front door of the property open.

However, the detective observed no sign of forced entry into the home. Nothing appeared out of place inside.

“There was no indication of a struggle,” said Sheriff Mendoza. “There was no indication of anything that was missing from the home or disturbed, you know, that would be indication that there was a crime that had occurred.”

Two other, healthy dogs were discovered roaming the property – one inside and one out.

Authorities said Hackman’s pacemaker last registered activity on 17 February, adding that this gives them a good assumption that was his last day of life.

But police said it is unclear who died first – Hackman or Arakawa.

The two maintenance workers who found the couple, one of whom called the emergency services, say they last had contact with the couple two weeks earlier.

The two said they had sometimes conducted routine work at the property, but rarely ever saw Hackman and Arakawa.

They had communicated with them by phone and text, primarily with Arakawa.

Hackman’s daughter Leslie Anne Hackman told the Mail Online that her father had been in “very good physical condition” despite his age, and had not undergone “any major surgeries” in recent months.

“He liked to do Pilates and yoga, and he was continuing to do that several times a week,” she said. “So he was in good health.”

The couple, married in 1991, had had a “wonderful marriage”, she added.

“I give credit to his wife, Betsy, for keeping him alive,’ she said. ‘[Betsy] took very, very good care of him and was always looking out for his health.”

European leaders have rallied behind Volodymyr Zelensky after Donald Trump’s furious exchange with the Ukrainian president in the White House.

The leaders of Germany, France, Spain, Poland and the Netherlands were among those who posted social media messages backing Ukraine – with Zelensky responding directly to each one to thank them for their support.

The Ukrainian president has arrived in London to attend a summit hosted by UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer who “retains unwavering support for Ukraine”, Downing Street said.

It comes after extraordinary scenes in the Oval Office on Friday as US President Trump clashed with Zelensky, telling him to make a deal with Russia “or we are out”.

At one point, Trump told Zelensky he was not thankful enough for US military and political support during Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion, and that he was “gambling with World War Three”.

As a flurry of supportive messages for Ukraine were posted by European leaders following the row – along with posts from the prime ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand – Zelensky replied to each one: “Thank you for your support.”

French President Emmanuel Macron posted: “There is an aggressor: Russia. There is a victim: Ukraine. We were right to help Ukraine and sanction Russia three years ago – and to keep doing so.”

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said the Netherlands supports Ukraine “now more than ever”, adding: “We want a lasting peace and an end to the war of aggression started by Russia. For Ukraine and its people, and for Europe.”

Germany’s outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote that “no one wants peace more than the citizens of Ukraine”, with his replacement-in-waiting Friedrich Merz adding that “we stand with Ukraine” and “we must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war”.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “Ukraine, Spain stands with you,” while his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk wrote: “Dear [Zelensky], dear Ukrainian friends, you are not alone.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Zelensky: “Your dignity honours the bravery of the Ukrainian people.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada “will continue to stand with Ukraine and Ukrainians in achieving a just and lasting peace”.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese posted that his country had “proudly supported the brave people of Ukraine in their struggle to defend their sovereignty against the brutality of Russian aggression and in support of international law”.

There were also supportive messages for Ukraine from political leaders in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Romania, Sweden and Slovenia.

However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban voiced his support for Trump, writing: “Strong men make peace, weak men make war. Today President @realDonaldTrump stood bravely for peace. Even if it was difficult for many to digest. Thank you, Mr President!”

• Live coverage and analysis
• Steve Rosenberg: Vladimir Putin can afford to sit back and watch events unfold
• After White House clash, Starmer faces decision about who he can trust
• Jeremy Bowen: Trump-Zelensky row signals looming crisis between Europe and US
• Ukrainians back Zelensky after disastrous Oval Office encounter
• How the Trump-Zelensky talks collapsed in 10 fiery minutes

Zelensky left the White House early following his row with Trump – but afterwards thanked the US president on social media for his support, saying: “Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that.”

Writing on messenger app Telegram on Saturday, Zelensky said it was “very important for us that Ukraine is heard and that no one forgets about it, neither during the war nor after”.

“It is important for people in Ukraine to know that they are not alone, that their interests are represented in every country, in every corner of the world,” he added.

In an interview with Fox News following his White House visit, Zelensky said his row with Trump was “not good for both sides” but he thought the relationship could be salvaged.

The pair interrupted each other repeatedly in front of the media during what was supposed to be a prelude to the two leaders signing an agreement that would give the US access to Ukraine’s deposits of rare earth minerals.

Friday’s conversation soured after the US Vice-President JD Vance – who was sitting alongside other politicians in the room – told Zelensky that the war had to be ended through diplomacy.

Zelensky responded by asking “what kind of diplomacy?”, referencing a previous 2019 ceasefire deal that was agreed three years before Russia’s full-scale invasion when Moscow was supporting and arming separatist fighters in Ukraine’s east.

The vice-president then accused Zelensky of being disrespectful and “litigating” the situation in front of the media.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called for a summit “without delay” between the US, Europe and allies on Ukraine.

Sir Keir’s crunch talks at Downing Street on Sunday will see European leaders gear up efforts to police a future Ukraine peace deal.

The UK prime minister believes a deal will have to involve US military assets providing surveillance, intelligence and potentially warplanes giving air cover to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The relationship between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky was bad enough before the shouting match in the Oval Office.

President Trump had already called him a dictator and said Ukraine started the war – which is a lie.

Now the US-Ukraine alliance nurtured by Joe Biden is in pieces.

The public breakdown also signals a major crisis looming between European members of Nato and the US.

There will be many more doubts and questions about the US commitment to European security outside Ukraine. The biggest is whether President Trump would keep the promise his predecessor Harry Truman made in 1949 to treat an attack on a Nato ally as an attack on America.

Those concerns are based on what appears to be Trump’s determination to restore a strong relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He has put heavy pressure on Ukraine while offering Putin big concessions – that would have to be made by the Ukrainians.

The security of Ukraine is coming a poor second – and Europeans are worrying theirs is too.

President Zelensky’s refusal to make those concessions has infuriated Trump.

• Follow live reaction and analysis
• Steve Rosenberg: Vladimir Putin can afford to sit back and watch events unfold
• Ukrainians back Zelensky after disastrous Oval Office encounter
• After White House clash, Starmer faces decision about who he can trust
• How the Trump-Zelensky talks collapsed in 10 fiery minutes

It’s not just the minerals deal that he refused to sign. Ukrainians believe they are in a war for national survival – and that Putin would break any promise to end the war if he is not deterred.

That’s why Zelensky asked repeatedly for American security guarantees.

The meeting ignited into a shouting match after an intervention by Vice-President JD Vance.

There are suspicions now that the public row was – in the words of one diplomatic observer – a planned political mugging: either to force Zelensky to do America’s bidding, or to precipitate a crisis that would allow them to blame him for whatever happens next.

If Trump follows the breakdown of talks with a freeze on military aid, Ukraine will fight on. The questions are how effectively, and for how long.

Pressure will redouble on its European allies to take up the slack.

A meltdown. A horror show. A pile-on. However you want to describe it, the meeting between US President Donald Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last night was a catastrophe: Ukraine and its most important ally in a public slanging match.

But more important than the insults and shouting was the clash on substance. America’s threat to cut its support for Ukraine if Zelensky doesn’t sign a deal. Trump’s refusal to name Russia as the clear aggressor and Ukraine as the clear victim in the conflict.

It was a total contrast to what happened on Thursday when Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer met Trump. “Ecstatic”, “triumph”, “outstanding” were a few of the words used by the PM’s team.

They weren’t just delighted with the optics of the two leaders chatting about their families and the royals over winter greens and sea bass – Sir Keir’s team believed they had made genuine progress in talks in the Oval Office about Ukraine.

Trump told Sir Keir that the US was working fast on a ceasefire deal, but it wasn’t done and they weren’t rushing to a bad one. And the PM got an assurance the US was looking at how it could guarantee Ukraine’s security if a peace was agreed. A senior government source told me “there are good reasons to be optimistic” about Trump’s true position.

But last night’s outbursts give a very different picture, and this morning you’d be hard pushed to find an optimist in Westminster.

A government minister here said the scenes had been “deeply troubling and sobering”. Sir Keir spoke to both Trump and Zelensky last night, but No 10 is tight-lipped on what was said.

Today the Prime Minister will be in “back to back calls” trying to patch things up and this afternoon he is hosting Zelensky, who landed in the UK this morning, in Downing Street, ahead of a summit of European leaders on Sunday.

• LIVE: I want the US more firmly on our side, says Zelensky after Trump showdown
• ANALYSIS: Major crisis looms between Europe and US, writes Jeremy Bowen
• EXPLAINED: How US-Ukraine talks collapsed in 10 fiery minutes

But Trump’s words from last night suggest that both Sir Keir and French President Emmanuel Macron had not succeeded in one of their primary objectives this week: to persuade America that Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine must be protected.

So what now? Sir Keir has some difficult questions to ponder. Does he strive to get his new diplomatic friend at the White House back on board? Or is the new reality that the US just can’t be relied on, that the animosity between Trump and Zelensky runs too deep.

If America’s out, does he push European allies to join the UK and France in offering troops that could guarantee a peace deal – the “reassurance force” plan we talked about last week.

Is it even feasible for Europe to support Ukraine on its own?

I’ll be asking the prime minister these questions myself when he joins us live in the studio tomorrow morning at one of the most critical junctures for both his leadership and the security of our continent.

The irony is that until last night’s drama, conventional wisdom in political and diplomatic circles was that slowly but surely, the direction of travel was towards a deal to end the war. Whatever you think of him, the election of Trump had changed the dynamic and focused minds on bringing an end to the conflict.

No western allies would suggest that Zelensky should just fold after three years of holding off Russia, with all the lives lost and all the suffering of his people. Yet privately, and tiptoeing towards it in public, there was a sense that he was willing to take part in some form of negotiation.

His previous stance of not giving an inch had visibly softened in recent months. If the conflict is to end, most diplomats would tell you that has to happen at the negotiating table. For all the hot tempers, Trump had said he could get Russia to talk. To stop the war, Zelensky may have to get back to the table too.

In the next crucial 24 hours, Sir Keir will hope to pick up the pieces of last night’s disastrous encounter and push Europe to come up with the strongest expression of support, alongside potential promises of more military backing.

He’ll also hope he can reset the tone and calm the atmosphere.

The version of Trump administration we saw in the Oval Office last night does not portray a reliable partner.

The prime minister is now faced with a decision not just on what to do, but who he can trust.

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Ukraine’s president had been hoping to leave the White House on Friday after positive talks with Donald Trump, capped with the signing of a minerals deal giving the US a real stake in his country’s future, if not an outright security guarantee.

Instead Volodymyr Zelensky faced an extraordinary dressing down in front of the world’s media, after President Trump and his Vice-President JD Vance demanded that he show more gratitude for years of US support.

The Ukrainian president pushed back at suggestions from his more powerful partners that he should work harder to agree a ceasefire with Vladimir Putin. They responded that he was being “disrespectful”.

Zelensky was eventually told to leave the White House early before he and Trump could even take the stage for a scheduled news conference.

And the minerals deal, which had been trailed and praised by both sides this week, was left unsigned. “Come back when you’re ready for peace,” Trump wrote on social media shortly before Zelensky’s car pulled away.

There were several major flashpoints in the meeting. Here are four of the most fiery – and the politics and feeling that lies behind them.

While there was half an hour of cordial talks and formalities at the start, tensions began to boil over in the Oval Office when Vance said the “path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy”.

“That’s what President Trump is doing,” he said.

Zelensky interjected, referencing Russia’s aggression in the years before its full-scale invasion three years ago including a failed ceasefire in 2019. “Nobody stopped him,” he said of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“What kind of diplomacy, JD, are you talking about? What do you mean?” he said.

The exchange then became visibly tense, with Vance replying: “the kind that will end the destruction of your country.”

The vice-president then accused Zelensky of being disrespectful and “litigating” the situation in front of the American media.

It was Vance’s defence of Trump’s approach to ending the war – by opening communications with Putin and pushing for a quick ceasefire – that first escalated tensions with the Ukrainian leader.

After Vance challenged the Ukrainian president over problems he’s had with the military and conscription, Zelensky replied: “During the war, everybody has problems, even you. But you have a nice ocean and don’t feel [it] now, but you will feel it in the future.”

That comment rankled Trump and drew him into the clash that up until this point had been limited to Zelensky and the vice-president.

Here was the Ukrainian leader suggesting Trump had failed to grasp the moral hazard of dealing with the war’s aggressor.

Zelensky’s message cut to the heart of what critics say is Trump’s fundamental miscalculation in dealing with Russia. That by ending Moscow’s isolation and seeking a quick ceasefire he risks emboldening Putin, weakening Europe and leaving Ukraine open to being devoured.

• Follow live reaction and analysis
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• Jeremy Bowen: Trump-Zelensky row signals looming crisis between Europe and US
• Ukrainians back Zelensky after disastrous Oval Office encounter
• After White House clash, Starmer faces decision about who he can trust

Trump tends to characterise the war as a kind of binary conflict between two sides who should both take their share of burden or blame for the fighting and its causes.

But Zelensky was trying to warn of catastrophic consequences of this thinking. This was the Ukrainian leader directly telling Trump in the Oval Office: Appease Russia, and the war will come to you.

It triggered Trump’s biggest backlash. “Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. You’re in no position to dictate that,” he said, his voice getting louder.

“You don’t have the cards right now,” he told him. “You’re gambling with millions of lives.”

This exchange may win Zelensky plaudits among those who wanted to see him to stand up to Trump; but this moment could also decide an era of war and peace in Europe.

At one point later in the conversation, Zelensky said: “From the very beginning of the war, we have been alone and we are thankful.”

This angered Trump, who has repeatedly framed the war as a drain on American taxpayers.

