Mother-of-two Sonya Massey, 36, was fatally shot on 6 July 2024 at her home near Springfield, Illinois, after calling 911 about a possible prowler.

Ex-officer Sean Grayson, 31, said he opened fire because he thought Massey was about to throw a pot of boiling water on him.

He was charged with first-degree murder, but the jury was allowed to convict him of the lesser charge of second-degree murder. Grayson faces up to 20 years in prison.

The killing reignited the debate about police brutality in the US, with then-President Joe Biden saying Massey “should be alive today”. Massey was black and Grayson is white.

Prosecutor John Milhiser said in his closing argument to the jury that Grayson had lost control and “snapped”.

“These were not the actions of a scared young police officer doing a dangerous job,” Milhiser said. “These are the actions of a bully.”

The incident unfolded in the early hours over Independence Day weekend when Massey called police to her home in Springfield, 200 miles (320km) south of Chicago, to report that she believed someone had broken into her property.

Police bodycam footage of the incident showed the chaotic moments that led to the shooting.

Officers arrived at the home and followed Massey inside as she searched for her ID.

In the video, Grayson sees a pot sitting on a lit stove, gestures towards it and says: “We don’t need a fire while we’re here.”

Massey, who had received treatment for mental health issues, walks to the stove to remove the pot. She and Grayson appear to laugh over her pot of “steaming hot water”, before she twice says: “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”

“You better [expletive] not or I swear to God I’ll [expletive] shoot you in your [expletive] face,” Grayson says. He then draws his pistol as he shouts for her to drop the pot.

“OK, I’m sorry,” Massey is heard saying before she ducks.

He fired three shots, striking her in the face.

Afterwards, Grayson says: “What else do we do? I’m not taking hot [expletive] boiling water to the [expletive] face.”

As the other officer goes to get a medical kit, Grayson says: “She’s done. You can go get it, but that’s a head shot.”

Grayson, who was subsequently fired, took the stand in his own defence during the trial.

He told the court the bottom of the pot was red and he believed Massey’s words were a threat and she planned to throw the water at him.

But the jury deliberated for about 11 hours before returning their guilty verdict on Wednesday.

Personal injury lawyer Ben Crump, who has been representing the Massey family, said the verdict was “a measure of justice”, although he had hoped Grayson would be convicted of first-degree murder.

“Accountability has begun, and we now hope the court will impose a meaningful sentence that reflects the severity of these crimes and the life that was lost,” Crump said in a statement.

Grayson will be sentenced on 29 January.

Sangamon County, where the shooting happened, awarded the Massey family a $10m (£7.6m) settlement in February.

Source: BBC  

The new minister, R. Matenokay Tingban, served as deputy mining minister under former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

The decision to appoint him in place of the previous minister, Wilmot J.M. Paye, is part of moves to improve governance and efficiency, Boakai’s office said in a statement on Monday, without elaborating.

A second statement on Tuesday named a new head for the state mining regulator.

The changes come as Liberia seeks to attract foreign investment into its mining industry, which recently identified deposits of lithium, cobalt, manganese and rare earths, minerals vital for electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Liberian Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti in Washington on October 17 to discuss expanding U.S. participation in mining, the State Department said.

Tingban will oversee a ministry central to Liberia’s plans to boost investor confidence under Boakai’s “ARREST Agenda”, a five-year national development strategy.

Boakai also appointed new deputies at the mines and education ministries. Some of the appointments require Senate confirmation.

Iron ore remains Liberia’s top mineral export, with ArcelorMittal its largest mine and rail network, though gold has recently become a critical foreign exchange earner.

Other players in the minerals sector include Ivanhoe, Bea Mountain (Avesoro), MNG Gold and Hummingbird Resources.

Source: Reuters  

Earnings reports from Meta, Alphabet and Microsoft on Wednesday reaffirmed the colossal amounts of money these firms are shelling out for everything from data centres to chips, even as questions swirl about returns on the investments.

Meta said its capital expenditures for 2025 will be between $70bn (£53bn) and $72bn, up from an earlier estimate of $66bn to $72bn.

Its spending growth in 2026 is poised to be “notably larger” than this year, the company said. Meta is seeking to compete with companies like OpenAI.

On a call with analysts, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg defended the firm’s investments, saying he saw big opportunities ahead driven by AI, both in terms of new products and for honing its current business selling ads and feeding people content.

“The right thing to do is accelerate this,” he said, adding later: “We are sort of perennially operating the family of apps and ads business in a compute-starved state at this point.”

Google and YouTube owner Alphabet similarly raised its forecast for this year to $91bn to $93bn, up from an earlier outlook of $85bn in the summer, in the latest sign of its increasingly lofty spending goals,

That estimate is nearly double the capital expenditures that the company reported for 2024.

Microsoft’s capital expenditures in the quarter through to 30 September, including on data centres, totalled $34.9bn, the company reported on Wednesday – a larger spending figure than analysts had expected, and up from $24 billion in the previous quarter.

“We continue to increase our investments in AI across both capital and talent to meet the massive opportunity ahead,” Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, said.

Azure, the firm’s cloud computing unit, and Microsoft’s other AI products have a “real-world impact”, Mr Nadella said.

