Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Russia’s Kursk region have described scenes “like a horror movie” as they retreated from the front lines.

The BBC has received extensive accounts from Ukrainian troops, who recount a “catastrophic” withdrawal in the face of heavy fire, and columns of military equipment destroyed and constant attacks from swarms of Russian drones.

The soldiers, who spoke over social media, were given aliases to protect their identity. Some gave accounts of a “collapse” as Ukraine lost Sudzha, the largest town it held.

Ukrainian restrictions on travel to the front have meant it is not possible to get a full picture of the situation. But this is how five Ukrainian soldiers described to us what had happened.

On 9 March, “Volodymyr” sent a Telegram post to the BBC saying he was still in Sudzha, where there was “panic and collapse of the front”.

Ukrainian troops “are trying to leave – columns of troops and equipment. Some of them are burned by Russian drones on the road. It is impossible to leave during the day.”

Movement of men, logistics and equipment had been reliant on one major route between Sudzha and Ukraine’s Sumy region.

Volodymyr said it was possible to travel on that road relatively safely a month ago. By 9 March it was “all under the fire control of the enemy – drones around the clock. In one minute you can see two to three drones. That’s a lot,” he said.

“We have all the logistics here on one Sudzha-Sumy highway. And everyone knew that the [Russians] would try to cut it. But this again came as a surprise to our command.”

At the time of writing, just before Russia retook Sudzha, Volodymyr said Ukrainian forces were being pressed from three sides.

By 11 March, Ukrainian forces were battling to prevent the road being cut, according to Telegram messages from “Maksym”.

“A few days ago, we received an order to leave the defence lines in an organised retreat,” he said, adding that Russia had amassed a significant force to retake the town, “including large numbers of North Korean soldiers”.

Military experts estimate Russia had amassed a force of up to 70,000 troops to retake Kursk – including about 12,000 North Koreans.

Russia had also sent its best drone units to the front and was using kamikaze and first-person-view (FPV) variants to “take fire control of the main logistics routes”.

They included drones linked to operators by fibre-optic wires – which are impossible to jam with electronic counter-measures.

Maksym said as a result “the enemy managed to destroy dozens of units of equipment”, and that wrecks had “created congestion on supply routes”.

The situation on that day, 11 March, was described as “catastrophic” by “Anton”.

The third soldier spoken to by the BBC was serving in the headquarters for the Kursk front.

He too highlighted the damage caused by Russian FPV drones. “We used to have an advantage in drones, now we do not,” he said. He added that Russia had an advantage with more accurate air strikes and a greater number of troops.

Anton said supply routes had been cut. “Logistics no longer work – organised deliveries of weapons, ammunition, food and water are no longer possible.”

Anton said he managed to leave Sudzha by foot, at night – “We almost died several times. Drones are in the sky all the time.”

The soldier predicted Ukraine’s entire foothold in Kursk would be lost but that “from a military point of view, the Kursk direction has exhausted itself. There is no point in keeping it any more”.

Western officials estimate that Ukraine’s Kursk offensive involved about 12,000 troops. They were some of their best-trained soldiers, equipped with Western-supplied weapons including tanks and armoured vehicles.

Russian bloggers published videos showing some of that equipment being destroyed or captured. On 13 March, Russia said the situation in Kursk was “fully under our control” and that Ukraine had “abandoned” much of its material.

In social media posts on 11-12 March, a fourth solider, “Dmytro” likened the retreat from the front to “a scene from a horror movie”.

“The roads are littered with hundreds of destroyed cars, armoured vehicles and ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles). There are a lot of wounded and dead.”

Vehicles were often hunted by multiple drones, he said.

He described his own narrow escape when the car he was travelling in got bogged down. He and his fellow soldiers were trying to push the vehicle free when they were targeted by another FPV drone.

It missed the vehicle, but injured one of his comrades. He said they had to hide in a forest for two hours before they were rescued.

Dmytro said many Ukrainians retreated on foot with “guys walking 15km to 20km”. The situation, he said, had turned from “difficult and critical to catastrophic”.

In a message on 14 March, Dmytro added: “Everything is finished in the Kursk region… the operation was not successful.”

He estimated that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers had died since the first crossing into Russia in August.

A fifth soldier sounded less gloomy about the situation. On 13 March, “Artem” sent a Telegram message from a military hospital, where he was being treated for shrapnel wounds suffered in a drone attack.

Artem said he had been fighting further west – near the village of Loknya, where Ukrainian forces were putting up a stiff resistance and “fighting like lions”.

He believed the operation had achieved some success.

“It’s important that so far the Armed Forces of Ukraine have created this buffer zone, thanks to which the Russians cannot enter Sumy,” he said.

Ukraine’s top general, Oleksandr Syrskyi, insists that Ukrainian forces have pulled back to “more favourable positions”, remain in Kursk, and would do so “for as long as it is expedient and necessary”.

He said Russia had suffered more than 50,000 losses during the operation – including those killed, injured or captured.

However, the situation now is very different to last August. Military analysts estimate two-thirds of the 1,000 sq km gained at the outset have since been lost.

Any hopes that Ukraine would be able to trade Kursk territory for some of its own have significantly diminished.

Last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he believed the Kursk operation had “accomplished its task” by forcing Russia to pull troops from the east and relieve pressure on Pokrovsk.

But it is not yet clear at what cost.

Hong Kong property tycoon Lee Shau-kee, who was once the richest man in Asia, has died at the age of 97.

The announcement was made by his property firm Henderson Land Development, of which he was chairman for more than 40 years.

The company said in a statement that Lee had died “in the company of his family” but did not specify a cause.

He was one of the city’s richest men. In February, Forbes put his net worth at just under $30bn (£23bn).

Lee was born in China’s southern Guangdong Province and moved to Hong Kong as a young man, where he began his business career in gold and foreign currency exchange before switching to real estate.

He established Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) – one of the city’s largest property developers – in 1958, alongside two other founders.

Lee – who was nicknamed “Uncle Four” as he was the fourth eldest of his siblings – then struck out on his own in 1976 and founded Henderson Land Development, which his two sons took over following his retirement in 2019.

In 1996, he was named the richest man in Asia and the world’s fourth wealthiest person.

He was also a philanthropist and made significant contributions to education centres and to programmes aimed at job development. In 2007, he was awarded Hong Kong’s highest honour – the Grand Bauhinia Medal – in recognition for his contributions to society.

“Dr Lee was an outstanding business leader and entrepreneur who had made significant contributions to Hong Kong’s economic development, as well as the city’s prosperity and stability,” the city’s Chief Executive John Lee said in a statement.

A British tourist has been reported missing in Thailand after a boat caught fire and sank off the coast of the island of Koh Tao.

The Surat Thani Provincial Public Relations Office said 26-year-old Alexandra Clarke from Lambeth, south London, was on board when the fire occurred in the ship’s engine room after 09:00 ITC (02:00 GMT) on Sunday.

Koh Tao Police said it believed fuel in the boat’s tank had overflowed when it was refilled during the journey, and set alight when the boat was started again.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British woman who is missing in Thailand and are in contact with local authorities.”

The provincial office’s Facebook post said: “After receiving the report (of the fire), the Surat Thani Provincial Marine Office coordinated with private boats and volunteers to quickly help evacuate tourists and crew to another boat safely.”

It added: “One tourist is missing, a female named Alexandra Clarke, a British national.

“The authorities therefore organised a search team for the missing person.”

Thai navy divers spent the day searching the wreckage of the boat and the surrounding seas but found no trace of the missing woman, who police said was thought to have been in the boat’s toilet when the fire broke out.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation but according to police, it broke out when an engine used to compress air into a fuel tank ran out during a trip to a popular dive spot in the Gulf of Thailand.

Col Sarayuth Buriwachira from Koh Tao Police said the tourists and diving instructors had been taken to the Southwest Pinnacle at about 07:30.

He said that at about 10:00 “an employee on the ship whose duty was to fill the air tank took extra gasoline to fill the engine tank above the amount until the gasoline overflowed and spilled”.

“When he started the engine, a spark occurred, causing the engine to catch fire and spread, causing the entire ship to burn and eventually sink into the sea.”

The fire spread quickly, he added, engulfing the engine room and forcing the divers, instructors and crew to jump into the sea.

He confirmed the search for Ms Clarke would resume on Tuesday morning.

The Thai government has frequently promised to improve maritime safety, in particular after 46 Chinese tourists died seven years ago when their boat capsized near Phuket, yet there have been several fatal accidents since then.

Last year more than 100 passengers had to leap into the sea from a ferry heading to Koh Tao after it was consumed by a fire.

US President Donald Trump’s escalating trade tariffs will hit world growth and raise inflation, the OECD has predicted in its latest forecast.

Canada and Mexico are forecast to see the biggest impact as they have had the harshest tariffs imposed on them, but US growth is also expected to be hit.

The OECD has more than halved its growth outlook for Canada for this year and next, while it expects Mexico to be pushed into a recession.

Trump has imposed 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports. The US has also imposed 25% tariffs on other imports from Mexico and Canada – with some exemptions – and a 20% levy on Chinese goods.

In response, Canada and the EU have both announced retaliatory tariffs.

The Paris-based OECD said the higher trade barriers and “increased geopolitical and policy uncertainty” were hitting investment and household spending.

In the OECD’s latest forecast:

• Canada’s economy is predicted to grow by just 0.7% this year and in 2026, compared with the previous forecast of 2% for both years
• Mexico is now forecast to contract by 1.3% this year and shrink a further 0.6% next year, instead of growing by 1.2% and 1.6% as previously expected
• Growth in the US has also been downgraded, with growth of 2.2% expected this year and 1.6% in 2025, down from previous forecasts of 2.4% and 2.1%
• Despite the US imposing tariffs on China, the OECD has increased its growth forecast for the country slightly to 4.8%.

The OECD said the developing trade war was set to push up inflation, which will mean interest rates are likely to remain higher for longer.

“Significant risks remain,” it warned. “Further fragmentation of the global economy is a key concern.

“Higher and broader increases in trade barriers would hit growth around the world and add to inflation”.

The OECD said that for the world economy, growth would slow from 3.2% in 2024 to 3.1% in 2025, largely as a result of the trade tensions.

It also said it expected inflation – the rate of price increases – to continue to slow, though not as much as previously anticipated.

The organisation is predicting inflation of 3.8% this year across 20 of the world’s largest economies, compared with the 3.5% it had previously forecast.

Last week, Elon Musk’s electric car firm Tesla warned that it, and other US exporters, could be harmed by the trade battle.

In a letter to the US trade representative, the firm said US exporters were “exposed to disproportionate impacts” if other countries retaliated to Trump’s tariffs.

The OECD cut its growth forecast for the UK’s economy to 1.4% in 2025, from its previous forecast of 1.7%, and to 1.2% in 2026, down from 1.3%.

However, the forecast is more optimistic than the Bank of England, which earlier this month cut its UK growth forecast for 2025 to 0.75%.

The Princess of Wales sipped half a pint of Guinness as she celebrated St Patrick’s Day with the Irish Guards.

Catherine, dressed in a bottle-green and percher hat, presented the traditional sprigs of shamrock to officers, guardsmen and mascot Seamus, the Irish wolfhound, at the regiment’s annual parade at Wellington Barracks.

She then joined soldiers for a drink and was thanked for putting money behind the bar, replying “that’s the least I can do”.

The princess, who has been colonel of the regiment since 2023, missed the celebrations last year after being diagnosed with cancer.

Prior to the parade, Catherine awarded medals for long service and good conduct to soldiers who recently returned from deployment in Iraq.

She then took the salute as colonel during a traditional march-past.

After the ceremony, she spent time in the junior ranks’ dining hall, where senior guardsman proposed a toast in her honour.

Drinking half a pint of Guinness, she chatted with soldiers about their experiences on deployment.

Guardsman Barry Loughlin, who led the toast, said afterwards: “She wanted to know how things were going with the blokes in general.

“She was really nice and really warm. I was kind of flustered.

“You could tell she had a genuine interest in us.”

Catherine then went to the sergeants’ mess where she met with relatives of soldiers serving overseas, including those involved in training Ukrainian troops.

The event dates back to the first regimental St Patrick’s Day in 1901.

The White House has denied an accusation from rights groups that it flouted due process by defying a judge’s order while carrying out deportations at the weekend.

A group of 238 alleged Venezuelan gang members, plus 23 alleged members of the international MS-13 gang, were sent from the US to a prison in El Salvador. Some were removed from the country under a law not used since World War Two.

The move came despite a temporary block issued by a judge. The White House said the judge’s order itself was not lawful and was issued after the group was deported.

Neither the US government nor El Salvador has identified the detainees, or provided details of their alleged criminality or gang membership.

Announcing the move on Saturday, Trump accused Tren de Aragua (TdA) of “perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States”.