“You haven’t been alone,” he said. “You haven’t been alone. We gave you – through this stupid president – $350bn,” Trump said, a reference to Biden.

Vance then asked whether Zelensky had thanked the US during the meeting and accused him of campaigning “for the opposition” – the Democrats – during the US election last year.

The comment was a reference to a visit Zelensky made to a munitions factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania – Joe Biden’s hometown – just weeks before Americans headed to the polls in the November election.

Republicans were outraged at the visit, accusing Zelensky of turning the tour into a partisan campaign event on Kamala Harris’s behalf in a battleground state.

Here was all the bitter division of America’s own polarised internal politics pouring into the room at a critical moment for future of global security.

“Please, you think that if you will speak very loudly about the war,” Zelensky began saying, only for Trump to cut him off.

“He’s not speaking loudly,” Trump shot back, visibly irritated. “Your country’s in big trouble.”

“You’re not winning, you’re not winning this,” Trump said. “You have a damn good chance of coming out OK because of us.”

“It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this,” said Trump. “It’s going to be a tough deal to make because the attitudes have to change.”

The president and vice-president reprimanded Zelensky, appearing most angered by what they perceived as his “attitude”.

“Just say thank you,” Vance demanded at one point.

Zelensky’s responses – which were to fact check the two far more powerful men and argue his corner – seemed driven by the existential nature of this moment.

He has spent three years defending his country from invasion, while also trying to hold together a society and its political leadership that Putin has tried to drive apart.

But out of the main camera shot was another sight in the room. Zelensky’s ambassador to Washington, Oksana Markarova, who was spotted with her head in her hands as the arguments escalated.

It is an image that sums up the diplomatic position for Zelensky and his relationship with – until now at least – his superpower sponsor in trying to repel Russia.

Standing up to Trump like he did on Friday could, ultimately, mean losing to Putin.

The Trump administration’s steep cuts to staff at national parks, forests and wildlife habitats have triggered a growing backlash, as public access and conservation efforts in these remote wild landscapes fade away.

The impacts have already been felt by visitors – who are seeing longer park entrance lines, reduced hours at visitor centres, trails closed and dirty public facilities – and workers who not only are worried about their futures as their jobs vanish, but also the state of these outdoor marvels eroding.

Each season, Kate White and her team typically carry 600lbs (270kg) of litter on their backs out of the Enchantments, a sensitive alpine wilderness located in Washington state that welcomes over 100,000 visitors a year.

Remote and often covered in snow and ice, staff are needed to maintain backcountry toilets that must be serviced with helicopters, which Ms White says may overflow without proper maintenance.

“I’m not totally sure what the plan is to get that done,” she says.

“That’s probably gonna be very damaging to the ecosystem in that area, and maybe to the visitor experience.”

But one of the most important parts of her job was to keep people safe – and be there if the worst happened.

As a National Forest wilderness ranger for over nine years, she has seen her share of tragedy when hikers or campers are confronted with severe weather and remote and tricky terrain. She has comforted people who have faced life-threatening injuries and even recovered bodies of hikers who died while out in the steep and often icy mountain region.

“We were kind of usually first on scene if something were to happen,” she says.

On any typical Saturday in the summer months, she’d speak to an average of 1,000 visitors. She and her team published reports on trail conditions and helped hikers who appeared unprepared – wearing sandals or not carrying enough water – and guided them to easier and safer routes.

Now, those jobs are gone.

She worries what the cuts will mean for the future of public safety and how people experience US parks and forests, especially ahead of the busy spring and summer months when millions travel to visit.

Mass terminations, first announced on 14 February, have led to 5% of the National Park Service staff – around 1,000 workers – being forced out.

The cuts have hit the US Forest Service, which maintains thousands of miles of popular hiking trails, even harder. Around 10% of the Forest Service’s staff – about 3,400 people, including Ms White and her team – have been fired.

The cuts have upended the management of national parks, which get around 325 million visitors annually, as well as national forests, which see about 159 million visitors each year.

Long queues of cars were stuck outside Grand Canyon National Park over President’s Day weekend, one day after the mass firing, due to a lack of toll operators to check people in at the gate. Similar lines of cars have been growing at other parks as well.

A popular trail outside Seattle was closed indefinitely only hours after the cuts were announced, with a sign at the trailhead explaining that the closure is “due to the large scale termination of Forest Service employees” and “will reopen when we return to appropriate staffing levels”.

At Yosemite National Park, the annual “firefall” spectacle led to a different kind of display this year when a group, which reportedly included employees, hung an upside-down American flag at the park in protest of the Trump administration’s recent deep cuts to staff.

Andria Townsend, a carnivore biologist who supervised a team of eight people at Yosemite National Park before she was fired in an email, told the BBC she “100%” supports the protest.

“It’s bringing lots of good attention to the issue,” she says.

She says she is especially worried for the future of the endangered species that she had been working to protect.

Ms Townsend studied and attached GPS collars to the Sierra Nevada red fox and the Pacific fisher, which is related to a badger, in attempts to track and preserve the species.

“They both are in dire straits,” she says, with only about 50 fishers and 500 red fox left in the wild.

Staff at a sister site conducting similar research were also cut.

“I don’t want to be doom and gloom, but it’s really hard to say what the future is now,” she says.

“The future of conservation just feels very uncertain.”

Long-time couple Claire Thompson, 35, and Xander Demetrios, 36, haveworked for the Forest Service for about a decade, most recently maintaining trails in central Washington state so that hikers could explore the snow-capped Cascade mountains.

The email firing them and thousands of other staff cited “performance” issues – something they took issue with.

“Especially with the amount we’ve gone above and beyond,” says Mr Demetrios, explaining that his work in the backcountry had carried significant risk to his safety, and sometimes involved rescuing people from dangerous situations, including one person who had fallen in a river and become hypothermic.

He and Ms Thompson have carried heavy equipment through rugged terrain, through foul weather at times, to clear trails and repair bridges and outhouses – and never being paid more than $22 (£17.40) an hour.

“It’s been hurtful – insulting – to just feel like your work is so devalued, and by people who I’m quite certain have like zero concept of what we do at all,” Ms Thompson added.

Following a backlash, dozens of national park staff were reportedly rehired since the mass terminations on Valentine’s Day. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose department oversees the National Park Service (NPS), has also committed to hiring over 5,000 seasonal workers during the coming warm months.

“On a personal level, of course, I’ve got great empathy for anybody that loses a job,” Burgum told Fox News last Friday.

“But I think we have to realise that every American is better off if we actually stop having a $2 trillion a year deficit.”

The Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) being spearheaded by Elon Musk claims to have saved over $65bn from the widespread cuts which have hit dozens of federal agencies across government. However, it has produced no evidence to back that figure, which would represent around 0.9% of the entire 2024 federal budget.

Outdoor advocates say that travellers currently planning their outdoor vacations to national parks should expect numerous issues, including increased litter, a shortage of lodging and the unavailability of many services they have come to expect.

“If the administration doesn’t reverse these policies, visitors are going to need to lower their expectations,” says John Garder of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) in Washington DC.

Some of these cuts are already being felt: Yosemite has fired their only locksmith, Gettysburg fired the staff who handle cabin reservations for visitors, and hurricane damage to the Appalachian Trail won’t get repaired in time for through-hikers trying to complete the 2,200-mile (3,540km) trail.

Meanwhile, private businesses that operate in and around parks stand to lose out on billions of dollars if visitors drop off, according to the NPCA.

Concerns are also growing about the absence of park and forest service personnel who assist in wildfire fighting during the dry season.

Wildland firefighters, like Dan Hilden, have so far been exempted from forest service cuts. He says the roles of the people who were terminated are “completely crucial” to fire safety. Many directly fight fires, while others are responsible for “sweeping” backcountry trails – telling people to leave and ensuring that no one is in danger from expanding fires.

“I don’t know how we’ll be doing that this summer, because we’re heavily dependent on them,” says Hilden, explaining that it takes several days to travel into the wilderness for these sweeps.

“Every year things have been getting worse as the staffing issues go. This year is going to be a lot worse.”

Gene Hackman was a normal person in Santa Fe. And he really loved that.

Residents in the New Mexico city say they were excited to welcome such a massive celebrity to the community when he and his wife Betsy Arakawa arrived more than 20 years ago, but they treated him like anyone else.

“He wasn’t famous here” was the phrase I heard when asking residents about why the movie star chose to call New Mexico’s capital home. They describe a down-to-earth, chatty man who supported local businesses and enjoyed its flourishing arts scene.

Everyone here has a story to tell about Hackman, who was found dead alongside his wife and their dog at their home in the quiet desert city earlier this week.

Hackman was a lover of the arts and a painter himself, so he fit in well: Santa Fe is known for its iconic adobe architecture and is home to more than 250 galleries.

Everything in Santa Fe is colourful, from the woven tapestry hanging on shop walls to the clothes people wear and even their personalities.

There are murals in almost every alley and metal street art lining the roads.

Hackman immediately got involved with local art museums, most notably sitting on the board of directors at the Georgia O’Keeffe museum, while Arakawa had a luxury home-goods store, and collaborated with artists on various projects.

Hackman’s paintings are displayed prominently at local restaurants, and there are a few lucky residents who have them hanging in their home.

One of those people is Stuart Ashman, the executive director of the Artes de Cuba gallery.

Mr Ashman first met Hackman at a community arts meeting. He was running late and there was one seat left when he arrived: next to the Hollywood star.

They shook hands and that started two decades of friendship.

“He was so down to earth that you didn’t realize that you were talking to a celebrity. He was more interested in you than in telling you about himself,” Mr Ashman said.

While both men supported the arts community, their real bond came through Pilates workouts when they took back-to-back private lessons.

When asked who was better, Mr Ashman laughed. “I think we’re both pretty bad,” he said. “Our teacher said I was lazy and he was older and stiffer.”

Mr Ashman said Hackman often got in trouble for being too much of a chatterbox.

“Gene, are you going to workout or do you just want to talk to Stuart today?” Mr Ashman recalls their Pilates teacher asking.

Every week, Mr Ashman, who raised chickens, would bring a dozen eggs to Hackman.

Then one day, he showed up with a huge landscape painting as repayment to Mr Ashman, who didn’t want to accept it. But Hackman insisted and said a painting for eggs is “a very fair deal”.

When Hackman wasn’t at Pilates or riding his bike through the beautiful landscape, he loved to spend time at his home in the hills above the city, his friends said.

Perched on a 12-acre plot, the property has panoramic views of the surrounding mountains, with vistas stretching as far as Colorado.

Hackman purchased the home in the 1980s before starting expansive renovations. He wanted this home to have meaning, so he worked with an architect to blend Pueblo, Colonial, and Spanish Baroque architectural styles to pay homage to Santa Fe’s rich cultural history.

Arakawa also enjoyed her secluded life in Santa Fe. People I spoke to said she was a talented pianist and smart business woman.

The only person who liked working out more than Hackman was Betsy. They said she was in incredible shape, always attending exercise classes.

Though Hackman was an active member of the community for most of his post-Hollywood years, he became much more isolated after Covid-19 lockdowns, locals said.

Those who knew him speculate his health and age made mobility too difficult to wander down the hill into town.

But everyone still had a story about Hackman.

James Roybal, a native of Santa Fe, once signed up for a pastel painting class in the 1980s and when he arrived Hackman was also there.

They painted next to each other for a bit, making small talk.

Mr Roybal couldn’t believe the celebrity would want to be there. He took a picture from a ways back because he didn’t think anyone would believe him. He still boasts about the image.

Victoria Murphy, a real estate agent and actress, saw him around town on several occasions.

“I was in the middle of the street as I was crossing in the crosswalk, and he started to go through the stop sign at that time, and then suddenly saw me stopped, waved, smiled, held up both hands, you know, like in a surrender,” she recalled. “And I just smiled and kept going.”

At a local restaurant in town, customers told me they’d see him at the grocery store, or shopping on the high street.

David, the general manager of a shop in downtown Santa Fe where Hackman was a long-time patron, was holding back tears, remembering his friend and client.

“Since he lived here, he wanted to use his money towards the local people. He always bought Seiko watches from my store for his friends and family.

“He invested in local restaurants and grocery stores, and showed up to openings for art museums. It obviously wasn’t because he needed the money, but because he loved the local flare,” he said.

“We lost a great Santa Fein.”

Donald Trump appears to have more confidence in the capabilities of Britain’s armed forces than some of his own generals – or, for that matter, many of Britain’s retired military top brass.

When asked at his news conference with the UK prime minister about US security guarantees for Ukraine, Trump said: “The British have incredible soldiers, incredible military and they can take care of themselves.”

However, the US president did leave the question hanging in the air as to whether the UK military could take on Russia.

In public, senior US military officers are quick to praise the professionalism of Britain’s armed forces. But in private, they’re often highly critical of recent cuts to their size, especially to the British Army, which now has just over 70,000 regular troops.

“Too small” is what one very senior US general said in a private briefing on a visit to the UK.

According to the International Institute of Strategic Studies, Russia’s military expenditure is now higher than Europe’s total defence spending, in terms of purchasing parity power. It’s increased by 41% and is now the equivalent of 6.7% of GDP. In contrast, the UK will be spending just 2.5% by 2027.

President Trump’s comments underscore the reality that he’s not contemplating putting American troops on the ground in Ukraine to police any ceasefire. Any US presence will be economic, to exploit mining interests.

He suggests that that in itself might be a deterrent to Russia attacking again. But even his administration thinks there must be some hard power too – provided by others. It’ll be up to European nations to do that. The question is not just whether Europe has the will: does it have the numbers too?

The short answer is no. That is why Sir Keir Starmer has been pressing for additional US security guarantees from the world’s most powerful military.

Britain is not alone in cutting its armed forces in response to the end of the Cold War. That trend in Europe is slowly being reversed, with more nations increasing defence spending.