He invoked the Alien Enemies Act – a piece of legislation that dates to 1798, which was designed to allow non-citizens to be deported in times of war or invasion. Campaigners have questioned Trump’s justification.

The act was used to process 137 of the total of 261 people who were deported, a senior administration official told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

The basis on which the other deportees were removed from the US remains unclear, and details of the group as a whole have not been disclosed.

Several relatives of men believed to be among the group told the New York Times that their loved ones did not have gang ties.

The order to halt the deportations came from US District Judge James Boasberg on Saturday evening, who demanded a 14-day pause pending further legal arguments.

After lawyers told him that planes with deportees had already taken off, the judge reportedly gave a verbal order for the flights to turn back, although that directive did not form part of his written ruling.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied the court ruling had been broken. “The administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order,” she said.

“The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA [Tren de Aragua] aliens had already been removed from US territory.”

The justice department echoed Leavitt, saying the deportees had already left before the judge’s ruling – which it has appealed against.

The case raises constitutional questions since, under the US system of checks and balances, government agencies are expected to comply with a federal judge’s ruling.

• US deports hundreds of Venezuelans despite court order
• What is Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang targeted by Trump?

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele confirmed the arrival of deportees. “Oopsie… Too late,” he said of the judge’s order, writing on social media. His team also published footage of some of the men inside one of its mega-jails.

Rights groups accused Trump of using a 227-year-old law to circumvent due process.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) questioned Trump’s use of a sweeping wartime authority which allows fast-track deportations. “I think we’re in very dangerous territory here in the United States with the invocation of this law,” said Lee Gelernt from the organisation.

The Alien Enemies Act only allowed deportations when the US was in a declared war with that foreign government, or was being invaded, Mr Gelernt said. “A gang is not invading,” he told BBC News.

The act was last used during World War Two to intern Japanese-American civilians.

Making matters worse was the fact “the administration is saying nobody can review what they’re doing”, Mr Gelernt added.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International USA said the deportations were “yet another example of the Trump administration’s racist targeting” of Venezuelans “based on sweeping claims of gang affiliation”.

Venezuela itself criticised Trump, saying he “unjustly criminalises Venezuelan migration”.

The latest deportations under Trump’s second term are part of the president’s long-running campaign against illegal immigration.

The US president has also moved to strengthen ties with El Salvador.

The two gangs targeted with the weekend deportations were declared “foreign terrorist organisations” by Trump after returning to the White House in January.

The dramatic political developments in Bangladesh that led to prime minister Sheikh Hasina being ousted last year have thrown up many surprises – including Dhaka’s growing closeness with one-time foe Pakistan.

Last month, after decades of troubled relations, the two countries began directly trading for the first time, with Dhaka importing 50,000 tonnes of rice from Pakistan. Direct flights and military contacts have also been revived, visa procedures have been simplified, and there are reports of co-operation on security matters.

The countries – separated by the landmass of India – have deep, painful historical ties. The animosity between them goes back to 1971, when Bangladesh – then known as East Pakistan – launched a struggle to gain independence from Islamabad. India supported the Bengali rebels during the nine-month war which led to the formation of Bangladesh.

While the scars from that period run deep, Dhaka had cordial relations with Islamabad between 2001 and 2006, when a coalition of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami governed the country.

This changed during Hasina’s 15-year rule from 2009 – when she was strongly backed by Delhi and maintained a distance from Pakistan. But after she fled to India following mass protests against her government, ties seem to be thawing.

“For the past 15 years, the Pakistan-Bangladesh relationship was on a slightly difficult trajectory,” says Humayun Kabir, a former senior Bangladeshi diplomat, adding that the relationship seems to now be returning to that of “two normal neighbours”.

The developments are being watched closely, particularly in India, which has a long history of hostile relations with Pakistan.

Relations between Dhaka and Delhi have been frosty since Hasina’s exit. India has not reacted to Bangladesh’s demands to extradite her to face charges of crimes against humanity, money laundering and corruption. Hasina denies the accusations against her.

Some experts think the reviving of relations between Dhaka and Islamabad is a strategic move.

“Pakistan and Bangladesh have a tactical relationship at the moment. Together, they want to represent a pushback against the dominance of India,” says Ayesha Siddiqa, a Pakistani academic who is a senior fellow at King’s College in London.

There have been other developments apart from starting direct trade.

Muhammad Yunus, head of the interim Bangladesh government, met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at multilateral forums several times in recent months.

And then there is a growing military relationship.

A high-level Bangladeshi military delegation made a rare visit to Pakistan in January and held talks with influential army chief General Asim Munir. The Bangladeshi navy also participated in a multinational maritime exercise organised by Pakistan off the Karachi coast in February. .

Veena Sikri, who was India’s high commissioner to Bangladesh between 2003 and 2006, describes the growing closeness between Dhaka and Islamabad as a “déjà vu” moment.

During her tenure in Dhaka, she said, India repeatedly raised the issue of “Indian insurgents getting trained inside Bangladesh with the support of the ISI [Pakistan’s intelligence agency] and a section of the Bangladeshi military”.

“We even provided evidence to Bangladeshi authorities,” she said.

Authorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh denied these allegations at the time.

The long, porous border between India and Bangladesh makes it relatively easy for armed insurgent groups from India’s north-eastern states to cross over from Bangladesh. But, after Hasina’s Awami League came to power in 2009, it cracked down on these groups and dismantled their bases.

So the revival of military ties between Bangladesh and Pakistan is “a major security concern for India”, says Ms Sikri.

“It’s not just the military relationship. The Pakistani establishment is also reviving ties with Bangladeshi Islamist parties like the Jamaat-e-Islami, which supported Islamabad during Bangladesh’s independence war,” she adds.

The Yunus administration’s press office has flatly rejected Indian media reports that senior ISI officials have visited Dhaka. It has also described reports that claim Pakistani operatives were working to reopen a camp of an Indian insurgent group in Bangladesh as “baseless”.

Pakistan’s military did not respond to BBC questions on India’s concerns over the future role of the ISI in Bangladesh.

Analysts say Bangladeshi politicians are aware that, given the close economic and linguistic ties, Dhaka cannot afford to take an anti-India stance.

And despite apprehensions in Delhi, Bangladeshi diplomats argue that ties with Pakistan cannot be normalised unless issues related to the 1971 war are resolved.

During the war, hundreds of thousands of Bengalis were killed and tens of thousands of women were raped. The war ended with more than 90,000 Pakistani security and civilian personnel surrendering to the joint command of Indian and Bangladeshi forces in what is seen as a humiliating chapter in Islamabad.

Bangladesh has demanded a formal apology from Pakistan for the atrocities committed during the war but Islamabad has shown no inclination to do so.

“Pakistan needs to own the crimes that had taken place during the independence war,” said Mr Kabir, the former Bangladeshi diplomat. “We had also raised the issue of the division of pre-1971 assets between the two nations in several bilateral meetings with Pakistan.”

Even former Pakistani military officers like Ikram Sehgal accept that “the main stumbling block in bilateral ties is the requirement of the Bangladeshis that Pakistanis should apologise for what happened in 1971”.

However, the retired Pakistan army major insists that Bangladesh should also address the issue of attacks by Bengalis on Urdu speakers during the struggle for independence.

“I was a witness to the atrocities that took place against the Urdu-speaking Bihari people [in East Pakistan],” Mr Sehgal, who now lives in Karachi, told the BBC.

While history casts a shadow over ties between Dhaka and Islamabad, economists point out the two countries can first focus on improving bilateral trade, which currently stands at less than $700m (£540m), mostly in favour of Pakistan.

“Pakistan’s more than 250 million population is a solid market for Bangladesh in the medium to long term,” says Sabrin Beg, an associate professor of economics at the University of Delaware.

Currently, there are constraints including high tariffs on both sides and businesses and exporters face visa and travel obstacles, she points out. However, Ms Beg says “improved bilateral political and trade relations will ease these constraints”.

Some of these issues may be discussed during Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar’s visit to Dhaka in April. By the end of the year Bangladesh is expected to hold general elections and a new government may have a different set of foreign policy priorities.

But, whatever happens, the stakes are high for Delhi, which strongly feels that a stable and friendly Bangladesh is necessary to maintain peace and stability in its north-eastern states.

A Chinese influencer living in Taiwan must leave the island within days or be deported, Taiwanese authorities said, after she posted videos supporting the idea of China taking the island by force.

The rare move comes at a time of heightened cross-strait tensions and increasing suspicions of Chinese influence operations on the democratic island.

Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency (NIA), which revoked the influencer’s visa, said that her “behaviour advocates the elimination of Taiwan’s sovereignty and is not tolerated in Taiwanese society”.

The influencer, identified by authorities with her surname Liu, had relocated from mainland China to Taiwan on a dependent visa after marrying a Taiwanese man.

Liu has until 24 March to leave Taiwan before she is forcibly deported, local media reported.

She would not be able to apply for another dependent visa for five years, according to an NIA statement on Saturday.

It is extremely rare for the authorities to expel Chinese spouses of Taiwanese citizens.

Liu, better known on social media as Yaya in Taiwan, regularly posts pro-Beijing commentary videos with her young daughter.

In the videos, Liu refers to the island as “Taiwan province” and echoes China’s state narrative that Taiwan is “an inseparable part of China”.

China claims the self-governed Taiwan as part of its territory, and has not ruled out the use of force over it. Taiwan, however, sees itself as distinct from China.

“The complete unification of the motherland is a necessity, regardless of what the Taiwanese people want,” Liu said in one video on Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok, where she has 480,000 followers.

“Peaceful unification is much harder than unification by force,” she added. “It depends on what choices the Taiwanese people make.”

As criticism against her videos mounted, Liu posted on Douyin in February that she “would never back down”.

She later said that she was “trying to promote the good on both sides” through her videos and “eliminate the chasm between people”.

“I’m just analysing objectively and sharing my own views,” she said. “Those pushing for Taiwan independence … are the ones causing real harm to Taiwanese society.”

Her remarks have sparked condemnation from Taiwan’s leaders, with interior minister Liu Shyh-fang saying that freedom of speech was “not an excuse” to call for the invasion of Taiwan.

Liu is among 360,000 mainland Chinese spouses living in Taiwan, whose activities have been increasingly scrutinised amid heightening cross-strait tensions.

In a slate of measures announced last week to curb Chinese influence and infiltration on the island, Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te called for tighter control of cross-strait exchanges, which he said were seen by China as a way to “create internal divisions” in Taiwan.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels say there have been fresh US strikes against them, with the number of dead rising to 53, including five children.

Targets in the Al Jaouf and Hudaydah areas were hit early on Monday, according to the rebel group, while the US Central Command said its forces had continued operations.

The US launched what it called a “decisive and powerful” wave of air strikes on Houthi targets on Saturday as part of efforts to stop Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

Washington says some key Houthi figures are among the dead, but the group has not confirmed this.

Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said his militants would target US ships in the Red Sea as long as the US continued its attacks on Yemen.

Updating an earlier death toll, Houthi health ministry spokesperson Anis al-Asbahi posted on X that 53 people had been killed including “five children and two women”, and that 98 people had been wounded.

One father of two, who gave his name as Ahmed, told the AFP news agency: “I’ve been living in Sanaa for 10 years, hearing shelling throughout the war. By God, I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”

US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News that Saturday’s strikes “targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out”.

He told Fox News: “We just hit them with overwhelming force and put Iran on notice that enough is enough.”

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed an “unrelenting” missile campaign until the Houthi attacks stop.

“I want to be very clear, this campaign is about freedom of navigation and restoring deterrence,” Hegseth said in a televised Fox Business interview.

The Houthis said it would continue to target Red Sea shipping until Israel lifted its blockade of Gaza, and that its forces would respond to the strikes.

The Iranian-backed rebel group, which considers Israel its enemy, controls Sanaa and the north-west of Yemen, but it is not the country’s internationally recognised government.

The Houthis have said they are acting in support of the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and have claimed – often falsely – that they are targeting ships only linked to Israel, the US or the UK.

Since November 2023, the Houthis have targeted dozens of merchant vessels with missiles, drones and small boat attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. They have sunk two vessels, seized a third, and killed four crew members.

Announcing Saturday’s strikes, Trump said “we will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective”.

“Funded by Iran, the Houthi thugs have fired missiles at US aircraft, and targeted our Troops and Allies,” Trump said on social media, adding that their “piracy, violence, and terrorism” had cost “billions” and put lives at risk.

Addressing the Houthis directly, Trump wrote that if they did not stop, “HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE”.

But the Houthis have been unwavering in their response, saying the aggression would not diminish their support for Palestinians.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the US government had “no authority, or business, dictating Iranian foreign policy”.

“End support for Israeli genocide and terrorism,” he posted on X on Sunday. “Stop killing of Yemeni people.”

The Houthis have claimed responsibility, without offering evidence, for two attacks on the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and several American warships in the Red Sea, calling it retaliation for US strikes.

But a US official told Reuters news agency that US warplanes shot down 11 Houthi drones on Sunday, none of which came close to the Truman. The US is yet to respond to the second claim of such a strike.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Sunday called for “utmost restraint and a cessation of all military activities” in Yemen.

A court in Georgia has handed a further prison sentence to the jailed former president, Mikheil Saakashvili.

Saakashvili was sentenced on Monday to four-and-a-half years behind bars for illegally crossing the border when returning to the country from exile in 2021, his lawyer said.

He is already serving concurrent terms for embezzlement and abuse of power while in office, bringing his total sentence to more than 12 years.

Saakashvili has always denied wrongdoing and called his latest sentence “illegal” and “unjust”. Rights groups say his imprisonment is politically motivated.

Saakashvili opposes the governing Georgian Dream party, which favours closer ties with Russia. As president, he sought to forge closer relations with Western governments.

In a video posted on X on Monday from the hospital where he is being held, Saakashvili said: “No matter what, I will fight to the end.”

The former president was sentenced last week to nine years behind bars for embezzlement, running alongside the jail term he had already been serving. In 2018, he was tried in absentia and sentenced in two separate trials.

Saakashvili was arrested in 2021 after making a surprise return to Georgia ahead of the country’s local elections by smuggling himself into the country on a ferry from Ukraine.

He called for mass anti-government demonstrations, but was quickly arrested by Georgian authorities.

The 57-year-old had led Georgia over two terms between 2004 and 2013. Since leaving the country, he had for the most part lived in Ukraine.

He was granted Ukrainian citizenship in 2015, renouncing his Georgian citizenship when he became governor of Ukraine’s Odesa region.

His citizenship was revoked in 2017 before being restored again by President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2019.

“This [sentence] is basically sending a message… to President Zelensky, for them to scare him to show what happens when you don’t surrender your country… I did not surrender Georgia,” Saakashvili said in his video address while wearing a black shirt with the words “I’m Ukrainian” emblazoned on it.

Zelensky, who appointed Saakashvili to oversee reforms in Ukraine, has demanded his transfer to Kyiv.

He has previously accused Russia of “killing” Saakashvili “at the hands of the Georgian authorities”.

The European Union has repeatedly called for Saakashvili’s immediate release from prison, expressing concern over his deteriorating health.

The Council of Europe rights watchdog has branded him a “political prisoner,” while Amnesty International has called his treatment an “apparent political revenge”.

Rwanda has cut diplomatic ties with Belgium, saying it has been “consistently undermined” by the European nation during the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Brussels has been leading calls for European nations to sanction Rwanda over its support for the M23, a rebel group at the centre of DR Congo’s crisis.

The authorities in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, have given Belgian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country.

Belgium, which is the former colonial power, has said it will respond to these measures and labelled Rwanda’s decision “disproportionate”.

Despite assertions from the UN and US, Rwanda has denied backing the M23.

In its statement on Monday, Kigali accused Brussels of attempting to “sustain its neo-colonial delusions”.

“Belgium has clearly taken sides in a regional conflict and continues to systematically mobilise against Rwanda in different forums, using lies and manipulation to secure an unjustified hostile opinion of Rwanda, in an attempt to destabilise both Rwanda and the region,” the statement said.

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot responded to Rwanda’s measures on social media, saying: “This is disproportionate and shows that when we disagree with Rwanda they prefer not to engage in dialogue.”

• The evidence that shows Rwanda is backing rebels in DR Congo
• What’s the fighting in DR Congo all about?

Prevot said Rwandan diplomats in Belgium will be declared “persona non grata”.

This declaration can lead to the removal of diplomatic status and often results in the expulsion or the withdrawal of recognition of envoys.

Before Kigali cut ties with Brussels, Rwandan President Paul Kagame vowed that his country would “stand up” to Belgium.

“We would ask [Belgium]: ‘Who are you by the way? Who put you in charge of us?’ Rwandans believe in God, but did God really put these people in charge of Rwanda?” Kagame asked in an address on Sunday.

Since the beginning of the year, around 7,000 people have been killed in fighting between the M23 and DR Congo’s armed forces in the east of the country, the Congolese authorities have said.

More than 850,000 people have been forced to flee their homes since the conflict increased in intensity in January, the UN children’s agency, Unicef, said.

The M23 has taken control of two key cities – Goma and Bukavu – in the past two months.

On Monday, the EU sanctioned three of Rwanda’s military commanders, citing connections to the M23.

The sanctions, which include the freezing of assets, were also applied to the head of Rwanda’s state mining agency. The EU has accused the agency of exploiting DR Congo’s conflict in order to extract valuable resources from the mineral-rich east.

Britain and Germany have also taken measures against Rwanda – over the past month both countries cut some of their aid to Kigali.

And in February, the UN Security Council demanded that the M23 end hostilities and that Rwanda should pull its troops out of DR Congo.

Rwanda’s diplomatic spat with Belgium comes a day before the Congolese government and M23 rebels are set to meet for peace talks.

The talks, due to be held in the Angolan capital, Luanda, overturn the government’s long-standing policy of not negotiating with the M23.

However, since the M23 began capturing larges swathes of territory, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi has been under pressure to meet with the rebels, news agency Reuters reports.

• US star John Legend defends playing Rwanda concert during war
• Who’s pulling the strings in the DR Congo crisis?

A fashion show held last week in a picturesque, snow-clad town in Indian-administered Kashmir has sparked a major controversy that is still simmering.

The show, by the well-known fashion brand Shivan & Narresh, was held last Friday at a ski resort in Gulmarg to display their skiwear collection. The label is the first big, non-local brand to hold a fashion show in Kashmir, a scenic Himalayan region which has seen decades of violence.

But it soon sparked outrage among locals, politicians and religious leaders in Muslim-majority Kashmir after fashion publisher Elle India posted a video on social media which showed some models wearing underwear or bikinis. Locals were also angry over another video – shared by online magazine Lifestyle Asia – of a party held after the show, which showed people drinking alcohol outdoors.

Many took offence with the show being held in the holy month of Ramadan – a time of fasting and prayer for Muslims – and accused the designers of “mocking their faith” and “disregarding local culture and sentiments”. Some clerics called the show “obscene” and said it was like “soft porn”.

Some others explained that the outrage had arisen not only from religious conservatism, but also from a fear of cultural imposition from “outsiders”. Kashmir has witnessed decades of armed separatist insurgency against Indian rule since the late 1980s.

The backlash prompted Elle India and Lifestyle Asia to delete their videos. Shivan Bhatiya and Narresh Kukreja, the designers behind the label, also apologised, saying that their “sole intention was to celebrate creativity” and that they didn’t intend to offend religious sentiments.

Kashmir – known as the land of saints and Sufism (Islamic mysticism) – has a rich tradition of spirituality which influences many aspects of peoples’ lives. The traditional attire is modest, with locals – both men and women – often wearing the pheran, a long, loose cloak.

The row also moved off social media and a discussion about the show and the after-party caused a ruckus in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly.

The opposition criticised the government, accusing it of giving permission for the event despite being aware of local sensitivities. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah distanced his government from the event, saying it had been organised by private entities, and asking local authorities to investigate the matter and submit a report.

“If law has been violated, strict action will be taken,” he said in the assembly on Monday. The police have not yet given details about who organised the event and what laws, if any, have been violated.

The fashion brand did not respond to the BBC’s questions about the show, including about permissions it obtained.

It’s not surprising that scenic Gulmarg – one of India’s few skiing destinations and a favourite with tourists – was the choice of venue for a show highlighting a skiwear collection.

Fashion journalist Shefalee Vasudev says it’s not uncommon for designers to want to hold fashion shows in exquisite locations.

In fact, international designers like Alexander McQueen and Karl Lagerfeld are remembered as much for their creative, theatrical fashion shows as they are for their iconic designs.

But experimentation brings with it the risk of controversy and so, it’s important to be mindful of the political and cultural sensitivities of a place, Ms Vasudev told the BBC.

And this holds especially true in a place like Kashmir, which has witnessed wars and decades of armed conflict.

• Article 370: What happened with Kashmir and why it matters
• ‘Don’t beat us, just shoot us’: Kashmiris allege violent army crackdown

Both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir in full but control it only in parts. Since India’s partition and the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the nuclear-armed neighbours have fought two wars over the territory.

Thousands of people have been killed since the late 1980s, when a separatist insurgency broke out against Indian rule. Though the separatist movement has lost steam over the years, many locals continue to view the administration in Delhi with distrust.

These sentiments have deepened since 2019 when the federal government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, stripped the region of its autonomy.

So some locals told the BBC that they were not surprised by the reactions to the show.

“Everything in Kashmir is political; people see things through a political prism,” says Mir, a professor at a local university (he asked for his surname to be withheld to protect his identity). He adds that people are sceptical about big corporate events like the fashion show and – even if they are organised by private players – they believe that the government is trying to dilute their culture.

Arshid Ahmad, a researcher, uses stronger words to express public angst. “The government is trying to dilute the spirit of resistance in Kashmiris,” he says.

This isn’t the first time an event held by non-locals has triggered a controversy in Kashmir. In 2013, separatists and human rights activists in the region protested against a show by renowned conductor Zubin Mehta. They said it was an attempt by the government to show the world that all was well in Kashmir when people were “suffering and dying”.

Some of the recent apprehensions around culture and identity can also be tied to the increase in tourists to Kashmir from other states in India. The federal government has often connected this boom in tourism to the abrogation of Article 370, which stripped the region of its autonomy.

Nousheen Fatima, 34, says because of government messaging, people outside Kashmir now see the region as being safer and “more assimilated with India”. But she alleges that many tourists do not respect the region’s culture.

Last year, a video showing tourists drinking alcohol during a boat ride on the famous Dal Lake in Srinagar evoked outrage from political and religious leaders, who called the behaviour “un-Islamic and unethical”.

In February, locals put up posters in Srinagar, asking tourists to “respect local culture and traditions” and “avoid alcohol and use of drugs”, but these were later pulled down by the police.

In an editorial for The Voice of Fashion magazine, Ms Vasudev argues that the outrage needs to be examined from a critical lens. She asks if it would have been all right for the show to have been held in another Indian city instead of Kashmir, where Muslims would also be observing Ramadan. And whether it would have been acceptable to hold the show in Kashmir if it featured only outfits perceived as modest.

She also points out that Kashmir is home to the “world’s finest wool yarn; some of the finest handspun, handwoven pashmina creations and its artisans”.

“What Kashmir creates and stands for cannot be replicated anywhere. Shouldn’t a fashion show at Gulmarg then, with innovative garments made with 100% wool, be seen as regenerating interest in untried ways?” she asks.

More than 200 Venezuelans, who the White House alleges are gang members, have been deported from the US to a notorious mega-jail in El Salvador.

Out of the 261 people deported, 137 were removed under the Alien Enemies Act, a senior administration official told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

This broad, centuries-old law was invoked by President Donald Trump. He accused Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) of “perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion” on US territory.

The move has been criticised by rights groups, and came despite a temporary block issued by a judge. The White House said the judge’s order itself was not lawful and was issued after the group was deported.

• White House denies defying judge’s order over deportations
• What is Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang targeted by Trump?

The Alien Enemies Act grants the president of the United States sweeping powers to order the detention and deportation of natives or citizens of an “enemy” nation without following the usual processes.

It was passed as part of a series of laws in 1798 when the US believed it would enter a war with France.

The act states that “whenever there shall be a declared war […] or any invasion or predatory incursion shall be perpetrated, attempted, or threatened” against the US, all “subjects of the hostile nation or government” could be “apprehended, restrained, secured and removed, as alien enemies”.

The act has only been previously used three times – all during times of conflict involving the US.

It was last invoked in World War Two, when people of Japanese descent – reportedly numbering about 120,000 – were imprisoned without trial. Thousands were sent to internment camps.

People of German and Italian ancestry were also interned during that time.

Before that, the act was used during the War of 1812 and World War One.

Though this is the first time the act has been used by Trump, it is not the first time he has mentioned it.

At his inaugural address in January, he said he would invoke the act to “eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to US soil”.

In his proclamation on Saturday, Trump invoked the wording of the act by accusing TdA of threatening an “invasion” against the US. He declared its members “liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as alien enemies”.

Trump’s decision has been criticised by rights groups. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued to stop the removals on the grounds that the US was not at war.

Speaking to BBC News on Sunday, Lee Gelernt, a lawyer with the ACLU, said: “There’s no question in our mind that the law is being violated.”

A federal judge attempted to stop the use of the law to carry out the deportations, but the White House said this had had “no lawful basis”, and that the removals had already taken place.

Reacting to a news article covering the judge’s order, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele wrote on social media: “Oopsie… Too late.”

Venezuela criticised Trump’s use of the act, saying it “unjustly criminalises Venezuelan migration” and “evokes the darkest episodes in the history of humanity, from slavery to the horror of the Nazi concentration camps”.