But Europe, on its own, would not be able to provide a force of 100-200,000 international troops, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggests would be needed to deter Russia from attacking again.

Instead, Western officials have said they’re thinking of a force of up to 30,000 troops. European jets and warships would help monitor Ukraine’s airspace and shipping lanes.

That force would be focused on providing “reassurance” at key sites – Ukraine’s cities, ports and nuclear power stations. They would not be placed anywhere near the current front lines in Eastern Ukraine. European fighter jets and warships would also monitor Ukraine’s air space and shipping lanes.

But these same Western officials acknowledge that this would not be enough, hence the calls for a US “backstop” – “to have the confidence that whatever forces are deployed will not be challenged by Russia” and to “give the prime minister confidence that he can deploy British forces safely”.

Officials believe that, at the very least, the US could provide oversight to any European forces with a “command and control element” and US fighter jets ready to respond from its airbases in Poland and Romania. Europe cannot match American space-based surveillance or intelligence-gathering capabilities.

It could also agree to continuing to supply Ukraine with weapons.

While Europe has recently overtaken the US in terms of the proportion of Western weapons supplied to Ukraine, one Western source said the US had provided “the cream” – such as long range missiles and air defence systems.

European nations also do not have the necessary enablers to conduct large-scale military operations on their own. The supply of Western weapons to Ukraine has been dependent on US logistics.

Nato’s bombing campaign over Libya in 2011 also highlighted deficiencies – with European nations supposedly taking the lead, but still dependent on US support. Allies relied on US refuelling tankers and US targeting.

But Sir Keir Starmer appears to have left Washington without any guarantees of US military support. Speaking to the BBC this morning, UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting suggested that Donald Trump’s re-commitment to Nato’s Article 5 – whereby an attack on one ally would be interpreted as an attack on all – might be enough.

But the US Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, has previously stated that any international troops sent to Ukraine will be neither a Nato force nor covered by its treaty. At present, there is no such Nato-style security guarantee.

Europe’s strength of will is being tested. The prime minister, who’s convening a meeting of leaders this weekend, will soon find out whether warm words from Donald Trump are enough to convince others to join the UK in putting boots on the ground.

France is the only other major European power that so far appears to be willing to do the same. Some Northern European nations – Denmark, Sweden and the Baltic states – are willing to consider a commitment, but again would like US security guarantees. Spain, Italy and Germany are so far opposed.

Sir Keir may still believe there’s room for negotiation, that the US might still be willing to back a European force. But as for Donald Trump’s question – would Britain be able to take on Russia’s military? Even though Russian forces have been weakened, the answer is no.

On France’s northern coast, they call the people smuggling and dangerous dinghies phenomenon, La Crise Migratoire.

But do the UK and France now have a chance of consigning the small boats to history?

Somewhat eclipsed by events this week in Washington, Yvette Cooper became the first British home secretary in five years to go to the French coast to see for herself how £540m of British taxpayers’ money is being used to tackle people smuggling gangs.

She was the guest of her French counterpart, interior minister Bruno Retailleau.

The fact that he invited his British opposite number to the frontline of a deeply sensitive problem for both countries speaks volumes.

Rather than slinging English Channel mud at each other, this diplomatic rapprochement began with a warm embrace in the cold morning air of Le Touquet airport – and ended with both feeling they may be on the verge of breakthroughs.

In the first seven weeks of this year, successful crossings have been down by 41% on the same period of 2024. As the weather improves, both governments know that could be reversed.

The optimism comes not from the daily statistics, but what the French and British believe is an increasingly slick coastal operation that may be making it harder for people smugglers to offer crossings to migrants making their way to the coast.

The Conservatives maintain there is no real deterrent to come to the Channel – because the government cancelled the deeply controversial Rwanda plan. And everyone who works with refugees says that people in genuine need of protection will have to turn to smugglers until the UK comes up with safe routes for them.

The roots of the feeling that things could now change were planted in the 2018 Sandhurst Treaty, signed when the Conservative’s Theresa May was prime minister.

The UK promised that year to fund coastal security operations against smugglers and this year Paris will receive around £172m. Tough negotiations are continuing over what happens from 2027.

On Thursday, Cooper saw what that cash is buying: boots on the ground and an awful lot of kit and technology.

The French have 1,200 security personnel deployable daily on coastal smuggler operations. Some 730 of them are paid for by the British.

At the local headquarters of the Gendarmerie Nationale, the military police teams now wear a Nato-like “Mission Small Boat” sleeve badge.

They put on a good show for their British visitors – and told some grim stories of shoreline violence and rescues – but the real action is beyond the parade ground.

French pilots are now in the air most days, using thermal cameras to spot migrants in the dunes.

Drones move rapidly over wild coastline, providing pictures back to small mobile units of officers in military-grade beach buggies.

All of this kit and other tools aim to stop three things from coming together: migrants, the flimsy dinghies and the low-powered engines to power a crossing.

The engines and low-grade vessels are brought at speed in vans from up to four hours away in Germany. The migrants meet the gear, assemble it and put to sea in minutes.

The French say their teams have become more adept at reaching dinghies and destroying them in the dunes, but the migrants try to repel the police with missiles until they’ve launched.

This places the French police in a bind: They are trying to save lives. They cannot shoot people just because they are desperate.

So this is a daily race. But here’s why both sides think things may move their way.

The average number of migrants per boat is now often up to 100 people.

The cramming suggests the gangs are moving to fewer launches because that’s easier to evade detection.

Launch locations began to include estuaries a staggering 60km away from the Dover Strait – so the police countered with barrages and dams – and now they’re gathering intelligence from train stations about how the migrants are moving around the region.

So the gangs changed again and are now opting for “taxi boats”.

Quite simply, one or two migrants get the craft quietly into the water and then pick up others as they wait offshore in the surf.

It’s pictures of these craft struggling to get out of the waves on the Pas de Calais’ beautiful and wild beaches that have enraged the French as much as the British and led many to ask why the police don’t just stop them.

France’s relatively new interior minister told me this week he now wants to change complex maritime rules to allow his land-based units to intercept these taxi-boats as they sit in shallow waters. This is what the British have asked the French to do for years.

He is also proposing a new offence of illegal residence – but beach push-backs could be the game changer: no boats means no business – and that means no profit.

All of that is a big if – but it is not the only tactic now potentially bearing down on the gangs.

The UK’s National Crime Agency understands better than before how gangs bring the boats and engines from Germany to France.

If the intelligence on these vans can get to the French in time, the Gendarmes can intercept and destroy the cargo.

Germany meanwhile has agreed to make it a crime to facilitate illegal immigration to the UK.

That is a really big deal because it would mean police could raid the warehouses storing the dinghies.

Bulgaria customs officials have shown that existing laws can be used to seize consignment of dinghies as they enter the EU from Turkey – and the icing on the cake for the British would be China seize the cheap engines which have no place in the legitimate maritime market.

The two sides are talking, but there’s nothing confirmed there yet.

While those conversations continue, the UK’s legal plans to criminalise actions that prepare the way for a crossing – such as funding, advertising and other logistical arrangements – will go through Parliament.

Another key feature in the package means jail for anyone endangers lives at sea by attacking the police units on the French beaches or obstructs a rescue.

If La Crise Migratoire is going to end, all of these individual initiatives, legal reforms and technological solutions need to work together.

But there is genuine optimism that this could be the year when things begin to change.

In her hometown of Lubbock, Texas, Leah, a pregnant mother, has been avoiding stores and other public spaces for the last two weeks.

On Wednesday, the city saw a six-year-old child who was not vaccinated against the virus die – the first US death from the measles in nearly a decade.

With a baby on the way, Leah could be putting her foetus at risk of health complications if she contracted the virus, despite her own vaccination. Her paediatrician also advised her to move up her older son’s second shot of the vaccine – the full course for the immunisation – as the risk to his health grows.

“Mentally, it’s taking a toll on me, thinking about not just myself and my child, but also about the people that I have to be around,” said Leah, who declined to share her last name for privacy reasons.

The US declared measles “eliminated” from the country in 2000, but in recent years, as anti-vaccine sentiments rose, the country has seen several outbreaks of the virus.

• US measles outbreak kills child in Texas

The Texas outbreak began in a small Mennonite community near Lubbock, home to 260,000, and has since spread. To date, there have been over 130 cases across Texas and New Mexico, with 18 patients hospitalised, local health officials said.

On Wednesday, Robert F Kennedy Jr, the nation’s newly confirmed top health official, called the Texas outbreak “not unusual”, a claim disputed by doctors and local residents.

Public health experts and Lubbock residents said the health secretary’s past remarks about childhood vaccines – as well as actions he’s taken related to them since entering office – could fuel an outbreak that is worrying parents across Texas and nearby states.

“We just want people to be healthy, and it’s definitely hard to do that when we have voices in our ears from leadership who don’t share those same factual opinions,” Leah said.

The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment from the BBC.

Since the beginning of the outbreak, Katherine Wells, the director of the Lubbock Public Health Department, has not had a day off.

She has hosted vaccine clinics to encourage people to get shots, contacted those whose children may have been exposed, and worked to educate the community about the virus.

“It’s as stressful, if not more stressful, than it was at the beginning of the COVID pandemic,” she told the BBC.

Ms Wells worries most about those who are not able to get vaccinated against the highly contagious disease, which spreads easily in the air and on surfaces, and when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. The virus – which can cause a fever, red rash, cough and other symptoms – also is associated with a host of complications, including pneumonia, brain swelling and death.

People who are immunocompromised, children under the age of one and pregnant people cannot be inoculated against the measles.

That includes the new baby Lubbock resident Kyle Rable is expecting. His wife is nine months pregnant and plans to deliver in the same hospital where the patient died of the measles.

Mr Rable is terrified for his son’s first year of life.

“With it spreading essentially like wildfire out here, do we just not leave our house for a year? We can’t do that,” he said.

To achieve herd immunity – when enough of a group is immune to a disease, limiting its spread and protecting the unvaccinated – around 95% of the population must have the shots, said Alefiyah Malbari, the chief of ambulatory pediatrics at University of Texas Dell Medical School in Austin.

But several western Texas communities are well below that figure, including Gaines County where the outbreak began and where only 82% of kindergartners are vaccinated.

“When you have that many children that are unvaccinated, measles will spread very, very easily within the community,” said Jill Weatherhead, a professor of infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine.

Now, doctors say, parents far from western Texas are starting to worry too. Dr Malbari is getting more calls from parents anxious about protecting their children when not everyone will get the vaccine.

“I share that concern with them,” said Dr Malbari.

Before Kennedy’s confirmation as the top US health official, public health experts sounded alarms about the vaccine sceptic’s ability to manage outbreaks, like the one the US is seeing now.

He has repeated widely debunked claims about vaccines, including unsubstantiated theories that the shots can cause autism.

During his Senate confirmation hearing, Kennedy said he supported the measles vaccination. He pledged not to discourage people from vaccinations and to “do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult” to get vaccines.

But since taking office just weeks ago, he has announced a number of plans related to vaccines, including an investigation into whether the childhood vaccination schedule – including measles vaccinations – has contributed to a rise in chronic illnesses.

He also delayed the first meeting of a CDC advisory panel that helps the agency make recommendations on what vaccines – including childhood immunisations – insurers should cover.

Kennedy told the CDC to halt promotions of several immunisations, including a seasonal flu vaccine campaign, instead promoting the idea of “informed consent” in vaccine decision-making, Stat News reported last week.

The moves have the potential to disrupt how the federal government ensures Americans have access to safe vaccines, including childhood immunisations, said Dr Peter Lurie, a former US Food and Drug Administration official.

But, Dr Lurie added, most troubling about Kennedy’s response to the measles outbreak, is “what he didn’t say, which is that the way to contain this outbreak is with vaccination”.

On Wednesday, during his first public appearance as health secretary, Kennedy made claims about the measles outbreak that local health officials have since disputed.

In addition to calling the Texas outbreak “not unusual”, he claimed children with measles went to hospitals only to be quarantined. Hospital officials said they were taken there because of the severity of their illnesses.

Ron Cook, a family physician and Lubbock health official who is helping doctors respond to the outbreak, said the community has not seen measles cases like this in decades.

“It’s a devastating disease,” he said. “And it’s completely preventable.”

For some expectant parents in Lubbock, Kennedy’s minimisation of the outbreak has been difficult to watch.

Leah said she knows many local parents who won’t vaccinate their children because of misinformation about safety. She said news of the death has not changed their minds.

“If anything, it’s just made them double down on their beliefs,” she said.

But Ms Wells has seen at least a few encouraging signs. After the death was announced on Wednesday, around 18 people came to a vaccination clinic following many slow days.

Still, she said, when she tells parents their children may have been exposed, some still do not want to vaccinate, including doses of the shot that can protect them after potential exposure.

“In Texas, vaccines are very much a choice,” she said.

Local health officials are working overtime to build trust and show that the vaccine is safe and effective, Dr Cook said.

“We’re seeing some success, but we would like to see significantly more,” he said. “It would be nice to have some confidence coming out of the powers that be – at the national level – to show that this is a good vaccine.”

Was it pruning or felling?

The alleged chopping of centuries-old chinar trees in Indian-administered Kashmir has sparked outrage, with locals and photos suggesting they were cut down, while the government insists it was just routine pruning. The debate has renewed focus on the endangered tree and efforts to preserve it.

The chinar is an iconic symbol of the Kashmir valley’s landscape and a major tourist draw, especially in autumn when the trees’ leaves light up in fiery hues of flaming red to a warm auburn.

The trees are native to Central Asia but were introduced to Kashmir centuries ago by Mughal emperors and princely kings. Over the years, they have come to occupy an important place in Kashmiri culture.

But rapid urbanisation, illegal logging and climate change are threatening their survival, prompting authorities to take steps to conserve them.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has been geotagging chinar trees in an effort to keep track of them and their health. The project involves attaching a QR code to each tree with information about its location, age and other physical characteristics.

“We are ‘digitally protecting’ chinar trees,” says Syed Tariq, a scientist who’s heading the project. He explains that information provided by the QR code can help locals and tourists get to known more about a tree, but it can also help counter problems like illegal or hasty cutting of them.

The project has geotagged about 29,000 chinar trees so far, with another 6,000–7,000 still left to be mapped.

Despite its heritage value, there was no proper count of these trees, says Mr Syed. While government records cite 40,000, he calls the figure debatable but is certain their numbers have declined.

This is a problem because the tree takes at least 50 years to reach maturity. Environmentalists say new plantations are facing challenges like diminishing space. Additionally, chinar trees need a cool climate to survive, but the region has been experiencing warmer summers and snowless winters of late.

But on the bright side, these trees can live for hundreds of years – the oldest chinar tree in the region is believed to be around 700 years old. A majority of the trees are at least a few centuries old and have massive trunks and sprawling canopies.

The trees received maximum patronage during the Mughal period, which stretched from the early 1500s to the mid-1800s. Many of the trees that exist in the valley were planted during this period, Mr Syed says.

The Mughal kings, who ruled many parts of erstwhile India, made Kashmir their summer getaway due to its cool climate and beautiful scenery. They also erected “pleasure gardens” – landscaped gardens famous for their symmetry and greenery – for their entertainment.

The chinar enjoyed pride of place in these gardens and the trees were usually planted along water channels to enhance the beauty of the place. Many of these gardens exist even today.

According to government literature, in the 16th Century Mughal emperor Akbar planted around 1,100 trees in one such pleasure garden near the famous Dal Lake in Srinagar, but about 400 have perished over the years due to road-widening projects and diseases caused by pests.

Emperor Jahangir, Akbar’s son, is said to have planted four chinar trees on a tiny island in Dal Lake, giving it the name Char Chinar (Four Chinars) – now a major tourist draw. Over time, two trees were lost to age and disease, until the government replaced them with transplanted mature trees in 2022.

Interestingly, the chinar is protected under the Jammu and Kashmir Preservation of Specified Trees Act, 1969, which regulates its felling and export and requires official approval even for pruning. The law remains in force despite the region losing statehood in 2019.

But environmental activist Raja Muzaffar Bhat says authorities often exploit legal loopholes to cut down chinar trees.

“Under the garb of pruning, entire trees are felled,” he says, citing a recent alleged felling in Anantnag district that sparked outrage.

“The government is geotagging trees on one side, but cutting them on the other,” he says. He adds that while authorities remove trees for urban projects, locals also fell them illegally.

Chinar trees have durable hardwood, ideal for carvings, furniture and artefacts. Locals also use them for firewood and making herbal medicine.

Government projects like geotagging are raising awareness, says Mr Bhat. He adds that Kashmiris, deeply attached to the chinar as part of their heritage, now speak out against its felling or damage.

Last week, many posted photos of the allegedly chopped trees in Anantnag on X (formerly Twitter) while opposition leaders demanded that the government launch an investigation and take action against the culprits.

“The government should protect the trees in letter and in spirit,” Mr Bhat says.

“Because without chinar, Kashmir won’t feel like home.”

European leaders have rallied behind Volodymyr Zelensky after Donald Trump’s furious exchange with the Ukrainian president in the White House.

The leaders of Germany, France, Spain, Poland and the Netherlands were among those who posted social media messages backing Ukraine – with Zelensky responding directly to each one to thank them for their support.

The Ukrainian president has arrived in London to attend a summit hosted by UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer who “retains unwavering support for Ukraine”, Downing Street said.

It comes after extraordinary scenes in the Oval Office on Friday as US President Trump clashed with Zelensky, telling him to make a deal with Russia “or we are out”.

At one point, Trump told Zelensky he was not thankful enough for US military and political support during Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion, and that he was “gambling with World War Three”.

As a flurry of supportive messages for Ukraine were posted by European leaders following the row – along with posts from the prime ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand – Zelensky replied to each one: “Thank you for your support.”

French President Emmanuel Macron posted: “There is an aggressor: Russia. There is a victim: Ukraine. We were right to help Ukraine and sanction Russia three years ago – and to keep doing so.”

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said the Netherlands supports Ukraine “now more than ever”, adding: “We want a lasting peace and an end to the war of aggression started by Russia. For Ukraine and its people, and for Europe.”

Germany’s outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote that “no one wants peace more than the citizens of Ukraine”, with his replacement-in-waiting Friedrich Merz adding that “we stand with Ukraine” and “we must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war”.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “Ukraine, Spain stands with you,” while his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk wrote: “Dear [Zelensky], dear Ukrainian friends, you are not alone.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Zelensky: “Your dignity honours the bravery of the Ukrainian people.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada “will continue to stand with Ukraine and Ukrainians in achieving a just and lasting peace”.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese posted that his country had “proudly supported the brave people of Ukraine in their struggle to defend their sovereignty against the brutality of Russian aggression and in support of international law”.

There were also supportive messages for Ukraine from political leaders in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Romania, Sweden and Slovenia.

However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban voiced his support for Trump, writing: “Strong men make peace, weak men make war. Today President @realDonaldTrump stood bravely for peace. Even if it was difficult for many to digest. Thank you, Mr President!”

• Live coverage and analysis
• Steve Rosenberg: Vladimir Putin can afford to sit back and watch events unfold
• After White House clash, Starmer faces decision about who he can trust
• Jeremy Bowen: Trump-Zelensky row signals looming crisis between Europe and US
• Ukrainians back Zelensky after disastrous Oval Office encounter
• How the Trump-Zelensky talks collapsed in 10 fiery minutes

Zelensky left the White House early following his row with Trump – but afterwards thanked the US president on social media for his support, saying: “Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that.”

Writing on messenger app Telegram on Saturday, Zelensky said it was “very important for us that Ukraine is heard and that no one forgets about it, neither during the war nor after”.

“It is important for people in Ukraine to know that they are not alone, that their interests are represented in every country, in every corner of the world,” he added.

In an interview with Fox News following his White House visit, Zelensky said his row with Trump was “not good for both sides” but he thought the relationship could be salvaged.

The pair interrupted each other repeatedly in front of the media during what was supposed to be a prelude to the two leaders signing an agreement that would give the US access to Ukraine’s deposits of rare earth minerals.

Friday’s conversation soured after the US Vice-President JD Vance – who was sitting alongside other politicians in the room – told Zelensky that the war had to be ended through diplomacy.

Zelensky responded by asking “what kind of diplomacy?”, referencing a previous 2019 ceasefire deal that was agreed three years before Russia’s full-scale invasion when Moscow was supporting and arming separatist fighters in Ukraine’s east.

The vice-president then accused Zelensky of being disrespectful and “litigating” the situation in front of the media.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called for a summit “without delay” between the US, Europe and allies on Ukraine.

Sir Keir’s crunch talks at Downing Street on Sunday will see European leaders gear up efforts to police a future Ukraine peace deal.

The UK prime minister believes a deal will have to involve US military assets providing surveillance, intelligence and potentially warplanes giving air cover to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Whether or not President Volodymyr Zelensky was ambushed or should have been more diplomatic in the Oval Office, it was a disastrous visit for Ukraine.

For those watching in Kyiv, the future of their country hung in the balance.

“It was an emotional conversation, but I understand our president,” Yulia tells me next to Kyiv’s golden-domed St Sofia’s cathedral.

“Maybe it wasn’t diplomatic, but it was sincere. It’s about life, we want to live.”

Yulia reflects a political pattern in Ukraine: the more the country is attacked, the more unity there is.

Before the full-scale invasion in 2022, President Zelensky’s trust rating was 37%. Afterwards, it rocketed to 90%.

Before Donald Trump returned to office at the start of 2025, it was 52%. After he blamed Ukraine for starting the war, it hit 65%.

“They [Donald Trump and JD Vance] were so rude,” says 30-year-old Andriy. “They don’t respect the people of Ukraine.”

“It looks like Washington supports Russia!” observes Dmytro, 26.

You wonder what the last 24 hours has done to President Zelensky’s popularity.

“When the situation becomes worse, we have another rallying around the flag,” explains Volodymyr Paniotto, director of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology which conducted some of the polling.

World leaders’ popularity often wanes over time, and Mr Paniotto says President Zelensky has not been immune.

His ratings especially took a hit with Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive of 2023, and his sacking a year later of the popular commander in chief of his armed forces, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi.

But Donald Trump’s new, transactional, often-hostile approach to Ukraine has forced the country to unite and brace for further uncertainty.

Not least with his warming to Russia.

The initial reaction was that of shock,” says opposition MP Inna Sovsun.

“It was difficult to watch a president who’s been a victim of Russian aggression being attacked by the leader of the free world,” she adds. “It’s painful.”

Ukrainian TV channels reported yesterday’s scenes in a more measured way: that a minerals deal between Ukraine and the US was simply not signed.

Perhaps, given it didn’t include the American security guarantees that Kyiv and Europe desperately want, it wasn’t as tantalising for Zelensky as had been suggested.

“We need to find stronger allies in Europe and Canada, Australia and Japan, who’ve all been supporting us,” argues Sovsun.

There are clearly deep feelings of resentment between Washington and Kyiv. However, Sovsun doesn’t think Ukraine should give up on negotiations, but should instead reframe the debate.

“It’s important to find the right mediator,” she says. “Someone Trump can recognise, but someone we trust too. Someone like Georgia Meloni of Italy.

“Under no circumstances should we agree to calls for the president to resign, and I’m saying that as an opposition MP. That defies the very idea of democracy.”

• Follow live coverage and analysis
• Steve Rosenberg: Vladimir Putin can afford to sit back and watch events unfold
• Jeremy Bowen: Trump-Zelensky row signals looming crisis between Europe and US
• After White House clash, Starmer faces decision about who he can trust
• How the Trump-Zelensky talks collapsed in 10 fiery minutes

President Zelensky hoped his Washington visit would lead to a deeper co-operation with the US which could, in turn, bring a lasting peace. Something Sovsun thinks nobody wants more than Ukrainians.

“We are the ones who are suffering, it’s extremely difficult to live under this stress,” she adds. “Just this morning, I read that my friend’s son was killed, his second son in this war.”

What the MP and countless Ukrainians don’t want is a rushed settlement. Attempted ceasefires with Russia in 2014 and 2015 only allowed Moscow to prepare for its full scale-invasion years later.

Ukrainian MP Ivanna Klympush-Tsyntsadze anticipated a second Trump presidency being less sympathetic to her country’s cause, but not to this extent.

“This mineral agreement does not oblige America to help us militarily, or to upscale or continue the support it’s currently giving,” she says.

While there is still parliamentary unity behind President Zelensky and suspended elections, MPs like Klympush-Tsyntsadze have been calling for more involvement in negotiations.

Her European Solidarity Party’s chairman is former President Petro Poroshenko, a fierce rival to Zelensky.

He was even recently sanctioned by Ukraine’s leader over what Ukraine’s security service labelled as “threats to national security” and “creating obstacles to economic development”. Mr Poroshenko said it was “politically motivated”.

Despite this, the former president said he recognised Zelensky’s legitimacy as leader, to combat both American and Russian claims to the contrary.

As sirens wail and missiles slam into cities, this is a war still raging, despite all of the talk of ending it.

Russia is not backing down on its demands for Ukraine’s political capitulation and the complete control of four regions.

“This war is not for some area, town or treeline in the east,” says Taras Chmut, head of the Come Back Alive foundation.

After Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, the organisation was set up to crowdsource military equipment for fighting Ukrainian troops.

“This is the war that will define the world order for future decades. Whether this world will still exist depends on how this war goes,” he says.

As he ruthlessly pursues his “America First” policy, Trump wants Europe to provide security on a continent where he is less willing to do so. But Europe is divided on this, and where there is agreement it is that peace is not possible without the US as a safety net.

“Europe and the world once again want to close their eyes and believe in a miracle, but miracles do not happen,” says Mr Chmut.

“Countries must accept the reality of the situation and do something about it. Otherwise, you will be the one to disappear next – after Ukraine.”

Don’t insult the leaders. Don’t insult the ideology. And don’t judge.

These are the rules tour guides read out to Western tourists as they prepare to drive across the border into North Korea, arguably the most secretive and repressive country in the world.

Then there is the practical information. No phone signal, no internet, no cash machines.

“The North Koreans aren’t robots. They have opinions, goals, and a sense of humour. And in our briefing we encourage people to listen to and understand them,” says Rowan Beard, who runs Young Pioneer Tours, one of two Western companies which resumed trips to the country last week, after a five-year hiatus.

North Korea sealed its borders at the outset of the pandemic, shutting out diplomats, aid workers and travellers, and making it nearly impossible to know what was happening there.

Since then, it has further isolated itself from most of the world, relying on support from Russia and China. Many doubted whether Westerners would ever be allowed back.

But after years of cajoling and several false starts, Rowan and some other tour leaders were given the green light to restart operations. He pulled together a group of eager travellers in just five hours, desperate to not miss the opportunity. Most were vloggers and travel addicts, some wanting to tick the final country off their list, along with the odd North Korea enthusiast.

Last Thursday the tourists, from the UK, France, Germany and Australia, drove over the border from China into the remote area of Rason for a four-night trip.

Among them was 28-year-old British YouTuber Mike O’Kennedy. Even with its reputation, he was startled by the extreme level of control. As with all trips to North Korea, the tourists were escorted by local guides, who followed a strict, pre-approved schedule. It included carefully choreographed trips to a beer factory, a school, and a new, fully stocked pharmacy.

Ben Weston, one of the tour leaders from Suffolk, likened visiting North Korea to “being on a school trip”. “You can’t leave the hotel without the guides,” he said.