Katherine Yon Ebright, counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, said in a statement that Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act was illegal.

“The only reason to invoke such a power is to try to enable sweeping detentions and deportations of Venezuelans based on their ancestry, not on any gang activity that could be proved in immigration proceedings”, she added.

Across the globe more and more Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) are being spotted on – and off – the roads.

This is despite predictions from the United Nations of an inevitable pivot towards smaller and more environmentally friendly vehicles because of the urgency of the climate crisis and the rising cost of living.

That pivot has not materialised: globally, 54% of the cars sold in 2024 were SUVs, including petrol, diesel, hybrids and electric makes. This is an increase of three percentage points from 2023 and five percentage points from the year before, according to GlobalData.

Of the SUVs which are now on the road – both new and older models – 95% are burning fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Manufacturers, however, say their new fleets of such cars are increasingly becoming electric, and that not all SUVs now being sold cause an increase in emissions.

SUVs are hard to miss. They are heavy and larger with spacious interiors, higher ground clearance and a high driving position with a better view of the road, although smaller versions are also on the market.

Environmental campaigners such as Greenpeace see SUVs as one of the villains of the climate crisis and argue that their manufacturing consumes significant resources given their size.

Experts also say they require larger batteries to power their electric versions, which then further increases the demand for critical minerals, putting even more pressure on the planet.

Momentum was thought to be with smaller, energy-efficient electric vehicles. But the sales of standard-sized electric vehicles (EVs) has actually decreased in major markets such as Japan and Germany, and their sales growth has slowed in India.

And in Europe, sales of SUVs have outpaced those of EVs despite indications more than half a decade ago of an opposite trend. In Europe in 2018, 3.27 million small hatchbacks – both those powered by fossil fuels and those by electricity – were sold while 2.13 million were sold in 2024, according to GlobalData.

Its sales forecast manager Sammy Chan said: “This is partly because of the SUV alternatives being offered in smaller [sizes] whose sales in Europe have now grown to nearly to 2.5 million in 2024 from 1.5 million in 2018.”

China saw the largest sales of nearly 11.6 million SUVs in 2024 followed by the US, India and Germany, according to GlobalData.

Industry experts say people’s purchasing power has been improving in many fast-emerging economies, making SUVs the likelier choice of car.

“Manufacturers respond to consumer demand and, increasingly, drivers are attracted to dual purpose vehicles given their practicality, comfort and good view of the road,” said Mike Hawes who is the chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Automobile industry analysts also say that manufacturers are attracted to high profit margins from SUVs: they can make more money from SUVs even though they make fewer vehicles.

“It is the industry that has driven the demand through huge marketing and advertising campaigns in recent years,” said Dudley Curtis, the communications manager at the European Transport Safety Council.

“SUVs offered the industry a simple way of charging more for a vehicle that does the same thing [as others],” he said.

Because of the robust growth in SUVs sales, the IEA says oil consumption of these vehicles has increased by 600,000 barrels per day globally between 2022 and 2023, accounting for more than a quarter of the total annual rise in global oil demand.

“If ranked among countries, the global fleet of SUVs would be the world’s fifth largest emitter of CO2, exceeding the emissions of Japan and various other major economies,” said Apostolous Petropolous, an energy modeller with the IEA.

The agency says that even when compared to medium-sized cars that run on petrol and diesel, SUVs burn 20% more of such fuels as they weigh up to 300 kg more on average.

In fact, road transport is responsible for more than 12% of global carbon emissions which is the main driver of global warming. Scientists say all sectors must rapidly decarbonise if we are to avoid a climate catastrophe.

But industry representatives say in response that not all SUVs now being sold cause an increase in emissions.

“Around two in five of these [new] vehicle models are zero emission as their body type lends itself well to electrification with longer battery range that can reassure consumers concerned about charging accessibility,” said Hawes, from the SMMT.

“This has led to the average CO2 emissions of new dual purpose cars more than halving since 2000, helping the segment lead the decarbonisation of UK road mobility.”

Although the vast majority of new SUVs still burn fossil fuels, IEA officials have said that over 20% of SUVs sold in 2023 were fully electric, up from 2% in 2018.

As for hybrids that can run on both electricity and fossil fuels, a study in Europe by the International Council on Clean Transportation in 2022 found only around 30% of the total distance driven by plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (all types including SUVs) was in electric mode on average.

Similar results were found in other major economies such as the US and China.

Overall, the back-gear towards SUVs, some experts say, has caused a significant setback in the decarbonisation of the transport sector.

“The trend toward heavier and less efficient vehicles such as SUVs (in countries where it is happening) has largely nullified the improvements in energy consumption and emissions achieved elsewhere in the world’s passenger car fleet,” said the IEA.

The UK Parliament’s climate change committee had a similar finding in its 2024 report on decarbonisation in the country.

This week, social media stars The Sidemen are bringing their reality TV show, called Inside, to Netflix.

But that’s not all the week has in store.

Selena Gomez‘s joint album with her fiancé Benny Blanco is coming out, Snow White is – finally – being released in cinemas, and gamers are getting set for Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Read on for this week’s biggest releases…

Last year, British YouTube superstars the Sidemen launched their own reality show, locking 10 influencers in a house for a week to battle for a prize worth up to £1m.

The first episode of Inside attracted 14 million views on YouTube, with fans tuning in to see contestants compete in a series of challenges.

The second season is out on Monday, but this time, it will be on Netflix instead of YouTube. The streaming giant will also make a US version.

The Sidemen – a seven-strong group that includes content creators, musicians and boxer KSI – said they wanted to “shake up the game” of reality TV.

“We all grew up watching reality TV and are big fans of the drama and jeopardy that come with it,” they said.

“Combining that with a prize fund and the challenges that our fans know us for, we knew people would be hooked.”

Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco have had a busy few months.

The pair announced their engagement in December, and now, they are releasing a joint album, I Said I Love You First, which comes out on Friday.

It marks Gomez’s return to music after starring in operatic musical Emilia Perez, which scored her two Golden Globe nominations.

We already got a taste of what’s in store with their new single, Sunset Blvd. The lyrics are sultry and full of innuendo, with Gomez singing about “holding you naked” in central Los Angeles.

So it might not surprise you that the album is designed to celebrate “the pair’s love story”.

“It chronicles their entire story – before they met, falling in love and looking to what the future holds,” according to a press release.

I’m just intrigued to find out who actually said I love you first.

Once upon a time, Disney set out to remake the classic film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

So far, so good, but this fairy tale has been beset by challenges.

Early on, Latina star Rachel Zegler faced abuse online by people who disagreed with her casting in the role of a character deemed to have skin “as white as snow”.

The film continued to stir controversy after Zegler indicated she found the original version scary – and suggested the prince was a “stalker”.

The reboot was criticised by Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage, who has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, for being “backward”. Disney said it was going to “avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film” (note dwarfs have been dropped from the title).

The live-action adaptation – which also stars Gal Gadot – was originally scheduled for release in 2024, but was delayed a year amid the Hollywood actors’ strikes.

A pared-down premiere was held last Wednesday, and the film finally lands in UK cinemas on Friday.

Since 2007 the Assassin’s Creed series has allowed players to hack, slash and sneak their way through a range of historical settings.

And the latest instalment, Shadows, creeping on to PS5, Xbox and PC from Thursday, grants fans’ long-held wish for an adventure set in feudal Japan.

It mixes the stealth gameplay of the recent Assassin’s Creed Mirage with the combat-focused approach of mega-hit Valhalla and throws ninjas into the mix. A sure-fire hit, right?

But it’s being seen by many as a make-or-break title for French publisher Ubisoft, one of the biggest gaming companies in the world.

After a lacklustre 2024, there’s a lot of hope that the twice-delayed Shadows will replicate the sales of previous games in the Assassin’s Creed series.

Early previews have been positive, but in today’s unpredictable video games market you can’t count your shurikens until they’ve knocked out a sentry in a perfect takedown, preferably millions of times.

• Sunrise on the Reaping, the new book in The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, is out on Tuesday
• Leaving Neverland 2: Surviving Michael Jackson premieres on Channel 4 on Tuesday
• BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival starts on Wednesday
• Spring: The Story of a Season, by Michael Morpurgo, is out on Thursday
• Last One Laughing UK is released on Amazon Prime on Thursday
• Greentea Peng‘s new album, Tell Dem It’s Sunny, drops on Friday
• Will Smith‘s album, Based On A True Story, is out on Friday
• Japanese Breakfast‘s album, For Melancholy Brunettes (And Sad Women), also drops on Friday
• Flow, an animated film, will be released in UK cinemas on Friday
• The Alto Knights, starring Robert De Niro, is also out in UK cinemas on Friday

Made in Canada.

Three words that are now a common presence on Canadian shelves, after Donald Trump’s tariffs sparked a trade war with the US’s northern neighbour.

In Canada the economic measures against it have been met with a wave of patriotism, with some consumers and businesses boycotting American products.

Others with operations in the US face a choice – ride out the uncertainty or bring their enterprise back home.

“Right now, I’m a little angry. I don’t want to invest in American companies,” says Joanna Goodman, owner of Au Lit Fine Linens, a Toronto-based bedding and nightwear company.

“It’s about having your eggs in one basket. And right now, that basket is very reckless and very precarious,” she continues.

On a tour around one of her firm’s two stores, housed in a giant warehouse, Ms Goodman highlights elegantly made-up beds, mannequins in silk pyjamas, and shelves full of sweet-smelling candles – most of it made in Canada.

But one fifth of the stock currently comes from the US. Ms Goodman is quick to point out, “you see how big the store is, so even 20% is a lot”.

“I have a lot of inventory here of American brands that I’ve had relationships with for 20 years. I’m not going to throw it away,” she says. “The question is, will I reorder?”

To show Au Lit Fine Linens’ commitment to Canadian manufacturers, its stores now highlight everything that is Canadian made. This is mirrored on its website, which has a “shop all made in Canada” section, and says “made right here at home”.

From Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, to the Ukraine war, global events in recent years have given rise to a more recent phenomenon – reshoring.

Bringing business operations back to home shores, it is the reversal of offshoring.

Business leader and recently-appointed new member of Canada’s Senate, Sandra Pupatello, says that reshoring is “really obvious” to support.

Pupatello, who had previously been Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development and Trade, points to the Covid-19 pandemic, when rules of trade “went right out the window”.

She specifically cites the example of US mask manufacturer 3M coming under pressure from the White House in 2020 to halt exports to Canada and Latin America.

In that moment Pupatello thought: “We’ve got to be prepared for the worst”.

Shortly after, she established Reshoring Canada, a non-partisan group advocating for a more resilient supply chain in Canada.

Pupatello tells the BBC: “If the going gets tough, Canada is on its own. And if we know that’s the case, let us plan for it.”

A Canadian government report from last year found that there had “not been signs of either large-scale or any notable increased reshoring by businesses”, but things could now be changing.

Ray Brougham has been trying to make inroads into the Canadian car manufacturing sector since establishing his company Rainhouse Manufacturing Canada in 2001. Based in British Columbia, it manufactures parts for a number of industries.

The North American car industry’s integrated supply chains can see parts crossing the borders between the US, Mexico, and Canada multiple times before a vehicle is finally assembled.

US President Donald Trump said he would temporarily spare US carmakers from a new 25% import tax imposed on Canada and Mexico, just a day after the tariffs came into effect in March.

But in the shadow of a trade war, Mr Brougham says he has had “good communications” with a large Canadian auto parts company for the first time ever. “All of a sudden they are interested in working closer with other Canadian companies.”

For Mr Brougham and others, the benefits of reshoring are clear. From giving a leg up to small companies that have struggled to compete with manufacturers overseas, to ensuring fair wages, and the environmental benefits of importing and exporting fewer goods.

Others, including Graham Markham, director of a food sector supplier, believe it’s about adding value to products Canada already produces.

His Canadian firm New Protein International is currently constructing Canada’s first soy protein manufacturing plant in southwest Ontario, just miles from the US border.

Canada is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of the crop, but most of it is processed overseas.

“We don’t process those value-added ingredients into more valuable ingredients here at home,” says Mr Markham.

From critical minerals and uranium to lumber and soybeans, he argues that this is the moment to change.

“Canada has long been a successful supplier of raw materials to the world. The opportunity now is to stop exporting the job creation and innovation that comes from processing those materials domestically.”

So, could manufacturing start coming back to Canada? Economist Randall Bartlett says it is too early to tell.

“There’s a lot more smoke than there is fire when it comes to actual reorganisation of supply chains and moving them domestically,” says Mr Bartlett, senior director of Canadian economics at Quebec-based Desjardins.

“I think there has been some movement toward reshoring, but I think there’s a lot more narrative around it than there is actual re-establishing of manufacturing capacity.”

There are major hurdles too.