“A couple of times I even had to let them know when I wanted to use the bathroom,” said Mike. “I’ve never had to do that anywhere in the world.”

Despite the chaperoning, Mike was able to spot snippets of real life. “Everyone was working, it didn’t feel like anyone was just hanging out. That was kind of bleak to see.”

On his trip to the school, a group of eight-year-olds performed a dance to animations of ballistic missiles hitting targets. A video of the spectacle shows girls and boys with red neckties, singing, while explosions flare on a screen behind them.

For now, tourists are being kept well away from the capital Pyongyang. Greg Vaczi from Koryo Tours, the other tour company allowed back in, admits the current itinerary lacks the “big-hitting monuments” of Pyongyang. He suspects authorities have chosen Rason as their guinea pig because the area is relatively contained and easy to control.

Set up as a special economic zone, to trial new financial policies, it operates as a mini capitalist enclave inside an otherwise socialist state. Chinese businesspeople run joint enterprises with North Koreans, and can travel in and out fairly freely.

Joe Smith, a seasoned North Korea traveller and former writer for the specialist North Korea platform NK News, was there on his third trip. “I feel like the more times you visit the less you know. Each time you get a little peek behind the curtain, which just leaves you with more questions,” he said.

Joe’s highlight was a surprise off-agenda visit to a luxury goods market, where people were selling jeans and perfumes, along with fake Louis Vuitton handbags and Japanese washing machines, probably imported from China. Here, the tourists were not allowed to take photos – an attempt to hide this consumer bubble from the rest of the country, they suspected.

“This was the only place people weren’t expecting us,” Joe said. “It felt messy and real; a place North Koreans actually go. I loved it.”

But according to the experienced tour leaders, the group’s movements were more restricted than on previous trips, with fewer opportunities to wander the streets, pop into a barbershop or supermarket, and talk to locals.

Covid was often cited as the reason, said Greg from Koryo Tours. “On the surface they are still concerned. Our luggage was disinfected at the border, our temperatures were taken, and about 50% of people are still wearing masks.” Greg cannot work out whether the fear is genuine, or an excuse to control people.

It is thought Covid hit North Korea hard, though it is difficult to know the extent of the suffering.

Local guides repeated the government line that the virus entered the country in a balloon sent over from South Korea, and was swiftly eradicated in 90 days. But Rowan, who has been to North Korea more than 100 times, sensed that Rason had been impacted by the tough Covid regulations. A lot of Chinese businesses had closed, he said, and their workers had left.

Even Joe, the experienced North Korea traveller, commented on how dilapidated the buildings were. “Places were dimly lit and there was no heating, apart from in our hotel rooms,” he said, noting a trip to a cold, dark and deserted art gallery. “It felt like they opened the doors just for us.”

The regime’s photographs might make North Korea look clean and shiny, Joe said, but in person you realise “the roads are awful, the pavements are wobbly, and the buildings are weirdly constructed”. His hotel room was old-fashioned and filthy, he said, resembling “his grandma’s living room”. The whole window was cracked.

“They’ve had five years to fix things. North Koreans are so sensitive about what they show tourists. If this is the best they can show, I dread to think what else is out there”, he said. Most of the country is kept well hidden, with more than four in 10 people believed to be undernourished and needing help.

One of the few chances tourists in North Korea get to interact with local people is through their guides, who sometimes speak English. On these recent trips they were surprisingly well-informed, despite the regime’s intense propaganda machine and information blockade. This is probably because they speak to the Chinese businesspeople who come and go, said Greg.

They knew about Trump’s tariffs and the war in Ukraine – even that North Korean troops were involved. But when Joe showed a photo from Syria, his guide was unaware President Assad had been toppled. “I carefully explained that sometimes when people don’t like their leader, they rise up and force them out, and at first he didn’t believe me.”

Such conversations need to be delicately handled. Strict laws prevent North Koreans from speaking freely. Ask or reveal too much and the tourists might put their guide or themselves at risk.

Mike admits there were times this made him nervous. On a trip to a North Korea-Russia Friendship House, he was invited to write in the visitors’ book. “I went blank and wrote something like ‘I wish the world peace.’ Afterwards my guide told me that was an inappropriate thing to write. That made me paranoid,” he said.

“Generally, the guides did a great job of making us feel safe. There were just a couple of moments when I thought, this is bizarre.”

For Greg from Koryo Tours, these interactions bring a deeper purpose to North Korea tourism: “North Koreans get the chance to engage with foreigners. This allows them to come up with new ideas, which, in a country this closed, is so important.”

But tourism to North Korea is contentious, especially as travellers have been allowed back before aid workers and most Western diplomats, including the UK’s. Critics, including Joanna Hosaniak from the Citizens Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, argue these trips mainly benefit the regime.

“This is not like tourism in other poor countries, where local people benefit from the extra income. The vast majority of the population don’t know these tourists exist. Their money goes to the state and ultimately towards its military,” she said.

One conversation has stuck in YouTuber Mike’s head. During his trip to the school, he was surprised when a girl, after meeting him, said she hoped to visit the UK one day. “I didn’t have the heart to tell her that her chances were very, very slim,” he said.

An SNP MP has said that Donald Trump’s second state visit to the UK cannot go ahead if he refuses to show further support for Ukraine.

Trump accused Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky of “gambling with World War Three” during a fiery showdown at the White House on Friday.

It came the day after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer used his US visit to present Trump with a letter from the King, offering an initial meeting in Scotland to discuss the unprecedented second visit.

Stephen Gethins, the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesperson, called Trump’s behaviour towards Zelensky “grotesque” and said it amounted to “bullying”.

Speaking to BBC News, he said: “I’d describe last night’s performance as bullying, as a bigger country ganging up on a small country that is struggling for its very survival.

“The UK has left itself in an utterly isolated position. We need to get closer to our European partners and allies.

“Right now, given that treatment of one of our allies in Ukraine, I do not see how a state visit could possibly go ahead. We’ve had a bit of silence from the prime minister so far and that’s extremely disappointing.”

Zelensky has landed in London and is on his way to Downing Street to meet the prime minister before a summit with European leaders on Sunday.

Three years on, the war continues in Ukraine, with further injuries in the city of Kharkiv after a recent Russian drone attack.

Zelensky had hoped for positive talks with Trump during his visit, including the signing of a minerals deal which would give the US a real stake in his country’s future, if not an outright security guarantee.

Instead he faced an extraordinary dressing down in front of the world’s media, with Trump and his Vice-President JD Vance demanding that he show more gratitude for years of US support.

The Ukrainian president pushed back at suggestions from his more powerful partners that he should work harder to agree a ceasefire with Vladimir Putin. They responded that he was being “disrespectful”.

After his departure, Zelensky said Ukraine is “ready to sign the minerals agreement” but continued his call for US security guarantees.

The exchange prompted a series of responses from European leaders with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz among those reiterating their support for Ukraine.

Starmer has not yet made a comment but a spokesperson for No 10 said he has spoken to both Trump and Zelensky.

They said “he retains unwavering support for Ukraine, and is doing all he can to find a path forward to a lasting peace”.

Posting on X on Friday, First Minister John Swinney said: “Today’s events in Washington are a clear cause for deep concern, for shock, for anger.

“What we need now are cool heads and clear thinking. We must stand firm with our European allies in the steadfast defence of Ukraine. That is where Scotland stands.”

Scottish Conservative MP Andrew Bowie, who is shadow secretary of state for Scotland, said the White House exchange was a “sad and depressing spectacle”.

On X, he added: “In the face of unprovoked Russian aggression and in the third year of a war to save his country, Vlodomyr Zelensky has been a symbol of calm strength and determination.

“Today his restraint was incredible. We stand with him and Ukraine.”

If Trump does indeed meet the King in Scotland to discuss a second state visit, it would be his first return to the country where he has family and business connections since 2023.

The Scottish government said Swinney, who endorsed rival Kamala Harris in last year’s election, would work to “strengthen” ties between the two countries.

Trump was hosted by the late Queen Elizabeth for a three-day state visit during his first presidential term in 2019.

Second-term US presidents are traditionally not offered state visits and have instead been invited for tea or lunch with the monarch, usually at Windsor Castle.

But King Charles’ letter proposed a meeting in Scotland, where Trump owns two golf courses, to discuss arrangements for a second state visit.

The letter suggested meeting at either Dumfries House in Ayrshire, which the King has owned since 2007, or Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire.

Trump appeared taken aback by the letter, but after taking a minute to read it he said he accepted the invite and that it would be an “honour” to visit the “fantastic” country.

The prime minister said it was a “privilege and an honour” to deliver the King’s letter to Trump, adding he “looked forward to welcoming” the president to the UK.

Meanwhile the Scottish Greens have said Donald Trump is not welcome in Scotland, with co-leader Patrick Harvie forecasting “protests and a great deal of anger” around the visit.

When Luna Sofia Miranda approached Sean Baker in a strip club in New York in 2022, she tried her best to charm him.

But he “very clearly did not want to buy a lap dance,” she says.

Miranda, who was 23 at the time, started asking why he and his wife were there.

“I’m very nosy,” she says. “So I kept asking them questions and I finally got it out of them. They were making a film about strippers.”

She told them she had studied acting, and – after a successful audition – got a call on her 24th birthday, to offer her a part in the film.

That film, Anora, is now seen as one of the frontrunners heading into the Oscars on Sunday.

• Anora star: Oscar talk is ‘overwhelming and amazing’

It’s directed by Baker, and stars Mikey Madison, who is up for best actress for her role as a New York stripper.

Madison, 25, relied on real-life strippers to help her perfect the part.

When she won a Bafta film award last month, she dedicated it to the sex worker community.

“I have been able to meet some of that community through my research of the film, and that’s been one of the most incredible parts of making the film,” she told us backstage.

They “deserve respect and don’t often get it. And so I had to say something,” she added.

We’ve been speaking to the actresses, strippers and dancers in the film about their experiences of working on it – and their thoughts on the finished product.

Some praised the film as realistic, particularly in its portrayal of the rejection and exhaustion that sex workers often feel. But others said the film was “limited”.

Edie Turquet was initially unsure whether to take part in the film.

The 21-year-old, who is British and appeared in Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts as a child, now lives in New York where she’s a student and a stripper.

She got cast as a background dancer in Anora after a casting agent spotted her in the club where she was working. But Turquet says the night before filming, she debated not showing up.

“I didn’t want to be part of a bad stripper film, or anything doing a disservice to our industry, so I was apprehensive,” she told me.

“Most films about strippers are super over-aestheticised, or bad and exploitative.”

Turquet points to 2020 film Zola, about a waitress who goes to Florida for a weekend of stripping for quick cash. “I found it hyperbolic, totally overglamourising the work, and it felt like it was talking down to women,” she said.

“And don’t get me started on Pretty Woman, which is infuriating, especially the idea of a street worker played by Julia Roberts. Come on.”

But when Turquet realised Anora was a Sean Baker film, she changed her mind.

“His films are based on realism, he has a fly-on-the-wall style of filmmaking, which I love,” she said. “So I was down.”

Baker’s filmmaking skills were also what attracted Lindsey Normington to the film. The actress and stripper stars as Diamond, Anora’s workplace enemy.

She says she saw him at afterparty for a film premiere, and went up to him to tell him she was a fan.

They connected on Instagram, and months later, he contacted her to tell her he might have a role for her in a new film. “I fell to my knees in my house,” Normington said.

In the film, Anora is offered a chance at a fairytale escape when she meets and falls for the son of a wealthy Russian.

Miranda, an actress and stripper who plays Lulu, Anora’s best friend, says she was tasked with helping Madison sound like a real sex worker from New York.

“I shared a PDF of language and slang terms that only strippers from New York will understand,” she said.

One of those words was “whale”, which, Miranda explains, “is a customer who is like a bottomless pit of money. He will make your night. And he won’t make you work very hard for it at all.”

Miranda said a lot of the film’s themes, on heartbreak and rejection, were relatable for her.

“Sometimes I feel like this shiny toy, that people want to play with. They go, ‘wow like you’re a stripper. You’re so cool.’ And then they just cast you aside and abandon you,” she said.

“I think about the ending a lot because I feel like Anora a lot.”

Turquet agrees, calling the ending “very relatable and poignant”, adding that it accurately depicts the “exhaustion and fatigue” strippers often feel.

“The sex industry has trauma built into it. It felt so real. It’s an incredible vulnerable industry,” she said.

“You’re putting yourself in danger every time you go to work. It’s a complex and exhausting job.”

But overall, she said has mixed feelings about the film.

“What a lot of stripper films miss – and what Anora starts but doesn’t go far enough on – is the moral question around men who buy sex,” she said.

“It’s the question of consent. Most of these films shy away from answering it, or looking into it.”

She said it also frustrates her that these characters “never exist outside their profession”.

“[Anora] is a pretty limited character,” she said. “We never learn anything about her. The film takes the perspective of [male leads] Igor and Vanya, in defining who she is.”

“It’s better than any film I’ve seen about it, but ultimately it’s limited as it’s not told by a sex worker,” she added. “I can’t wait till we’re telling our own stories and hopefully this opens the door to that.”

For Normington, the film reflected “the insecurity and competition and jealousy” that she has personally experienced in clubs.

“I appreciate that it’s not attempting to be a quintessential stripper movie.”

For Kennady Schneider, a Los Angeles-based stripper and choreographer who trained Madison to dance, it was the film’s portrayal of the mundane nature of the job that struck a chord.

In the film’s early scenes, we see Anora at work, talking to clients in the club.

We also see her and the other strippers on a lunch break, eating from Tupperware boxes in a back room.

“It felt really accurate,” Schneider said.

“A lot of the time in [stripper] films, you have glamorisation, with money falling from the ceiling. Those moments do happen but they’re few and far between,” she said. “It’s much more of a quiet hustle.”

When Anora came out, special screenings were held for sex workers in New York and LA.

Footage circulated on social media shows the strippers banging their high-heeled platform pleaser shoes together over their heads, to show their appreciation at the end of the screenings.

“That is the most beautiful applause I’ve ever received, I don’t know if that will ever happen again,” Madison told us.

Now, all eyes are on the Oscars.

Miranda and Normington will both be attending. “It’s kind of silly to think that I’m going to the Oscars, but [at the same time] I’m at the club arguing with a stupid man over $20,” said Miranda.

“I feel like I’m living two lives.”

She said that Madison is “spot on” to say the sex worker community doesn’t get the respect it deserves, and said she hopes that Anora’s success will change that.

“My hope is that if this film wins an Oscar, it marks the beginning of a shift in Hollywood, where sex workers are respected, as workers in their own fields, but also as entertainers,” she said.

“If this film wins an Oscar, I want to see that.”

A meltdown. A horror show. A pile-on. However you want to describe it, the meeting between US President Donald Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last night was a catastrophe: Ukraine and its most important ally in a public slanging match.

But more important than the insults and shouting was the clash on substance. America’s threat to cut its support for Ukraine if Zelensky doesn’t sign a deal. Trump’s refusal to name Russia as the clear aggressor and Ukraine as the clear victim in the conflict.

It was a total contrast to what happened on Thursday when Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer met Trump. “Ecstatic”, “triumph”, “outstanding” were a few of the words used by the PM’s team.

They weren’t just delighted with the optics of the two leaders chatting about their families and the royals over winter greens and sea bass – Sir Keir’s team believed they had made genuine progress in talks in the Oval Office about Ukraine.

Trump told Sir Keir that the US was working fast on a ceasefire deal, but it wasn’t done and they weren’t rushing to a bad one. And the PM got an assurance the US was looking at how it could guarantee Ukraine’s security if a peace was agreed. A senior government source told me “there are good reasons to be optimistic” about Trump’s true position.

But last night’s outbursts give a very different picture, and this morning you’d be hard pushed to find an optimist in Westminster.

A government minister here said the scenes had been “deeply troubling and sobering”. Sir Keir spoke to both Trump and Zelensky last night, but No 10 is tight-lipped on what was said.

Today the Prime Minister will be in “back to back calls” trying to patch things up and this afternoon he is hosting Zelensky, who landed in the UK this morning, in Downing Street, ahead of a summit of European leaders on Sunday.

• LIVE: I want the US more firmly on our side, says Zelensky after Trump showdown
• ANALYSIS: Major crisis looms between Europe and US, writes Jeremy Bowen
• EXPLAINED: How US-Ukraine talks collapsed in 10 fiery minutes

But Trump’s words from last night suggest that both Sir Keir and French President Emmanuel Macron had not succeeded in one of their primary objectives this week: to persuade America that Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine must be protected.

So what now? Sir Keir has some difficult questions to ponder. Does he strive to get his new diplomatic friend at the White House back on board? Or is the new reality that the US just can’t be relied on, that the animosity between Trump and Zelensky runs too deep.

If America’s out, does he push European allies to join the UK and France in offering troops that could guarantee a peace deal – the “reassurance force” plan we talked about last week.

Is it even feasible for Europe to support Ukraine on its own?

I’ll be asking the prime minister these questions myself when he joins us live in the studio tomorrow morning at one of the most critical junctures for both his leadership and the security of our continent.

The irony is that until last night’s drama, conventional wisdom in political and diplomatic circles was that slowly but surely, the direction of travel was towards a deal to end the war. Whatever you think of him, the election of Trump had changed the dynamic and focused minds on bringing an end to the conflict.

No western allies would suggest that Zelensky should just fold after three years of holding off Russia, with all the lives lost and all the suffering of his people. Yet privately, and tiptoeing towards it in public, there was a sense that he was willing to take part in some form of negotiation.

His previous stance of not giving an inch had visibly softened in recent months. If the conflict is to end, most diplomats would tell you that has to happen at the negotiating table. For all the hot tempers, Trump had said he could get Russia to talk. To stop the war, Zelensky may have to get back to the table too.

In the next crucial 24 hours, Sir Keir will hope to pick up the pieces of last night’s disastrous encounter and push Europe to come up with the strongest expression of support, alongside potential promises of more military backing.

He’ll also hope he can reset the tone and calm the atmosphere.

The version of Trump administration we saw in the Oval Office last night does not portray a reliable partner.

The prime minister is now faced with a decision not just on what to do, but who he can trust.

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Ukraine’s president had been hoping to leave the White House on Friday after positive talks with Donald Trump, capped with the signing of a minerals deal giving the US a real stake in his country’s future, if not an outright security guarantee.

Instead Volodymyr Zelensky faced an extraordinary dressing down in front of the world’s media, after President Trump and his Vice-President JD Vance demanded that he show more gratitude for years of US support.

The Ukrainian president pushed back at suggestions from his more powerful partners that he should work harder to agree a ceasefire with Vladimir Putin. They responded that he was being “disrespectful”.

Zelensky was eventually told to leave the White House early before he and Trump could even take the stage for a scheduled news conference.

And the minerals deal, which had been trailed and praised by both sides this week, was left unsigned. “Come back when you’re ready for peace,” Trump wrote on social media shortly before Zelensky’s car pulled away.

There were several major flashpoints in the meeting. Here are four of the most fiery – and the politics and feeling that lies behind them.

While there was half an hour of cordial talks and formalities at the start, tensions began to boil over in the Oval Office when Vance said the “path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy”.

“That’s what President Trump is doing,” he said.

Zelensky interjected, referencing Russia’s aggression in the years before its full-scale invasion three years ago including a failed ceasefire in 2019. “Nobody stopped him,” he said of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“What kind of diplomacy, JD, are you talking about? What do you mean?” he said.

The exchange then became visibly tense, with Vance replying: “the kind that will end the destruction of your country.”

The vice-president then accused Zelensky of being disrespectful and “litigating” the situation in front of the American media.

It was Vance’s defence of Trump’s approach to ending the war – by opening communications with Putin and pushing for a quick ceasefire – that first escalated tensions with the Ukrainian leader.

After Vance challenged the Ukrainian president over problems he’s had with the military and conscription, Zelensky replied: “During the war, everybody has problems, even you. But you have a nice ocean and don’t feel [it] now, but you will feel it in the future.”

That comment rankled Trump and drew him into the clash that up until this point had been limited to Zelensky and the vice-president.

Here was the Ukrainian leader suggesting Trump had failed to grasp the moral hazard of dealing with the war’s aggressor.

Zelensky’s message cut to the heart of what critics say is Trump’s fundamental miscalculation in dealing with Russia. That by ending Moscow’s isolation and seeking a quick ceasefire he risks emboldening Putin, weakening Europe and leaving Ukraine open to being devoured.

• Follow live reaction and analysis
• Steve Rosenberg: Vladimir Putin can afford to sit back and watch events unfold
• Jeremy Bowen: Trump-Zelensky row signals looming crisis between Europe and US
• Ukrainians back Zelensky after disastrous Oval Office encounter
• After White House clash, Starmer faces decision about who he can trust

Trump tends to characterise the war as a kind of binary conflict between two sides who should both take their share of burden or blame for the fighting and its causes.

But Zelensky was trying to warn of catastrophic consequences of this thinking. This was the Ukrainian leader directly telling Trump in the Oval Office: Appease Russia, and the war will come to you.

It triggered Trump’s biggest backlash. “Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. You’re in no position to dictate that,” he said, his voice getting louder.

“You don’t have the cards right now,” he told him. “You’re gambling with millions of lives.”

This exchange may win Zelensky plaudits among those who wanted to see him to stand up to Trump; but this moment could also decide an era of war and peace in Europe.

At one point later in the conversation, Zelensky said: “From the very beginning of the war, we have been alone and we are thankful.”

This angered Trump, who has repeatedly framed the war as a drain on American taxpayers.

“You haven’t been alone,” he said. “You haven’t been alone. We gave you – through this stupid president – $350bn,” Trump said, a reference to Biden.

Vance then asked whether Zelensky had thanked the US during the meeting and accused him of campaigning “for the opposition” – the Democrats – during the US election last year.

The comment was a reference to a visit Zelensky made to a munitions factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania – Joe Biden’s hometown – just weeks before Americans headed to the polls in the November election.

Republicans were outraged at the visit, accusing Zelensky of turning the tour into a partisan campaign event on Kamala Harris’s behalf in a battleground state.

Here was all the bitter division of America’s own polarised internal politics pouring into the room at a critical moment for future of global security.

“Please, you think that if you will speak very loudly about the war,” Zelensky began saying, only for Trump to cut him off.

“He’s not speaking loudly,” Trump shot back, visibly irritated. “Your country’s in big trouble.”

“You’re not winning, you’re not winning this,” Trump said. “You have a damn good chance of coming out OK because of us.”

“It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this,” said Trump. “It’s going to be a tough deal to make because the attitudes have to change.”

The president and vice-president reprimanded Zelensky, appearing most angered by what they perceived as his “attitude”.

“Just say thank you,” Vance demanded at one point.

Zelensky’s responses – which were to fact check the two far more powerful men and argue his corner – seemed driven by the existential nature of this moment.

He has spent three years defending his country from invasion, while also trying to hold together a society and its political leadership that Putin has tried to drive apart.

But out of the main camera shot was another sight in the room. Zelensky’s ambassador to Washington, Oksana Markarova, who was spotted with her head in her hands as the arguments escalated.

It is an image that sums up the diplomatic position for Zelensky and his relationship with – until now at least – his superpower sponsor in trying to repel Russia.

Standing up to Trump like he did on Friday could, ultimately, mean losing to Putin.

Friday’s drama in the Oval Office sparked a swift reaction from many world leaders.

But not from Vladimir Putin. There’s been no comment so far from the Kremlin leader.

Then again, he doesn’t really need to say anything. President Putin can afford to sit back and watch events unfold.

Donald Trump predicted that the very public spat with President Zelensky was “going to be great television”.

There’s little doubt that Vladimir Putin will have enjoyed the “show”, the dramatic spectacle of Volodymyr Zelensky, leader of the country President Putin invaded, being berated by the president and vice-president of the United States in front of the world’s media.

Some Russian officials have commented, though, on events in Washington.

In a post on social media, former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of the Russian security council, wrote that President Zelensky had received “a slap down in the Oval Office”. He called on the US to stop military assistance to Ukraine.

How Moscow would welcome that.

Writing on Telegram, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova praised Trump and JD Vance for their “miracle of restraint” at not hitting Ukraine’s president.

• Follow live coverage and analysis
• Jeremy Bowen: Trump-Zelensky row signals looming crisis between Europe and US
• Ukrainians back Zelensky after disastrous Oval Office encounter
• How the Trump-Zelensky talks collapsed in 10 fiery minutes
• After White House clash, Starmer faces decision about who he can trust

It’s a sign of the new world in which we seem to be now that, while US-Ukraine relations are at risk of implosion, the opposite is true for US-Russia ties.

In recent weeks, Trump and Putin have spoken on the phone and pledged to work closely together; there’s talk of a possible summit sometime soon; lower-level US-Russia talks to reset relations and discuss potential economic cooperation have already started.

President Putin has dangled the carrot of lucrative joint projects with the Americans involving rare earth minerals and aluminium production.

The implications of a breakdown in relations between Ukraine and the US are potentially very serious for Kyiv, but very positive for Moscow.

If the flow of American weapons to Ukraine were to stop, it would be much harder for Ukrainians to defend themselves against the Russian forces who have invaded their country, even if Ukraine enjoys solidarity and strong support from European leaders.

For some time now, Moscow has believed that the war in Ukraine has been going Russia’s way. The shouting-match in the Oval Office will have cemented that view.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has spoken to US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after a meeting between the two leaders in Washington descended into a row about US support for Ukraine.

The initially cordial White House talks ended in a shouting match in front of the media, as Trump told his Ukrainian counterpart to be more thankful for US aid and accused him of “gambling with World War Three”.

No 10 confirmed the prime minister had spoken with both presidents and that he retained “unwavering support for Ukraine”.

On Sunday, Sir Keir will host a summit of European leaders to discuss an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia.

• Follow updates here
• Chris Mason: Colossal stakes for Starmer’s summit on Ukraine
• Trump accuses Zelensky of ‘gambling with World War Three’

Zelensky arrived in the UK on Saturday ahead of the meeting, which will now be overshadowed by events in Washington.

Speaking on Friday, a No 10 spokesperson Sir Keir was “doing all he can to find a path forward to a lasting peace based on sovereignty and security for Ukraine”.

The Oval Office spat also prompted words of support for Zelensky from key European allies, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that there remains a “sliver of hope” for a peace deal.

“Trump wants a sustainable peace in Ukraine because he sees this as a very big part in his legacy and he wants that to last for many years,” Hunt said.

“He doesn’t want to withdraw from Ukraine and abandon it to the Russians in the way that the United States abandoned Afghanistan to the Taliban – he knows that would be very bad for his reputation, for America’s reputation – so in the end he needs a ceasefire that both Zelensky and Putin are part of.”

Hunt stressed that what was needed for negotiations to restart was “a little bit of time” for “tempers to cool down”.

The heated clash in the Oval Office of the White House – in which both Trump and Zelensky interrupted each other repeatedly – was supposed to be a prelude to the two leaders signing a deal that would pave the way towards US access to Ukrainian minerals.

A news conference scheduled for later in the day was cancelled, and Zelensky was asked to leave the White House before the agreement could be signed.

In a later interview with Fox News, Zelensky said the public spat “was not good” – but the relationship between him and Trump could be salvaged.

Writing on Telegram on Saturday, the Ukrainian leader said: “It is very important for us that Ukraine is heard and that no one forgets about it, neither during the war nor after.”

Sir Keir’s own meeting with Trump on Thursday took on a much more cordial mood.