The highly-integrated auto industry, for example, would take years to untangle. Reshoring it would require “many tens of hundreds of billions of dollars in both private and public sector investment to make happen”, according to Mr Bartlett.

Then there’s the reality of global trade.

“Some countries are better at producing some things than other countries are,” Mr Bartlett says, suggesting that rather than a full reshoring push, diversifying Canada’s trade partners might be more practical.

He says that Canada should focus on “those industries where we have a comparative advantage”, which he says include renewable energy and processing steel and aluminium. Those two metals have now been hit with a 25% tariff if they are exported to the US.

Back at Au Lit Fine Linens in Toronto, Joanna Goodman steps into a vast stockroom, filled with the sound of carboard boxes being packed.

“We’re shipping orders to the US that came in pre-tariffs,” she explains, before pausing. “We did get an order the day of the tariffs starting, and it was a very decent-sized order.”

She says that she doesn’t know whether the US buyer understands that tariffs will now apply. “He has to ask Mr Trump [why]”.

As for what comes next? “These tariffs could be gone any day. Let’s see how it all unfolds, then we’ll start making decisions,” says Ms Goodman.

Like many Canadian businesses, she’s waiting for the dust to settle before deciding where to buy, where to sell, and what Made in Canada really means for the future.

Villagers say a “gigantic mega-shed” built near their homes has blocked their view and left them feeling like they are in a prison camp. What is life like for them, and what can they do about it?

Work on the warehouse at Nacton, near Ipswich, began last year.

The size of six full-size football pitches, it is about 147m (482ft) wide, more than 300m (984ft) long and, at 21m (69ft) tall, towers over nearby gardens.

East Suffolk Council approved final plans for the structure at Equation Properties’ Orwell Logistics Park in late 2021.

The authority says the decision was properly made, but neighbours argue it was “fundamentally wrong”.

They have branded it a “monstrosity” and some say it has reduced them to tears.

“It’s a gigantic mega-shed and, essentially, it is the wrong development, in the wrong location, and that was clear to anyone with common sense,” says Adrian Day, 66.

He says developers rejected a request to put up cherry-pickers that would have given councillors a better idea of its potential size and impact.

“I think local planning is all done just to give local people the illusion that their opinion counts, because what they’ve done is inconsiderate and disrespectful,” he says.

The structure, still under construction, sits parallel to a railway line and about 40-50m (130-165ft) from the back gardens of some homes in Felixstowe Road, which, despite their Nacton postal addresses, are actually within the parish of Foxhall.

The warehouse, adjacent to the A14, was advertised as having 424 car parking spaces, and 120 bays for lorries.

It is not yet known what will be stored in the building.

Once complete, it will be one of three warehouses there, but neighbours say planners could never truly have envisaged just how big it would be.

“We used to have views behind us of trees and fields, but now every time you look out the windows of your house, it looks like a stormy day – it’s horrible,” says Alan Thomas, 61.

“And we barely get any sun, but nothing we have ever said to the council has been taken note of. It’s completely ridiculous and absolutely crazy.”

The original outline planning application, which included since-axed plans for a fourth warehouse, received 29 letters of objection and an objection from Foxhall Parish Council, but was approved in 2018.

“When I applied for an extension, they turned me down multiple times on lots of things, and now they have just gone ahead and let them build this monstrosity,” adds Mr Thomas.

In an online brochure for the development, Equation Properties said tenants would benefit from 24/7 access.

“So that means we’re going to see lights and hear lorries and cars and clanking about,” says Jenny Upson, 74, a Felixstowe Road resident for 17 years.

She says the building is an “abomination” and adds: “We were semi-rural but now we are at the edge of an industrial estate.

“We’re having to try to live with it but it’s difficult. It’s horrendous.”

During the building of the warehouse, residents could not open their doors due to the amount of dust being generated, they say.

One resident, who did not wish to be named, said the vibrations killed the bees in his hives.

Jim Snell, 74, a resident for 22 years, says sounds from trains reverberate off the warehouse and disturb the peace.

“It has been absolutely horrendous for all of us and there has been scant regard given for anything we’ve said,” he says.

Like his neighbours, he is unhappy about the lack of a graduated colour scheme, meaning the building struggles to blend in.

“When we first moved in, everything was geared to looking down the garden, but now all you see is this battleship-grey band along the top of a warehouse,” he says.

Dave Ward, 72, says: “It looks like there is a thunderstorm all the time and we never see a sunset anymore because it goes down behind the building.

“We all complained, way before it even started being built, but there’s always a reason why you’re wrong and they’re right. At the end of the day, it’s all about money.

“We bought our home eight years ago as our last property, but I think we will end up moving now. You don’t buy a south-facing property just to look at a wall.”

Some residents say the building is taking an emotional toll and affecting their mental health.

Sheila Snell, 69, says she has “shed quite a few tears”.

“I’m absolutely devastated because all I see is what is like a prison wall at the end of my garden, so it is like being in a prison camp,” she says.

“It’s like living in a grey day, every day. Who is going to want to buy something that looks on to a huge steel wall?”

She fears the value of her home might be affected, but according to Rightmove, the average sale price of a house in Felixstowe Road over the last year was £650,000 – 20% higher than the previous year.

So what, if anything can be done?

Amy Richardson, a partner in the planning law team at Ashtons Legal, says residents’ only possible form of redress could be a “token gesture” of compensation, for which an ombudsman could lobby on their behalf.

“The difficulty is a homeowner can’t protect a view, [even] when planning applications are submitted in close proximity to dwellings and it’s going to have an impact,” she says.

In this case, she says, it appears the council did consider the impact on residents but made a planning judgement that it would not cause sufficient harm.

“Unfortunately, on this one, there is no magic wand that can be waved to help the homeowners out in any way,” she says.

While she acknowledges a possible effect on house prices, she believes their value will stabilise as the warehouse “settles into its environment”.

“New people who come in will not know any different and some people won’t care [about the warehouse]. But this one, yes; it’s not very pleasant,” she says.

Last year the decision to grant planning permission for a huge warehouse next to homes in Corby, Northamptonshire, was ruled to have not complied with the law.

Earlier, in 2021, a review into how a warehouse was allowed to be built in Milton Keynes found planning conditions were missed due to “human error”.

East Suffolk Council, however, is confident it followed the correct procedure here.

“Members of the planning committee, many of whom have strong local knowledge, visited the site and neighbouring properties on two occasions,” a spokesperson says.

“They considered the representations received and heard directly from neighbours in the planning committee meetings.

“The planning decision was made in accordance with the development plan and planning legislation.

“The impact of any development on private property values is not a material planning consideration which affects decision making.

“If it was felt that there had been procedural errors in this planning decision, there was an option to request a judicial review within six weeks of the decision date.

“No judicial review was requested.”

Despite this, the BBC understands many residents have lodged formal complaints with the authority, and some are seeking compensation.

“This application was fully and properly assessed in its impact on neighbours, and we do not believe there was any fault in the decision-making process,” the spokesperson adds.

“All complainants have been provided with information summarising the decision-making process and the considerations applied.”

Labour MP for Suffolk Coastal, Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, says she recently met residents and had also been in contact with the warehouse’s developers.

She says she wanted “to make sure that the concerns that the residents have are heard and understood”.

Equation Properties was contacted for comment.

Award-winning Belgian actress Émilie Dequenne has died from cancer at the age of 43.

Dequenne shot to fame when she won the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival at the age of 18 for the film Rosetta in 1999.

She won another Cannes award for À Perdre la Raison (Our Children) in 2012, and received a Cesar, one of France’s top film honours, for Les Choses Qu’on Dit, les Choses Qu’on Fait (The Things We Say, the Things We Do) in 2021.

She mainly acted in French-language films but also appeared as police officer Laurence Relaud in 2014 BBC TV drama The Missing.

Rosetta, a poignant tale about a teenager’s struggle to overcome a life of misery, was Dequenne’s first screen role.

She had been unemployed after losing her job in a food factory when she was picked for the role.

“The first day she filmed in front of a real camera, she managed to bring the whole team together,” Luc Dardenne, who directed it with his brother Jean-Pierre, said in a tribute to broadcaster RTBF.

“It got better and better as the shoot progressed… She was magnificent and the film owes a lot to her.”

In The Missing, she played Laurence Relaud, which starred James Nesbitt as the father of a boy who disappears during a family holiday.

Her other films included 2009’s La fille du RER (The Girl on the Train), 2014’s Pas Son Genre (Not My Type) and 2022 Cannes nominee Close.

Others paying tribute included French Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, who wrote: “Francophone cinema has lost, too soon, a talented actress who still had so much to offer.”

Dequenne revealed in October 2023 that she was suffering from adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC), a cancer of the adrenal gland.

In one of her last Instagram posts, for World Cancer Day in February, she wrote: “What a tough fight! And we don’t choose…”

The Vatican has released the first image of Pope Francis since he was admitted to hospital a month ago.

The photo shows the pontiff sitting in a wheelchair in front of an altar at a chapel in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he has been recovering from pneumonia.

Earlier on Sunday, in his written Angelus message, the Pope said he faced a “period of trial” as he thanked well-wishers for their prayers, and prayed for peace in “countries wounded by war”.

It marked the fifth Sunday in a row that the Pope was not present in person for his weekly blessing. The Vatican said earlier this week that an X-ray had confirmed “improvements” in his condition, but that he still needed hospital treatment.

“The Holy Father still requires hospital medical therapy, motor and respiratory physiotherapy,” it said in a statement on Saturday, adding that they were “showing further, gradual improvements”.

Pope Francis, 88, has not been seen in public since his admission to hospital on 14 February – and until Sunday, no photographs had been released.

“I join with so many brothers and sisters who are sick: fragile, at this time, like me,” the Pope said in his latest statement, released earlier in the day.

“Let us continue to pray for peace, especially in the countries wounded by war: tormented Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

Since his arrival in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, the Pope has been treated for double pneumonia and other infections.

He has also suffered several respiratory crises, which has raised concerns about his survival.

Earlier on this month, an audio recording of Pope Francis speaking in his native Spanish was played in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City.

His voice was breathless as he thanked the Catholic faithful for their prayers.

Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is the first Pope from the Americas.

He contracted pleurisy as a young man and had a partial lung removal, which has left him particularly vulnerable to pneumonia.

As a result of his long road to recovery, there has been speculation that Pope Francis could choose to follow his predecessor Benedict XVI in resigning the papacy.

But friends and biographers close to the Pope have insisted that he has no plans to step down. And, despite his fragile health, the pontiff has continued his work from hospital.

This year is a Catholic Holy Year, with 32 million pilgrims expected to travel to Rome.

Forever 21 could be a step closer to shutting down operations in the US after the brand’s operating company filed for bankruptcy protection.

The firm said in a statement that its stores and website in the US will remain open as it “begins its process of winding down”.

Forever 21 was once a favourite of young women around the world, but it has struggled to attract customers to its shops because of rising prices and the growing popularity of online shopping.

The company filed for bankruptcy protection for the first time in 2019, but a group of investors ended up buying it through a joint venture.

“We have been unable to find a sustainable path forward, given competition from foreign fast-fashion companies… as well as rising costs, economic challenges impacting our core customers,” Brad Sell, the company’s chief financial officer said in a statement.

The firm said it would conduct liquidation sales at its stores and that some or all of its assets would be sold in a court-supervised process.

“In the event of a successful sale, the Company may pivot away from a full wind-down of operations,” the firm’s statement said.

Chapter 11 protection postpones a US company’s obligations to its creditors, giving it time to reorganise its debts or sell parts of the business.

Forever 21’s shops and e-commerce platforms outside of the US are operated by other licence-holders and will not be affected by the bankruptcy protection filing.

The fast-fashion retailer was founded in Los Angeles in 1984 by South Korean immigrants.

Its inexpensive, trendy clothes and accessories became increasingly popular with young people over the next few decades and the brand became a competitor of fast-fashion giants such as Zara and H&M.

At its peak in 2016, there were 800 Forever 21 shops around the world, 500 of which were located in the US.

India and New Zealand have restarted free trade talks a decade after negotiations fell apart, as Prime Minister Christopher Luxon began his five-day tour of Delhi where he held bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The two sides have agreed to begin the first round of negotiations next month.

The announcement is a “major breakthrough” in the economic relationship between the two countries, Luxon said.

“India holds significant potential for New Zealand and will play a pivotal role in doubling New Zealand’s exports by value over the next 10 years,” Luxon said.

Bilateral trade between the two countries is valued at under $2bn (£1.55bn) currently.

Luxon is a keynote speaker at an ongoing geopolitical conference in Delhi, which will also be attended by the US Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.

Besides trade, New Zealand said it was deepening its engagement with India across areas such as defence, security, sports and environment, adding that economic ties with Delhi were a “key priority”.

The two leaders signed a defence cooperation pact for enhanced maritime security and said they would be exploring greater collaboration in the digital payments sector.

On 16 March, representatives of the Five Eyes – an intelligence-sharing alliance comprising New Zealand along with Australia, Canada, the UK and the US – attended a conference of intelligence and security chiefs hosted by India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval in Delhi.

Proximity to New Zealand is crucial to Delhi’s interests, as India aims to counter China in the Indian Ocean region.

Luxon is reportedly being accompanied by one of the largest delegations a prime minister has ever travelled with, underscoring the importance of the visit.

Trade negotiations between the two countries had initially begun in 2010 but stalled after several rounds over issues such as market access.

New Zealand has sought greater access to India’s dairy market, which India has traditionally protected to support its farmers.

After years of scepticism over free trade, India has recently become more open to negotiating bilateral deals with other countries.

The announcement to restart trade talks with New Zealand comes close on the heels of Delhi relaunching free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with the European Union and the United Kingdom.

Last year, Delhi signed a $100bn free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association – a group of four European countries that are not members of the European Union – after almost 16 years of negotiations.

India and Australia also signed a major trade cooperation deal two years ago.

Last week India’s trade minister Piyush Goyal had “cautioned” an Indian exports organisation “to come out of their protectionist mindset” as the country tried to negotiate trade agreements.

For Delhi, these trade talks have assumed renewed significance on the back of US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tit-for-tat tariffs on imported goods from countries, including India. These are due to come into effect on 2 April.

A Chinese influencer living in Taiwan must leave the island within days or be deported, Taiwanese authorities said, after she posted videos supporting the idea of China taking the island by force.

The rare move comes at a time of heightened cross-strait tensions and increasing suspicions of Chinese influence operations on the democratic island.

Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency (NIA), which revoked the influencer’s visa, said that her “behaviour advocates the elimination of Taiwan’s sovereignty and is not tolerated in Taiwanese society”.

The influencer, identified by authorities with her surname Liu, had relocated from mainland China to Taiwan on a dependent visa after marrying a Taiwanese man.

Liu has until 24 March to leave Taiwan before she is forcibly deported, local media reported.

She would not be able to apply for another dependent visa for five years, according to an NIA statement on Saturday.

It is extremely rare for the authorities to expel Chinese spouses of Taiwanese citizens.

Liu, better known on social media as Yaya in Taiwan, regularly posts pro-Beijing commentary videos with her young daughter.

In the videos, Liu refers to the island as “Taiwan province” and echoes China’s state narrative that Taiwan is “an inseparable part of China”.

China claims the self-governed Taiwan as part of its territory, and has not ruled out the use of force over it. Taiwan, however, sees itself as distinct from China.

“The complete unification of the motherland is a necessity, regardless of what the Taiwanese people want,” Liu said in one video on Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok, where she has 480,000 followers.

“Peaceful unification is much harder than unification by force,” she added. “It depends on what choices the Taiwanese people make.”

As criticism against her videos mounted, Liu posted on Douyin in February that she “would never back down”.

She later said that she was “trying to promote the good on both sides” through her videos and “eliminate the chasm between people”.

“I’m just analysing objectively and sharing my own views,” she said. “Those pushing for Taiwan independence … are the ones causing real harm to Taiwanese society.”

Her remarks have sparked condemnation from Taiwan’s leaders, with interior minister Liu Shyh-fang saying that freedom of speech was “not an excuse” to call for the invasion of Taiwan.

Liu is among 360,000 mainland Chinese spouses living in Taiwan, whose activities have been increasingly scrutinised amid heightening cross-strait tensions.

In a slate of measures announced last week to curb Chinese influence and infiltration on the island, Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te called for tighter control of cross-strait exchanges, which he said were seen by China as a way to “create internal divisions” in Taiwan.

Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Russia’s Kursk region have described scenes “like a horror movie” as they retreated from the front lines.

The BBC has received extensive accounts from Ukrainian troops, who recount a “catastrophic” withdrawal in the face of heavy fire, and columns of military equipment destroyed and constant attacks from swarms of Russian drones.

The soldiers, who spoke over social media, were given aliases to protect their identity. Some gave accounts of a “collapse” as Ukraine lost Sudzha, the largest town it held.

Ukrainian restrictions on travel to the front have meant it is not possible to get a full picture of the situation. But this is how five Ukrainian soldiers described to us what had happened.

On 9 March, “Volodymyr” sent a Telegram post to the BBC saying he was still in Sudzha, where there was “panic and collapse of the front”.

Ukrainian troops “are trying to leave – columns of troops and equipment. Some of them are burned by Russian drones on the road. It is impossible to leave during the day.”

Movement of men, logistics and equipment had been reliant on one major route between Sudzha and Ukraine’s Sumy region.

Volodymyr said it was possible to travel on that road relatively safely a month ago. By 9 March it was “all under the fire control of the enemy – drones around the clock. In one minute you can see two to three drones. That’s a lot,” he said.

“We have all the logistics here on one Sudzha-Sumy highway. And everyone knew that the [Russians] would try to cut it. But this again came as a surprise to our command.”

At the time of writing, just before Russia retook Sudzha, Volodymyr said Ukrainian forces were being pressed from three sides.

By 11 March, Ukrainian forces were battling to prevent the road being cut, according to Telegram messages from “Maksym”.

“A few days ago, we received an order to leave the defence lines in an organised retreat,” he said, adding that Russia had amassed a significant force to retake the town, “including large numbers of North Korean soldiers”.

Military experts estimate Russia had amassed a force of up to 70,000 troops to retake Kursk – including about 12,000 North Koreans.

Russia had also sent its best drone units to the front and was using kamikaze and first-person-view (FPV) variants to “take fire control of the main logistics routes”.

They included drones linked to operators by fibre-optic wires – which are impossible to jam with electronic counter-measures.

Maksym said as a result “the enemy managed to destroy dozens of units of equipment”, and that wrecks had “created congestion on supply routes”.

The situation on that day, 11 March, was described as “catastrophic” by “Anton”.

The third soldier spoken to by the BBC was serving in the headquarters for the Kursk front.

He too highlighted the damage caused by Russian FPV drones. “We used to have an advantage in drones, now we do not,” he said. He added that Russia had an advantage with more accurate air strikes and a greater number of troops.

Anton said supply routes had been cut. “Logistics no longer work – organised deliveries of weapons, ammunition, food and water are no longer possible.”

Anton said he managed to leave Sudzha by foot, at night – “We almost died several times. Drones are in the sky all the time.”

The soldier predicted Ukraine’s entire foothold in Kursk would be lost but that “from a military point of view, the Kursk direction has exhausted itself. There is no point in keeping it any more”.

Western officials estimate that Ukraine’s Kursk offensive involved about 12,000 troops. They were some of their best-trained soldiers, equipped with Western-supplied weapons including tanks and armoured vehicles.

Russian bloggers published videos showing some of that equipment being destroyed or captured. On 13 March, Russia said the situation in Kursk was “fully under our control” and that Ukraine had “abandoned” much of its material.

In social media posts on 11-12 March, a fourth solider, “Dmytro” likened the retreat from the front to “a scene from a horror movie”.

“The roads are littered with hundreds of destroyed cars, armoured vehicles and ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles). There are a lot of wounded and dead.”

Vehicles were often hunted by multiple drones, he said.

He described his own narrow escape when the car he was travelling in got bogged down. He and his fellow soldiers were trying to push the vehicle free when they were targeted by another FPV drone.

It missed the vehicle, but injured one of his comrades. He said they had to hide in a forest for two hours before they were rescued.

Dmytro said many Ukrainians retreated on foot with “guys walking 15km to 20km”. The situation, he said, had turned from “difficult and critical to catastrophic”.

In a message on 14 March, Dmytro added: “Everything is finished in the Kursk region… the operation was not successful.”

He estimated that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers had died since the first crossing into Russia in August.

A fifth soldier sounded less gloomy about the situation. On 13 March, “Artem” sent a Telegram message from a military hospital, where he was being treated for shrapnel wounds suffered in a drone attack.

Artem said he had been fighting further west – near the village of Loknya, where Ukrainian forces were putting up a stiff resistance and “fighting like lions”.

He believed the operation had achieved some success.

“It’s important that so far the Armed Forces of Ukraine have created this buffer zone, thanks to which the Russians cannot enter Sumy,” he said.

Ukraine’s top general, Oleksandr Syrskyi, insists that Ukrainian forces have pulled back to “more favourable positions”, remain in Kursk, and would do so “for as long as it is expedient and necessary”.

He said Russia had suffered more than 50,000 losses during the operation – including those killed, injured or captured.

However, the situation now is very different to last August. Military analysts estimate two-thirds of the 1,000 sq km gained at the outset have since been lost.

Any hopes that Ukraine would be able to trade Kursk territory for some of its own have significantly diminished.

Last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he believed the Kursk operation had “accomplished its task” by forcing Russia to pull troops from the east and relieve pressure on Pokrovsk.

But it is not yet clear at what cost.

Two European politicians, dressed symbolically in red and white, sent a message last week to Canada on social media declaring “we’ve got your back”.

Also signalling support was King Charles, who planted a red maple tree on the grounds of Buckingham Palace and wore his Canadian medals during a high-profile visit to a naval warship.

Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney has arrived in Paris before heading to London on Monday – a day after his 60th birthday – for his first foreign visit hoping to achieve more than symbolic encouragement. He wants solid support from allies.

Not only is Canada being targeted, like Europe, by a raft of swingeing US tariffs, but Donald Trump is making it clear he wants to take over his northern neighbour.

“We appreciate all the symbolic gestures but we need more public backing,” a Canadian official told me in a voice which underlined the nervous disbelief shared by most Canadians – Trump is not joking when he calls Canada the United States’s “51st state”.

The official messaging from Ottawa about Carney’s trip underlines his priorities – finance and fortifying security – a natural fit for the economist who headed the central banks in both Canada and the UK. A statement from his office said his visit is meant “to strengthen two of our closest and longest-standing economic and security partnerships”.

His itinerary is full of great symbolism too.

Carney revealed it on Friday during his first speech as prime minister when he hearkened back – with a shiny polish – to the origins of this former colony. He hailed “the wonder of a country built on the bedrock of three peoples: indigenous, French and British”.

So there’s a third destination on this whistle-stop tour – Iqaluit, the capital of Canada’s northernmost territory of Nunavut and homeland of its Inuit people. That stop, the statement emphasised, was to “reaffirm Canada’s Arctic security and sovereignty”.

Spectacular Arctic and northern terrain makes up 40% of the land mass of the world’s second largest country. Protecting it is a critical Canadian concern in the midst of intensifying rivalry among world powers in the Arctic region, which has drawn in the US, Russia, China and more; it’s the cold war of all cold wars.

And there’s a personal twist. Carney was born in the small town of Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories, which lies next to Nunavut.

His schedule underlines that he also needs to be a quick study in a new skill – retail politics. A federal election, which has to be held by October, is expected to be called very soon. Carney needs to prove that he can engage with voters, in English and French, as naturally as he does with bankers and finance bosses.

And he needs a proper political mandate. He secured a whopping 86% of the vote when his Liberal Party chose to replace Justin Trudeau, who stepped down as prime minister amid growing calls to resign from his own party after a decade at the top.

But Carney doesn’t have a seat in parliament; he still doesn’t have the vote of Canadians.

His Liberal party has just experienced a dramatic reversal, a “Trump bump” as well as a Trudeau one. The party which seemed certain to lose, and lose badly, is now tied with its main Conservative rivals in the polls.

Looking like a world leader, and understanding the world of tariffs and trade, is a good look when you are running for high office in the dark shadow of an external threat.

“I think part of the purpose of Mark Carney’s trip to Europe is to show that he can talk internationally to other like-minded powers at this very important moment,” reflects the eminent Canadian historian Margaret MacMillan.

Back home, voters will decide if that is what counts.

Carney is certain to talk Trump tactics, in private, with France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Britain’s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. They’ve both taken great pains to flatter the US president in public, and press their case behind closed doors.

Many will be watching to see how Trump addresses Mark Carney – he recently referred to Canada’s former prime minister as “Governor Trudeau”.

• Watch: Trump and Macron’s history of intense handshakes

Canada’s new top talker has been talking tough.

A week ago, when Carney won his party’s leadership contest, he invoked Canada’s national sport, ice hockey, which has long been locked in rivalry with US teams. “Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves,” Carney declared to rousing applause.

“Make no mistake, Canada will win.”

But everyone knows this is no game. Carney described this escalating trade war as “the greatest crisis of our lifetime”. More than 80% of Canada’s exports cross the border to the US.

And while there have been a few reports of Canadians flying the US flag, a recent poll by the Angus Reid Institute underlined that a thumping 91% of Canadians reject becoming the 51st state.

• Canada says too little, too late as Trump flip-flops on tariffs

On Friday, in Ottawa’s icy cold weather, Carney struck a warmer tone, highlighting how he and Trump share a background in business, including real estate.