The pair agreed to begin work on a new US-UK trade deal, and Trump appeared to have softened his stance towards Zelensky.

There had been speculation that Sir Keir had also gone into the visit seeking a US security “backstop” in a European-led peace plan for ending the war in Ukraine. However, the US president stopped short of making such a commitment.

Trump had previously criticised Sir Keir and France’s Macron of having “done nothing” to seek an end to the war in Ukraine.

Reacting to Friday’s far more acrimonious Oval Office meeting, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said that “respectable diplomacy is essential for peace”, adding that a “divided West only benefits Russia”.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey suggested Trump and US Vice-President JD Vance were “bullying the brave true patriot Zelensky into accepting a deal that effectively hands victory to Russia”.

He also said that he was “proud that the UK has been Ukraine’s staunchest ally from the start” but that the PM should “show British leadership on Ukraine by inviting President Zelensky to address Parliament on Monday”.

The leader of the SNP in Westminster, Stephen Flynn, said an offer of a second state visit – made during Starmer’s White House visit – should be revoked.

Meanwhile, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the spat was “regrettable” and would “make Putin feel like the winner”.

He added that it was “not the end of the story” and that a peace deal “with the right security guarantees” for Ukraine was “essential”.

While reaction among US politicians appeared to largely fall along partisan lines, in Ukraine there was broad appreciation for Zelensky holding his ground over what many Ukrainians see as an existential war.

Russia, meanwhile, said Trump and Vance had acted with restraint.

US investigators are trying to establish how Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, died after the discovery of their bodies at their home in the US state of New Mexico.

Officials said on Friday that evidence points to Hackman having been dead since 17 February – 10 days before the couples’ bodies were found.

Here is what we know so far about the death of a Hollywood legend known for such films as The French Connection and The Conversation.

The bodies of the couple and one of their dogs were found by police on Wednesday at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, after a maintenance worker called emergency services.

In a recording of the 911 call obtained by the BBC, the emotional caller can be heard telling a dispatcher how he found the two bodies.

Hackman, 95, was discovered in a side room near the kitchen while Arakawa, 65, was found in a bathroom, at the property on Old Sunset Trail in Hyde Park.

The couple appeared to have been “dead for quite a while”, said Sheriff Adan Mendoza.

Arakawa’s body showed signs of “decomposition”, and “mummification” in the hands and feet, a sheriff’s detective said.

Hackman’s remains “showed obvious signs of death, similar and consistent” with those on his spouse.

A German Shepherd dog owned by the couple was found dead in a bathroom closet near to Arakawa.

No cause was given in police statements immediately after the announcement of the deaths.

The authorities reported no signs of injury but deemed the deaths “suspicious enough” to investigate and did not rule out foul play.

A carbon monoxide poisoning test came out negative for both Arakawa and Hackman, the Santa Fe Sheriff’s office said on Friday.

Near Arakawa’s head was a portable heater, which the detective determined could have been brought down in the event that she had abruptly fallen to the ground.

An autopsy and toxicology tests have been requested for both Hackman and Arakawa. Authorities said it could be a few months before the results of those are released.

The local utility company found no sign of a gas leak in the area and the fire department detected no indication of a carbon monoxide leak or poisoning, according to the search warrant.

A prescription bottle and scattered pills lay on the bathroom countertop close to Arakawa’s body. Prescription pills found in the home were common medications for thyroid and high blood pressure, according to a search warrant.

Hackman was discovered wearing grey tracksuit bottoms, a blue long-sleeve T-shirt and brown slippers. Sunglasses and a walking cane lay next to his body.

The detective suspected that the actor had suffered a sudden fall.

The circumstances of their death were deemed “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation”, the search warrant says, because the worker who called emergency services had found the front door of the property open.

However, the detective observed no sign of forced entry into the home. Nothing appeared out of place inside.

“There was no indication of a struggle,” said Sheriff Mendoza. “There was no indication of anything that was missing from the home or disturbed, you know, that would be indication that there was a crime that had occurred.”

Two other, healthy dogs were discovered roaming the property – one inside and one out.

Authorities said Hackman’s pacemaker last registered activity on 17 February, adding that this gives them a good assumption that was his last day of life.

But police said it is unclear who died first – Hackman or Arakawa.

The two maintenance workers who found the couple, one of whom called the emergency services, say they last had contact with the couple two weeks earlier.

The two said they had sometimes conducted routine work at the property, but rarely ever saw Hackman and Arakawa.

They had communicated with them by phone and text, primarily with Arakawa.

Hackman’s daughter Leslie Anne Hackman told the Mail Online that her father had been in “very good physical condition” despite his age, and had not undergone “any major surgeries” in recent months.

“He liked to do Pilates and yoga, and he was continuing to do that several times a week,” she said. “So he was in good health.”

The couple, married in 1991, had had a “wonderful marriage”, she added.

“I give credit to his wife, Betsy, for keeping him alive,’ she said. ‘[Betsy] took very, very good care of him and was always looking out for his health.”

A selection of news photographs from around the world.

As guests sat down on the red cinema-style seats in the screening room of a plush central London hotel, nobody could have imagined that, less than a month later, the BBC would find itself forced to apologise for serious and unacceptable flaws in the documentary that was about to be shown.

In the darkness, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone unfolded over an hour, telling in bleak and upsetting detail the story of Gaza’s children over recent months of the war.

Screenings are standard practice for media companies, primarily for outside press to review a programme ahead of broadcast.

Also in the room was BBC News CEO Deborah Turness and other senior executives from the BBC’s news and current affairs to view what one described as a “landmark” piece of filmmaking.

But after the programme went out on BBC Two, it emerged that the child narrator at the heart of the film, 13-year old Abdullah, was the son of a Hamas government official. The outcry and accusations of anti-Israel bias and lack of transparency led the BBC to pull the film from iPlayer.

Questions were asked in Parliament.

Criticism continued about the programme’s subtitling choices – including contributors using the Arabic word for “Jews” on camera, which was translated in the subtitles as “Israelis” or “Israeli army”. Some argue that the BBC covered up antisemitism. Others have claimed the subtitles are closer to what the speaker intends rather than a literal translation.

After an initial investigation, the BBC said the programme, which had been commissioned by the BBC and made by an outside production company, “fell short of our expectations”.

It launched a further review headed by the director of editorial complaints and reviews, Peter Johnston. He will look at whether editorial guidelines were broken and whether anyone should be disciplined.

It’s a reputationally damaging mess, but how could it have happened? How did the commissioners of the programme not know that the child narrator’s father was a deputy minister for agriculture in the Hamas-run government?

The BBC says it had asked the production company “a number of times” in writing during the making of the film about any connections he and his family might have with Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation by the US, UK and others.

In a statement on Thursday the BBC said Hoyo Films, the maker of the film, acknowledged it “never told the BBC this fact”.

But what it tell the BBC about the child?

Crucially, the BBC failed to uncover the information itself.

Embarking on a documentary about one of the most polarising and contested issues of our age was always going to be challenging.

The talented director at Hoyo, Jamie Roberts, has won an Emmy award for his film about the evacuation of Kabul. He’s award-nominated for a powerful documentary about the events of 6 January in the US. He also made a searing film for the BBC about the Ukraine war.

But he hadn’t directed a documentary set in the Middle East before. He was working with the Palestinian journalist, Yousef Hammash, whose Gaza reporting for Channel 4 has won him a Bafta and an Emmy last year.

The BBC commissioners in current affairs will have known the programme wasn’t without risk.

In circumstances like this, it’s even more difficult to understand how the failings that have driven headlines for days – and done terrible damage to the BBC’s reputation – could have occurred.

Programme-makers and commissioners have previously told me they draw up risk grids to ensure they have the answers to any criticism thrown at them about their documentaries. They check and check and check to ensure they won’t face problems after their programmes go out – or if they do, that they have the counter-argument ready.

Dorothy Byrne, Channel 4’s head of news and current affairs until 2020, told BBC Radio 4’s Media Show she would have done her own checks rather than relying on the independent company.

“If I was making this film, I wouldn’t just ask who the boy was, who his father was, who his mother was, I would ask for the entire family tree. They could easily have found out about him, it shows that due diligence was not done.

“I didn’t wait for people to inform me of things,” she added. “I asked them the right questions.”

Byrne says in her view the film isn’t “pro-Hamas”.

Watching it, I was struck by the efforts at balance. It contains voices who curse the leaders of Gaza.

One of the children followed by the documentary, 11-year old Zakaria, says he doesn’t like Hamas “because they started the war, they caused all this misery, this is wrong”. A woman says “they are causing us harm”. There’s a conversation about why taking Israeli civilians hostage is wrong.

But we also see the horrors and violence of what’s taken place in Gaza – through the eyes of children. Zakaria, who hangs around the hospital to help the paramedics rather than remaining with his family because, he says, there’s no food and water where they are, tells the camera he thinks he’s seen 5,000 dead bodies.

Renat who’s 10 and is building up a social media presence with an online cookery show, describes drones that shoot bullets. She smiles and laughs wildly on camera, as she describes, still clearly traumatised, how a bomb just exploded right next to her as she was walking outside her apartment.

As the press release put it, the documentary is an “unflinching and vivid view of life in a warzone”. It’s the kind of programme Turness said, as the BBC apologised, that her department “should be doing”.

But she added “Of course we have to get it right.”

The BBC brand is based on impartiality – on being trusted around the world. All of us in news and current affairs take fact-checking very seriously. Mistakes are sometimes made, of course. But on this occasion both the independent production company and the BBC made serious errors which threaten trust in the corporation.

Since joining the BBC as head of news in 2022, Turness has prioritised transparency to grow trust. Not informing viewers about the child narrator’s family story is the opposite of transparent.

She will have trusted the experienced BBC commissioners who oversaw the programme to do the appropriate due diligence. They will have trusted the filmmakers and the executive working with them.

This isn’t the end of the story and questions still remain. What exactly did the BBC ask about the boy and his family’s potential connections to Hamas? Hoyo Films has said it’s “co-operating fully with the BBC and Peter Johnston to help understand where mistakes have been made”.

There’s also the question about exactly how much was the “limited sum” paid for the young narrator’s work – and whether that money ended up in the hands of Hamas. Yesterday in Parliament, Lisa Nandy said she had sought assurances from the BBC that it hadn’t.

The scandal comes in a week in which the BBC already was apologising over its failure to tackle behaviour by the DJ Tim Westwood – after a separate review that cost more than £3m.

What’s happened has damaged trust in the BBC in so many ways. Those who argue the corporation is biased against Israel will feel vindicated.

Leo Pearlman, co-CEO of the major British production company Fulwell 73, told us on Radio 4 that the BBC has “gaslit the Jewish community” in the 16 months since October 7th and that this documentary parroted ‘the propaganda of Hamas”.

For others who view the BBC as having anti-Palestinian bias, the decision to pull the documentary and apologise will confirm their beliefs. Artists For Palestine, which includes Gary Lineker, Anita Rani, Riz Ahmed and Miriam Margolyes, says the claims about the identity of the child’s father are “misleading” and that to conflate his “civil service role” with terrorism is “factually incorrect”.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians has lodged a formal complaint against the BBC for taking down the documentary and “suppressing the testimony of Palestinians”. It says the deputy minister for agriculture’s role involves “food production relating to crops, fishing and livestock”.

What’s unfolded since the programme’s broadcast is unlikely to change minds on any side.

The losers in all this are the young citizens of Gaza. The stories of the children in this film – and the suffering they have endured – aren’t now being seen.

Hoyo Films said it believes “this remains an important story to tell, and that our contributors – who have no say in the war – should have their voices heard”.

The BBC has made clear it has no plans to broadcast the programme again in its current form or return it to iPlayer.

A freight train carrying the highly toxic chemical benzene has derailed in the Czech Republic, sparking a huge fire.

Several tankers and a locomotive were ablaze, with firefighters from several regions and a mobile chemical laboratory deployed to the area, according to local media. A massive cloud of dense black smoke was visible for several kilometres.

Railway officials say nobody was injured in the incident, which occurred near Hustopeče nad Bečvou, 50km (31 miles) south-west of the Polish border, on Friday.

Benzene, which is a cancer-causing substance for humans, is an element present in aircraft fuel.

The train “split apart” and subsequently derailed, according to initial reports. A nearby electric substation also caught fire, killing power to the nearby town of Hustopeče.

Flames up to 20m high were visible when the fire broke out, one eyewitness told the Lidove Noviny newspaper.

Dramatic drone footage from the scene, released by the Czech fire service, shows several badly charred and destroyed tankers – some still burning as thick black smoke spews into the sky.

Firefighters used heavy foam to prevent the fire spreading further, while other tankers were hosed down to prevent more explosions.

A helicopter was also deployed, as well as a special chemical monitoring mobile lab. It took several hours to bring the fire under control, officials said.

The fire affected around 15 of the 17 benzene tanks the train had been transporting, a fire department spokesperson told local media.

“The substance should be the same in all tankers, the amount will be specified, but it is approximately 60 tonnes in one tanker. However, this does not mean that everything will burn out or leak,” Lucie Balážová said.

The fire service later said the estimated cost of the damage the fire had caused was 125 million Czech koruna (£4.1m).

Locals have been told to stay indoors and not open windows or doors. Officials say air quality “has not yet exceeded” any pollution limits, according to Czech news website iDNES.

Police say they will investigate the cause of the derailment.

Benzene is a colourless or light-yellow liquid with a sweet smell that can evaporate very quickly. It is used in common substances like plastic, resin, nylon and some forms of dyes, pesticides or detergents. It is very flammable.

Exposure to benzene through breathing or ingestion can cause symptoms like drowsiness, dizziness, tremors, vomiting or sleeplessness.

Very high levels of exposure can lead to unconsciousness or death, according to the CDC. Long-term exposure of a year or more could cause issues with blood, bone marrow or the immune system.