“The president is a successful businessperson and dealmaker. We are his largest client in so many industries,” he remarked. “Clients expect respect and working together in a proper commercial way.”

Carney says he “looks forward” to speaking with President Trump. But the fact it will be a call, not a visit, is a measure of this moment. Traditionally, the first foreign visit of a Canadian leader is to the US – its closest neighbour and most trusted partner.

On Monday, Carney is expected to sit down with King Charles, Canada’s head of state. The British monarch recently expressed his “deepest affection” for Canada, and is said to have already penned a private letter to the new prime minister.

In his non-political role, showing love in public may be the limits of the King’s power. But even that sends a message to the American president.

Sir Keir has described Canada as “an ally, and a very important ally too”. But last week, the head of Britain’s Liberal Democrats Ed Davey called on him to show more public support for Canada to oppose the “shocking attacks” on its sovereignty.

This may be a week of that old adage in diplomacy and politics – “to do something and be seen to be doing it”.

US President Donald Trump’s escalating trade tariffs will hit world growth and raise inflation, the OECD has predicted in its latest forecast.

Canada and Mexico are forecast to see the biggest impact as they have had the harshest tariffs imposed on them, but US growth is also expected to be hit.

The OECD has more than halved its growth outlook for Canada for this year and next, while it expects Mexico to be pushed into a recession.

Trump has imposed 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports. The US has also imposed 25% tariffs on other imports from Mexico and Canada – with some exemptions – and a 20% levy on Chinese goods.

In response, Canada and the EU have both announced retaliatory tariffs.

The Paris-based OECD said the higher trade barriers and “increased geopolitical and policy uncertainty” were hitting investment and household spending.

In the OECD’s latest forecast:

• Canada’s economy is predicted to grow by just 0.7% this year and in 2026, compared with the previous forecast of 2% for both years
• Mexico is now forecast to contract by 1.3% this year and shrink a further 0.6% next year, instead of growing by 1.2% and 1.6% as previously expected
• Growth in the US has also been downgraded, with growth of 2.2% expected this year and 1.6% in 2025, down from previous forecasts of 2.4% and 2.1%
• Despite the US imposing tariffs on China, the OECD has increased its growth forecast for the country slightly to 4.8%.

The OECD said the developing trade war was set to push up inflation, which will mean interest rates are likely to remain higher for longer.

“Significant risks remain,” it warned. “Further fragmentation of the global economy is a key concern.

“Higher and broader increases in trade barriers would hit growth around the world and add to inflation”.

The OECD said that for the world economy, growth would slow from 3.2% in 2024 to 3.1% in 2025, largely as a result of the trade tensions.

It also said it expected inflation – the rate of price increases – to continue to slow, though not as much as previously anticipated.

The organisation is predicting inflation of 3.8% this year across 20 of the world’s largest economies, compared with the 3.5% it had previously forecast.

Last week, Elon Musk’s electric car firm Tesla warned that it, and other US exporters, could be harmed by the trade battle.

In a letter to the US trade representative, the firm said US exporters were “exposed to disproportionate impacts” if other countries retaliated to Trump’s tariffs.

The OECD cut its growth forecast for the UK’s economy to 1.4% in 2025, from its previous forecast of 1.7%, and to 1.2% in 2026, down from 1.3%.

However, the forecast is more optimistic than the Bank of England, which earlier this month cut its UK growth forecast for 2025 to 0.75%.

The dramatic political developments in Bangladesh that led to prime minister Sheikh Hasina being ousted last year have thrown up many surprises – including Dhaka’s growing closeness with one-time foe Pakistan.

Last month, after decades of troubled relations, the two countries began directly trading for the first time, with Dhaka importing 50,000 tonnes of rice from Pakistan. Direct flights and military contacts have also been revived, visa procedures have been simplified, and there are reports of co-operation on security matters.

The countries – separated by the landmass of India – have deep, painful historical ties. The animosity between them goes back to 1971, when Bangladesh – then known as East Pakistan – launched a struggle to gain independence from Islamabad. India supported the Bengali rebels during the nine-month war which led to the formation of Bangladesh.

While the scars from that period run deep, Dhaka had cordial relations with Islamabad between 2001 and 2006, when a coalition of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami governed the country.

This changed during Hasina’s 15-year rule from 2009 – when she was strongly backed by Delhi and maintained a distance from Pakistan. But after she fled to India following mass protests against her government, ties seem to be thawing.

“For the past 15 years, the Pakistan-Bangladesh relationship was on a slightly difficult trajectory,” says Humayun Kabir, a former senior Bangladeshi diplomat, adding that the relationship seems to now be returning to that of “two normal neighbours”.

The developments are being watched closely, particularly in India, which has a long history of hostile relations with Pakistan.

Relations between Dhaka and Delhi have been frosty since Hasina’s exit. India has not reacted to Bangladesh’s demands to extradite her to face charges of crimes against humanity, money laundering and corruption. Hasina denies the accusations against her.

Some experts think the reviving of relations between Dhaka and Islamabad is a strategic move.

“Pakistan and Bangladesh have a tactical relationship at the moment. Together, they want to represent a pushback against the dominance of India,” says Ayesha Siddiqa, a Pakistani academic who is a senior fellow at King’s College in London.

There have been other developments apart from starting direct trade.

Muhammad Yunus, head of the interim Bangladesh government, met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at multilateral forums several times in recent months.

And then there is a growing military relationship.

A high-level Bangladeshi military delegation made a rare visit to Pakistan in January and held talks with influential army chief General Asim Munir. The Bangladeshi navy also participated in a multinational maritime exercise organised by Pakistan off the Karachi coast in February. .

Veena Sikri, who was India’s high commissioner to Bangladesh between 2003 and 2006, describes the growing closeness between Dhaka and Islamabad as a “déjà vu” moment.

During her tenure in Dhaka, she said, India repeatedly raised the issue of “Indian insurgents getting trained inside Bangladesh with the support of the ISI [Pakistan’s intelligence agency] and a section of the Bangladeshi military”.

“We even provided evidence to Bangladeshi authorities,” she said.

Authorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh denied these allegations at the time.

The long, porous border between India and Bangladesh makes it relatively easy for armed insurgent groups from India’s north-eastern states to cross over from Bangladesh. But, after Hasina’s Awami League came to power in 2009, it cracked down on these groups and dismantled their bases.

So the revival of military ties between Bangladesh and Pakistan is “a major security concern for India”, says Ms Sikri.

“It’s not just the military relationship. The Pakistani establishment is also reviving ties with Bangladeshi Islamist parties like the Jamaat-e-Islami, which supported Islamabad during Bangladesh’s independence war,” she adds.

The Yunus administration’s press office has flatly rejected Indian media reports that senior ISI officials have visited Dhaka. It has also described reports that claim Pakistani operatives were working to reopen a camp of an Indian insurgent group in Bangladesh as “baseless”.

Pakistan’s military did not respond to BBC questions on India’s concerns over the future role of the ISI in Bangladesh.

Analysts say Bangladeshi politicians are aware that, given the close economic and linguistic ties, Dhaka cannot afford to take an anti-India stance.

And despite apprehensions in Delhi, Bangladeshi diplomats argue that ties with Pakistan cannot be normalised unless issues related to the 1971 war are resolved.

During the war, hundreds of thousands of Bengalis were killed and tens of thousands of women were raped. The war ended with more than 90,000 Pakistani security and civilian personnel surrendering to the joint command of Indian and Bangladeshi forces in what is seen as a humiliating chapter in Islamabad.

Bangladesh has demanded a formal apology from Pakistan for the atrocities committed during the war but Islamabad has shown no inclination to do so.

“Pakistan needs to own the crimes that had taken place during the independence war,” said Mr Kabir, the former Bangladeshi diplomat. “We had also raised the issue of the division of pre-1971 assets between the two nations in several bilateral meetings with Pakistan.”

Even former Pakistani military officers like Ikram Sehgal accept that “the main stumbling block in bilateral ties is the requirement of the Bangladeshis that Pakistanis should apologise for what happened in 1971”.

However, the retired Pakistan army major insists that Bangladesh should also address the issue of attacks by Bengalis on Urdu speakers during the struggle for independence.

“I was a witness to the atrocities that took place against the Urdu-speaking Bihari people [in East Pakistan],” Mr Sehgal, who now lives in Karachi, told the BBC.

While history casts a shadow over ties between Dhaka and Islamabad, economists point out the two countries can first focus on improving bilateral trade, which currently stands at less than $700m (£540m), mostly in favour of Pakistan.

“Pakistan’s more than 250 million population is a solid market for Bangladesh in the medium to long term,” says Sabrin Beg, an associate professor of economics at the University of Delaware.

Currently, there are constraints including high tariffs on both sides and businesses and exporters face visa and travel obstacles, she points out. However, Ms Beg says “improved bilateral political and trade relations will ease these constraints”.

Some of these issues may be discussed during Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar’s visit to Dhaka in April. By the end of the year Bangladesh is expected to hold general elections and a new government may have a different set of foreign policy priorities.

But, whatever happens, the stakes are high for Delhi, which strongly feels that a stable and friendly Bangladesh is necessary to maintain peace and stability in its north-eastern states.

Hong Kong property tycoon Lee Shau-kee, who was once the richest man in Asia, has died at the age of 97.

The announcement was made by his property firm Henderson Land Development, of which he was chairman for more than 40 years.

The company said in a statement that Lee had died “in the company of his family” but did not specify a cause.

He was one of the city’s richest men. In February, Forbes put his net worth at just under $30bn (£23bn).

Lee was born in China’s southern Guangdong Province and moved to Hong Kong as a young man, where he began his business career in gold and foreign currency exchange before switching to real estate.

He established Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) – one of the city’s largest property developers – in 1958, alongside two other founders.

Lee – who was nicknamed “Uncle Four” as he was the fourth eldest of his siblings – then struck out on his own in 1976 and founded Henderson Land Development, which his two sons took over following his retirement in 2019.

In 1996, he was named the richest man in Asia and the world’s fourth wealthiest person.

He was also a philanthropist and made significant contributions to education centres and to programmes aimed at job development. In 2007, he was awarded Hong Kong’s highest honour – the Grand Bauhinia Medal – in recognition for his contributions to society.

“Dr Lee was an outstanding business leader and entrepreneur who had made significant contributions to Hong Kong’s economic development, as well as the city’s prosperity and stability,” the city’s Chief Executive John Lee said in a statement.

The White House has denied an accusation from rights groups that it flouted due process by defying a judge’s order while carrying out deportations at the weekend.

A group of 238 alleged Venezuelan gang members, plus 23 alleged members of the international MS-13 gang, were sent from the US to a prison in El Salvador. Some were removed from the country under a law not used since World War Two.

The move came despite a temporary block issued by a judge. The White House said the judge’s order itself was not lawful and was issued after the group was deported.

Neither the US government nor El Salvador has identified the detainees, or provided details of their alleged criminality or gang membership.

Announcing the move on Saturday, Trump accused Tren de Aragua (TdA) of “perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States”.

He invoked the Alien Enemies Act – a piece of legislation that dates to 1798, which was designed to allow non-citizens to be deported in times of war or invasion. Campaigners have questioned Trump’s justification.

The act was used to process 137 of the total of 261 people who were deported, a senior administration official told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

The basis on which the other deportees were removed from the US remains unclear, and details of the group as a whole have not been disclosed.

Several relatives of men believed to be among the group told the New York Times that their loved ones did not have gang ties.

The order to halt the deportations came from US District Judge James Boasberg on Saturday evening, who demanded a 14-day pause pending further legal arguments.

After lawyers told him that planes with deportees had already taken off, the judge reportedly gave a verbal order for the flights to turn back, although that directive did not form part of his written ruling.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied the court ruling had been broken. “The administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order,” she said.

“The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA [Tren de Aragua] aliens had already been removed from US territory.”

The justice department echoed Leavitt, saying the deportees had already left before the judge’s ruling – which it has appealed against.

The case raises constitutional questions since, under the US system of checks and balances, government agencies are expected to comply with a federal judge’s ruling.

• US deports hundreds of Venezuelans despite court order
• What is Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang targeted by Trump?

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele confirmed the arrival of deportees. “Oopsie… Too late,” he said of the judge’s order, writing on social media. His team also published footage of some of the men inside one of its mega-jails.

Rights groups accused Trump of using a 227-year-old law to circumvent due process.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) questioned Trump’s use of a sweeping wartime authority which allows fast-track deportations. “I think we’re in very dangerous territory here in the United States with the invocation of this law,” said Lee Gelernt from the organisation.

The Alien Enemies Act only allowed deportations when the US was in a declared war with that foreign government, or was being invaded, Mr Gelernt said. “A gang is not invading,” he told BBC News.

The act was last used during World War Two to intern Japanese-American civilians.

Making matters worse was the fact “the administration is saying nobody can review what they’re doing”, Mr Gelernt added.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International USA said the deportations were “yet another example of the Trump administration’s racist targeting” of Venezuelans “based on sweeping claims of gang affiliation”.

Venezuela itself criticised Trump, saying he “unjustly criminalises Venezuelan migration”.

The latest deportations under Trump’s second term are part of the president’s long-running campaign against illegal immigration.

The US president has also moved to strengthen ties with El Salvador.

The two gangs targeted with the weekend deportations were declared “foreign terrorist organisations” by Trump after returning to the White House in January.

Award-winning Belgian actress Émilie Dequenne has died from cancer at the age of 43.

Dequenne shot to fame when she won the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival at the age of 18 for the film Rosetta in 1999.

She won another Cannes award for À Perdre la Raison (Our Children) in 2012, and received a Cesar, one of France’s top film honours, for Les Choses Qu’on Dit, les Choses Qu’on Fait (The Things We Say, the Things We Do) in 2021.

She mainly acted in French-language films but also appeared as police officer Laurence Relaud in 2014 BBC TV drama The Missing.

Rosetta, a poignant tale about a teenager’s struggle to overcome a life of misery, was Dequenne’s first screen role.

She had been unemployed after losing her job in a food factory when she was picked for the role.

“The first day she filmed in front of a real camera, she managed to bring the whole team together,” Luc Dardenne, who directed it with his brother Jean-Pierre, said in a tribute to broadcaster RTBF.

“It got better and better as the shoot progressed… She was magnificent and the film owes a lot to her.”

In The Missing, she played Laurence Relaud, which starred James Nesbitt as the father of a boy who disappears during a family holiday.

Her other films included 2009’s La fille du RER (The Girl on the Train), 2014’s Pas Son Genre (Not My Type) and 2022 Cannes nominee Close.

Others paying tribute included French Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, who wrote: “Francophone cinema has lost, too soon, a talented actress who still had so much to offer.”

Dequenne revealed in October 2023 that she was suffering from adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC), a cancer of the adrenal gland.

In one of her last Instagram posts, for World Cancer Day in February, she wrote: “What a tough fight! And we don’t choose…”

A British tourist has been reported missing in Thailand after a boat caught fire and sank off the coast of the island of Koh Tao.

The Surat Thani Provincial Public Relations Office said 26-year-old Alexandra Clarke from Lambeth, south London, was on board when the fire occurred in the ship’s engine room after 09:00 ITC (02:00 GMT) on Sunday.

Koh Tao Police said it believed fuel in the boat’s tank had overflowed when it was refilled during the journey, and set alight when the boat was started again.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British woman who is missing in Thailand and are in contact with local authorities.”

The provincial office’s Facebook post said: “After receiving the report (of the fire), the Surat Thani Provincial Marine Office coordinated with private boats and volunteers to quickly help evacuate tourists and crew to another boat safely.”

It added: “One tourist is missing, a female named Alexandra Clarke, a British national.

“The authorities therefore organised a search team for the missing person.”

Thai navy divers spent the day searching the wreckage of the boat and the surrounding seas but found no trace of the missing woman, who police said was thought to have been in the boat’s toilet when the fire broke out.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation but according to police, it broke out when an engine used to compress air into a fuel tank ran out during a trip to a popular dive spot in the Gulf of Thailand.

Col Sarayuth Buriwachira from Koh Tao Police said the tourists and diving instructors had been taken to the Southwest Pinnacle at about 07:30.

He said that at about 10:00 “an employee on the ship whose duty was to fill the air tank took extra gasoline to fill the engine tank above the amount until the gasoline overflowed and spilled”.

“When he started the engine, a spark occurred, causing the engine to catch fire and spread, causing the entire ship to burn and eventually sink into the sea.”

The fire spread quickly, he added, engulfing the engine room and forcing the divers, instructors and crew to jump into the sea.

He confirmed the search for Ms Clarke would resume on Tuesday morning.

The Thai government has frequently promised to improve maritime safety, in particular after 46 Chinese tourists died seven years ago when their boat capsized near Phuket, yet there have been several fatal accidents since then.

Last year more than 100 passengers had to leap into the sea from a ferry heading to Koh Tao after it was consumed by a fire.

Villagers say a “gigantic mega-shed” built near their homes has blocked their view and left them feeling like they are in a prison camp. What is life like for them, and what can they do about it?

Work on the warehouse at Nacton, near Ipswich, began last year.

The size of six full-size football pitches, it is about 147m (482ft) wide, more than 300m (984ft) long and, at 21m (69ft) tall, towers over nearby gardens.

East Suffolk Council approved final plans for the structure at Equation Properties’ Orwell Logistics Park in late 2021.

The authority says the decision was properly made, but neighbours argue it was “fundamentally wrong”.

They have branded it a “monstrosity” and some say it has reduced them to tears.

“It’s a gigantic mega-shed and, essentially, it is the wrong development, in the wrong location, and that was clear to anyone with common sense,” says Adrian Day, 66.

He says developers rejected a request to put up cherry-pickers that would have given councillors a better idea of its potential size and impact.

“I think local planning is all done just to give local people the illusion that their opinion counts, because what they’ve done is inconsiderate and disrespectful,” he says.

The structure, still under construction, sits parallel to a railway line and about 40-50m (130-165ft) from the back gardens of some homes in Felixstowe Road, which, despite their Nacton postal addresses, are actually within the parish of Foxhall.

The warehouse, adjacent to the A14, was advertised as having 424 car parking spaces, and 120 bays for lorries.

It is not yet known what will be stored in the building.

Once complete, it will be one of three warehouses there, but neighbours say planners could never truly have envisaged just how big it would be.

“We used to have views behind us of trees and fields, but now every time you look out the windows of your house, it looks like a stormy day – it’s horrible,” says Alan Thomas, 61.

“And we barely get any sun, but nothing we have ever said to the council has been taken note of. It’s completely ridiculous and absolutely crazy.”

The original outline planning application, which included since-axed plans for a fourth warehouse, received 29 letters of objection and an objection from Foxhall Parish Council, but was approved in 2018.

“When I applied for an extension, they turned me down multiple times on lots of things, and now they have just gone ahead and let them build this monstrosity,” adds Mr Thomas.

In an online brochure for the development, Equation Properties said tenants would benefit from 24/7 access.

“So that means we’re going to see lights and hear lorries and cars and clanking about,” says Jenny Upson, 74, a Felixstowe Road resident for 17 years.

She says the building is an “abomination” and adds: “We were semi-rural but now we are at the edge of an industrial estate.

“We’re having to try to live with it but it’s difficult. It’s horrendous.”

During the building of the warehouse, residents could not open their doors due to the amount of dust being generated, they say.

One resident, who did not wish to be named, said the vibrations killed the bees in his hives.

Jim Snell, 74, a resident for 22 years, says sounds from trains reverberate off the warehouse and disturb the peace.

“It has been absolutely horrendous for all of us and there has been scant regard given for anything we’ve said,” he says.

Like his neighbours, he is unhappy about the lack of a graduated colour scheme, meaning the building struggles to blend in.

“When we first moved in, everything was geared to looking down the garden, but now all you see is this battleship-grey band along the top of a warehouse,” he says.

Dave Ward, 72, says: “It looks like there is a thunderstorm all the time and we never see a sunset anymore because it goes down behind the building.

“We all complained, way before it even started being built, but there’s always a reason why you’re wrong and they’re right. At the end of the day, it’s all about money.

“We bought our home eight years ago as our last property, but I think we will end up moving now. You don’t buy a south-facing property just to look at a wall.”

Some residents say the building is taking an emotional toll and affecting their mental health.

Sheila Snell, 69, says she has “shed quite a few tears”.

“I’m absolutely devastated because all I see is what is like a prison wall at the end of my garden, so it is like being in a prison camp,” she says.

“It’s like living in a grey day, every day. Who is going to want to buy something that looks on to a huge steel wall?”

She fears the value of her home might be affected, but according to Rightmove, the average sale price of a house in Felixstowe Road over the last year was £650,000 – 20% higher than the previous year.

So what, if anything can be done?

Amy Richardson, a partner in the planning law team at Ashtons Legal, says residents’ only possible form of redress could be a “token gesture” of compensation, for which an ombudsman could lobby on their behalf.

“The difficulty is a homeowner can’t protect a view, [even] when planning applications are submitted in close proximity to dwellings and it’s going to have an impact,” she says.

In this case, she says, it appears the council did consider the impact on residents but made a planning judgement that it would not cause sufficient harm.

“Unfortunately, on this one, there is no magic wand that can be waved to help the homeowners out in any way,” she says.

While she acknowledges a possible effect on house prices, she believes their value will stabilise as the warehouse “settles into its environment”.

“New people who come in will not know any different and some people won’t care [about the warehouse]. But this one, yes; it’s not very pleasant,” she says.

Last year the decision to grant planning permission for a huge warehouse next to homes in Corby, Northamptonshire, was ruled to have not complied with the law.

Earlier, in 2021, a review into how a warehouse was allowed to be built in Milton Keynes found planning conditions were missed due to “human error”.

East Suffolk Council, however, is confident it followed the correct procedure here.

“Members of the planning committee, many of whom have strong local knowledge, visited the site and neighbouring properties on two occasions,” a spokesperson says.

“They considered the representations received and heard directly from neighbours in the planning committee meetings.

“The planning decision was made in accordance with the development plan and planning legislation.

“The impact of any development on private property values is not a material planning consideration which affects decision making.

“If it was felt that there had been procedural errors in this planning decision, there was an option to request a judicial review within six weeks of the decision date.

“No judicial review was requested.”

Despite this, the BBC understands many residents have lodged formal complaints with the authority, and some are seeking compensation.

“This application was fully and properly assessed in its impact on neighbours, and we do not believe there was any fault in the decision-making process,” the spokesperson adds.

“All complainants have been provided with information summarising the decision-making process and the considerations applied.”

Labour MP for Suffolk Coastal, Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, says she recently met residents and had also been in contact with the warehouse’s developers.

She says she wanted “to make sure that the concerns that the residents have are heard and understood”.

Equation Properties was contacted for comment.

US President Donald Trump has signed an order to strip back federally funded news organisation Voice of America, accusing it of being “anti-Trump” and “radical”.

A White House statement said the order would “ensure taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda”, and included quotes from politicians and right-wing media criticising the broadcaster.

VOA, still primarily a radio service, was set up during World War Two to counter Nazi propaganda. It says it currently reaches hundreds of millions of people globally each week.

Mike Abramowitz, VOA’s director, said he and virtually his entire staff of 1,300 people had been put on paid leave.

Abramowitz said that the order left VOA unable to carry out its “vital mission… especially critical today, when America’s adversaries, like Iran, China, and Russia, are sinking billions of dollars into creating false narratives to discredit the United States”.

The National Press Club, a leading representative group for US journalists, said the order “undermines America’s long-standing commitment to a free and independent press”.

It added: “If an entire newsroom can be sidelined overnight, what does that say about the state of press freedom?

“An entire institution is being dismantled piece by piece. This isn’t just a staffing decision – it’s a fundamental shift that endangers the future of independent journalism at VOA.”

The president’s order targets VOA’s parent company US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which also funds non-profit entities such as Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia, which were originally set up to counter communism.

It tells managers to “reduce performance… to the minimum presence and function required by law”.

CBS, the BBC’s US news partner, said that VOA employees were notified in an email by Crystal Thomas, the USAGM human resources director.

A source told CBS that all freelance workers and international contractors were told there was now no money to pay them.

Emails obtained by CBS notified the bosses of Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that their federal grants had been terminated.

VOA and other stations under USAGM say they serve more than 400 million listeners. They are broadly equivalent to the BBC World Service, which is part-funded by the British government.

The Czech Republic’s Foreign Minister, Jan Lipavský, said he hoped the European Union could help keep Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty running in Prague.

He said he would ask European foreign ministers at a meeting on Monday to find ways to at least partially maintain the broadcaster’s operations.

Elon Musk, the billionaire and top adviser to Trump who has been overseeing sweeping cuts to the US government, has used his social media platform X to call for VOA to be shut down.

The US president also cut funding to several other federal agencies – including those responsible for preventing homelessness, and funding museums and libraries.

Trump was highly critical of VOA in his first term. He has recently appointed staunch loyalist Kari Lake to be a special adviser for the USAGM.

The president regularly states that mainstream media outlets are biased against him. He called CNN and MSNBC “corrupt” during a speech at the justice department.

Voice of America launched in 1942 with a mandate to combat Nazi and Japanese propaganda. Its first broadcast – made on a transmitter loaned to the US by the BBC – stated a modest purpose.

Gerald Ford, a former president, signed VOA’s public charter in 1976 to safeguard its editorial independence.

By 1994, the Broadcast Board of Governors, with oversight over non-military broadcasting, was established.

In 2013, a shift in legislation allowed VOA and affiliates to begin broadcasting in the US.