The long-awaited first trailer for the new Shrek 5 film has been criticised by some film fans over the way characters have been animated, giving them different facial features.

In the 27-second clip, recurring characters Shrek, Donkey, Pinocchio and Princess Fiona appear alongside Felicia – one of Shrek and Fiona’s now grown-up children.

The short teaser announces that Zendaya is joining the cast as Felicia, whilst also reintroducing Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy who are all reprising their roles.

Oli Hyatt, who runs Blue Zoo Animation, told the BBC there’s often “an instant reaction” when changes are made to a film like Shrek, due to its “nostalgic properties”.

Some users on social media have described the changes as “disrespectful to the original art style” and “an AI interpretation of what Shrek 5 could look like”.

Others have compared it to the film animation of video game character Sonic the Hedgehog, which Paramount Pictures changed after fan backlash in 2019.

Hyatt added: “The generation of children that watched Shrek back [when it was first released in 2001] are now adults.

“There’s usually a feeling of ‘this isn’t what I knew’ or ‘I want the old show I remember back'”, he says.

Hyatt, whose team contributed to The Adventures of Paddington and Lego City – No Limits, said that “because the trailer is so short it’s hard to tell how its going to look in general”.

But, he added: “You can see from a technical perspective, the advancement in technology.

“That means that on a similar or lower budget, you can producer a higher sheen and render quality, so it doesn’t look quite as CGI (computer-generated imagery) and feels more tangible and real”.

He doesn’t feel like much has changed from the original “art style” of Shrek, but says “the colours, vibrancy and realism” have changed, which is a symptom of animation technology improving.

In the short trailer, Shrek (Mike Myers), Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Felicia (Zendaya) gather round a magic mirror to ask “Who’s the fairest of them all?”.

The face in the mirror, which also appears to have had a bit of a makeover, responds that it is Shrek, with images then flashed up on screen of Shrek wearing glasses and posing, then dancing in a skintight catsuit before appearing with rippling abdominal muscles.

This pays tribute to some of the internet’s favourite Shrek memes, whilst giving viewers a first look at the now grown-up Felicia, who first came to life in Shrek The Third in 2007, alongside her triplet siblings Fergus and Farkle.

Shrek’s return was teased at the end of the Puss In Boots sequel in 2022, so fans have been expecting this new film for quite some time.

Its perhaps why the much-loved film has sparked so much pushback, with fans joking that Shrek looks like he’s has had “botox and a face lift” whilst others have criticised the characters for having rounder faces.

But not everyone has a problem with the new looks – some have praised the animators for ageing the characters with greying hair and wrinkles, whilst others say the updated animations are just a symptom of CGI improving.

Hyatt said that despite the criticism that’s been levelled at the trailer, he believes it will be “forgotten within two minutes of watching the movie”.

“Shrek has never been about looking cute or beautiful, it’s about being gross with all the jokes and silliness,” he says.

“If they [the producers] have got the script right and the characters right, then people will still love it, it’s still a great franchise.”

Shrek 5 is slated for release in December 2026, following on from Shrek Forever After in 2010.

Greeks have held their largest protests in years and took part in a general strike to mark the second anniversary of a rail disaster that left 57 dead and dozens more injured.

In the centre of Athens alone the crowd was put at hundreds of thousands, and big numbers were seen in Thessaloniki, Larissa and Ioannina, as well as many other cities.

“For those of us who had children on that train, a part of our soul remained there and will never return,” said Maria Karystianou, the head of the Tempi victims’ association, whose daughter Marthi was among those killed in the tragedy.

An inquiry concluded on Thursday that the accident was caused by human error, poor maintenance, and inadequate staffing.

By early afternoon, a group of hooded men began to throw rocks and petrol bombs at police, marring the emotional atmosphere close to parliament.

Police in riot gear responded with tear gas and water cannon as clashes went on for some time around the centre of the capital, in Ermou, Omonia and Propylaia.

Dozens of people were arrested and the trouble flared up again as evening fell.

The violence cast a shadow over the enormous scale of protests in virtually every city in Greece.

“I am here in memory of the people who were killed in the train crash. We demand justice,” said 13-year-old Dimitris who had come with his father Petros Polyzos to the largest rally in Greece, in Syntagma Square in downtown Athens.

It was during the night of 28 February 2023 that a passenger train packed with students collided head-on with a goods train near the Tempi gorge in central Greece.

The report by Greece’s Air and Rail Accident Investigation Authority warned that the safety failings exposed by the crash had not yet been addressed. “Those children were killed because the train was not safe,” said the authority’s chief Christos Papadimitriou.

The Tempi rail disaster shocked Greeks with many accusing their conservative government of doing too little to shed light on the causes of the tragedy. There is a widely held belief that the government has sought to cover up the role of high-ranking officials.

The entire centre of Athens was crowded with people of all ages and all walks of life, with many saying they were attending a demonstration for the first time in their lives.

Dmitris and his father were among many protesters in Athens, wearing t-shirts that read “I have no oxygen – justice to the end”, referring to the 57 who died.

Rallies were being organised in 346 cities, across Greece in Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Patras and Larissa, as well as in cities across Europe, including Brussels, Rome and several cities in the UK.

The passenger service from Athens to Thessaloniki was crowded with students returning to university after a holiday for Greek Orthodox Lent when the train collided with a goods train on the same track outside Larisa.

Seconds afterwards a fireball almost completely destroyed the first two carriages of the train.

In Athens, protesters held placards reading “My child, call me when you arrive” and “No cover-up”.

What happened at the Tempi rail disaster?

Dina Gazi, 62, held white balloons with the names of those who died in the accident. “I firmly believe that the government is covering up those responsible for the accident”, she told BBC. “We demand that all the evidence come to light.”

Shops in the centre had their shutters down, many with messages of sympathy and support in their windows, and ordinary people did not go to work.

Schools were closed, flights and trains cancelled, and the only public transport still operating was taking people to and from Syntagma Square.

Taxi drivers promised to take people to the protest without charge.

In a post on Facebook, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that everyone’s thoughts were with the families of the 57 victims who died, as well as with the wounded and those who survived but carried the memory of that night.

“Nothing will ever be the same any more,” he added, speaking of “fatal human errors coupled with chronic shortcomings of the state”.

In office for almost six years, this is the first time since Mitsotakis was elected that he has been in such a difficult political position. He promised to move “more dynamically and quickly” to bring about modern and safe trains.

For Greeks this mass protest was unusual in that it was unrelated to the economy and their personal finances.

Thursday’s inquiry found that millions of euros had been paid out to cover the installation of safety systems along the railway, but that the project remained incomplete due to corruption and bureaucracy.

Relatives of those killed in the crash believe the goods train may have been carrying contraband fuel on behalf of a smuggling ring.

“It is impossible to determine what exactly caused [the fireball], but simulations and expert reports indicate the possible presence of a hitherto unknown fuel,” the report found.

“Serious information went missing because the site of the accident was not sealed,” experts say, increasing public anger and heightening speculation of a cover-up.

Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis denied there was a cover-up and said the allegation was not backed up by the report.

Further allegations have surfaced suggesting orders were given to clear the crash site and “landfill” it days after the disaster, which meant that evidence disappeared. But Marinakis said the inquiry report concluded that no political directive was give to alter the scene.

As he stood in the midst of Friday’s protest in Syntagma Square, Pavlos Aslanidis spoke about the death of his 26-year-old son Dimitris in the Tempi accident.

“I don’t know how I find the strength to stand,” he told BBC.

“My son gives me the strength. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here today demanding justice.”

Skype, the video-calling service that had hundreds of millions of users, is closing in May, its owner Microsoft has said.

It was once one of the world’s most popular websites and allowed people to make voice calls via their computers to friends and family all over the globe for free.

Skype was not the first or only company offering this service but by allowing the public to make computer-to-computer calls free, it helped popularise the concept.

In an announcement on X, Skype said users can sign in to Microsoft Teams with their account to stay connected with all their chats and contacts.

Microsoft made no immediate comment when contacted by BBC News.

First released in 2003, Skype was bought by the tech giant in 2011 for $8.5bn (£6.1bn) – its biggest-ever acquisition at the time.

As Microsoft once outlined, Skype became integrated with the company’s other products such as Xbox and Windows devices.

In December 2010, tech industry commentator Om Malik called it one of the “key applications of the modern web”, when the website suffered a two-day global outage.

Following news of its imminent closure, Skype users past and present described their memories of using the service for video calls and the impact it had on their lives.

“My best friend and I share many good memories on Skype,” one X user said. “This is a sad day and almost a feeling of losing yet another fragment of my adolescence.”

Another early user of Skype called Louise told the BBC she and her partner used the service to chat when they “embarked on a transatlantic relationship”.

“Skype was such an exciting invention at the time – before smartphones and WhatsApp calls,” she said.

“It’s so easy to assume that we’ve always been able to freely talk to people across the world but that’s such a recent development really.”

Anna Simpson, from digital marketing firm Cedarwood Digital, posted on LinkedIn that she would video-call her grandparents on Skype after they moved to France nearly 20 years ago.

“Back then, it felt like magic,” she wrote. “There were no dodgy international call charges, just a quick dial-up and some pixelated faces keeping us connected.

“Skype led the way for video calls. But now it’s officially done. Microsoft is pulling the plug, but honestly… it’s been on life support for years.”

When Microsoft bought Skype, the company was buying into an app that had been downloaded one billion times and had hundreds of millions of users.

“Together we will create the future of real-time communications,” Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer said at the time.

But as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger grew in popularity, Skype was waning.

In 2017, Microsoft redesigned Skype, with some features looking very much like rival Snapchat. Users were not happy.

At the time, Rachel Kaser, a reporter at The Next Web, said: “People are annoyed by this update to the Skype app because it’s fixing something that was never broken to begin with.”

In June 2021, speculation persisted that it was the beginning of the end for Skype.

When Microsoft announced Windows 11, its new operating system, it stated that Microsoft Teams would be integrated by default, while Skype, for the first time in years, was not.

Teams had seen a boost in popularity during the Covid pandemic as people moved their work and personal meetings online.

As the news of Skype’s closure was announced, Microsoft published a blog post from Jeff Teper, the company’s president of collaborative apps and platforms.

In it, he said the company wants to streamline its free services to focus on Teams.

“With Teams, users have access to many of the same core features they use in Skype, such as one-on-one calls and group calls, messaging, and file sharing,” he said.

“Additionally, Teams offers enhanced features like hosting meetings, managing calendars, and building and joining communities for free.”

Skype users now have a choice – move over to Microsoft Teams or export their Skype data including chats, contacts and call history, the post added.

For Skype customers who pay for some features, Microsoft said they will be able to use their service up until their next renewal period.

More than 500 mpox patients have fled clinics in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo over the last month amid the current conflict.

Officials at Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), a leading health agency on the continent, have said they are worried as the missing patients risk spreading the highly contagious disease that is suspected to have killed at 900 people in DR Congo last year.

The patients fled from facilities in Goma and Bukavu – two cities that descended into chaos as they were seized by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels over the past weeks.

“We were looted. We lost equipment. It was a disaster,” Dr Samuel Muhindo, in charge of a clinic in Goma, told the BBC.

Mpox – formerly known as monkeypox – can cause symptoms such as lesions, headaches and fever.

According to Africa CDC, since the start of this year almost 2,890 mpox cases and 180 deaths have been reported in the country, which has been at the epicentre of several recent outbreaks.

• What is mpox and how is it spread?
• The children bearing the brunt of the mpox outbreak

Dr Muhindo described how 128 patients had fled Goma’s Mugunga health centre in the wake of the fighting at the end of January.

His health workers had not been able to trace them as paperwork at the clinic was destroyed, he said.

At Bisengimana, a hospital in Goma that also treats mpox, looters took medicines and personal protective equipment.

Fires were lit outside the centre and when the perpetrators departed, patients’ medical records were left strewn on the floor.

The situation has been further complicated by the M23’s decision to close a network of camps in Goma where tens of thousands of people who had sought refuge from fighting in recent years.

They were given 72 hours to leave last week, although the M23 later said it was encouraging “voluntary returns”.

“Now we are afraid of an outbreak of the epidemic in the areas where the displaced people returned to,” Dr Muhindo said.

His fears have been echoed by the Africa CDC.

“Once again, we are calling really for the ceasefire and also the agency to establish a humanitarian corridor to facilitate the continuation of mpox interventions,” Dr Ngashi Ngongo, Africa CDC’s mpox incident manager, said on Thursday.

Over the last week, the Africa CDC says the number of missing mpox patients has risen by 100 as fighting escalates and the rebels take more territory.

Dr Ngongo added that a new variant of mpox with “high potential for higher transmissibility” had also been detected in DR Congo.

The country’s ability to respond to the disease has been hampered by the conflict, between the M23 and DR Congo’s army, as well as a lack of funding.

The mpox facility at Mugunga, funded by the UN children’s agency (Unicef) and BrItish government aid, managed to reopen last week.

But it is already so overstretched that there are times when four or five patients have to share one bed.

“I first fled from Minova to Goma when the M23 rebels began to advance from there,” Sadiki Bichichi Aristide, a 23-year-old being treated at Mugunga along with two of his children, told the BBC.

“I began to fall sick in a [camp for displaced people]. It started with my fingers, and then I had lesions, which began to rupture on my hands. My neighbours told me to go to Mugunga with my children. I left my wife behind.”

He said he had seen “so many” people with mpox before he arrived at the clinic last week.

Dr Oummani Rouafi, Unicef’s Goma health specialist, told the BBC that the only reason Mugunga hospital had reopened was because staff had managed to hide some equipment and medicine from the looters.

But this had not been the case at many other treatment centres that had been completely ransacked, he said.

• BBC visits mpox clinic as WHO says DR Congo cases ‘plateauing’
• The DR Congo rebel leader whose fighters have created turmoil
• Your phone, a rare metal and the war in DR Congo