Exuberance among investors about massive AI spending has helped all three tech firms outperform the broader S&P 500 index.

But Wall Street is also focused on whether these firms’ investments are starting to yield tangible returns.

The two things holding up the US economy in the last several months have been consumers and AI-related business investments, said Aditya Bhave, senior US economist at Bank of America.

“To the extent that the latter remains strong, it’s a bullish signal for GDP growth,” he said.

Meta on Wednesday night reported a rise in its quarterly revenue, but its profits fell 83% year-over-year, down to $2.7bn, because of a one-time income tax charge.

Microsoft’s quarterly profits rose 12%, to $27.7bn. Alphabet reported a 33% rise in profit, to roughly $35bn.

Source: BBC  

“Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,” he wrote on social media just before meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.

The US has more nuclear weapons than any other country, Trump said, with Russia second and China a “distant third”. It has not conducted nuclear weapons testing since 1992.

It comes just days after Trump denounced Russia for testing a nuclear-powered missile, which reportedly has an unlimited range.

Trump’s post on Wednesday night acknowledges the “tremendous destructive power” of nuclear weapons, but said he had “no choice” but to update and renovate the US arsenal during his first term in office.

He also said that China’s nuclear programme “will be even within 5 years”.

Trump’s post did not include details of how the tests would occur, but wrote the “process will begin immediately”.

It marks an apparent reversal of a long-standing US policy. The last US nuclear weapons test was in 1992, before former Republican President George HW Bush issued a moratorium as the Cold War ended.

Trump’s post came just before Xi landed in South Korea for the first face-to-face meeting between the two since 2019. The post appeared as he was aboard a helicopter, Marine One, while en route to meet Xi at Gimhae International Airport.

The last time the US tested a nuclear bomb was 23 September 1992. The test took place at an underground facility in the western state of Nevada.

The project, code named Divider, was the 1,054th nuclear weapons test conducted by the US, according to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which played a central role in helping develop the world’s first atomic bomb.

The Nevada Test Site, 65 miles (105km) north of Las Vegas, is still operated by the US government.

“If deemed necessary, the site could be authorized again for nuclear weapons testing,” according to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, which is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.

Eyewitnesses said the suspect, a resident of Mamobi in the Ayawaso North Municipality, allegedly heated a metal object, suspected to be a spoon, and applied it to the victim’s private part as punishment.  

The injuries drew the attention of school authorities, who followed up on the matter, which had initially been kept discreet.  

School supplies

Following community concern, the case was reported to the Nima Division of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), leading to the suspect’s arrest last Thursday.  

However, the complainant, Sarki Musah Umar, a youth leader, withdrew the case on Monday after what he described as intense pressure from the victim’s family and community leaders.  

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, he said, “Financially I was incapable because I was the only one spending money from going to the hospital to the police station.”  

Imam Abdul Razak Iddriss of the Hamburg Mosque in Mamobi, during a lecture on Monday, called on well-meaning Ghanaians to intervene and demanded justice for the child.  

He criticised the police and community leaders for failing to protect the victim, stating, “No matter how poor you are, it is better to have your children closer to you and cater for them. Only a few children who grow up with guardians excel in life.”  

The Imam disclosed that GH¢2,000 had been raised to support the victim’s medical care at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.  

When contacted, DOVVSU at the Nima Division confirmed the case had been withdrawn but said they were monitoring the situation to ensure the child’s welfare.  

Source: GNA  

About three-quarters of the island is without power and many parts of its western side are under water, with homes destroyed by strong winds after Hurricane Melissa tore across the island with catastrophic force.

As wind and rain lashed through the night, one local official said the destruction resembled “the scene of an apocalypse movie.”

With communications crippled, the true scale of the disaster remains unknown. Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared the island a “disaster area” late Tuesday, warning of “devastating impacts” and “significant damage” to hospitals, homes and businesses.

Although no deaths have yet been confirmed, Montego Bay’s mayor Richard Vernon told the BBC his first task at daybreak would be “to check if everybody is alive.”

Hurricane Melissa, the strongest storm to strike Jamaica in modern history, barrelled across the country on Tuesday, leaving behind a trail of ruin.

At its peak, the hurricane sustained winds of 298 km/h (185 mph) – stronger than Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005 and killed 1,392 people.

“It resembled the scene of an apocalypse movie”, an MP in western Jamaica told Kingston-based journalist Kimone Francis of The Jamaica Gleaner.

Francis described the night as “stressful” and “intense”, marked by relentless heavy wind and rain.

“You don’t have a connection. You can’t speak to the people you normally speak to,” she told the BBC World Service’s Newsday programme.

Across Jamaica’s central parishes, Francis said, floodwaters rose to the roofs of two-storey homes.

One anonymous woman told the BBC: “There is water coming in through the roof of my house. I am not okay.”

While no fatalities had been confirmed, Jamaica’s prime minister told CNN he feared “there would be some loss of life.” Damage, he said, was widespread – hitting hospitals, schools, homes and businesses.

Local government minister Desmond Mckenzie said on Tuesday afternoon that the southwestern parish of St Elizabeth was “under water”, with at least three families trapped in their homes in the community of Black River.

“Rescue teams are struggling to reach them because of the dangerous conditions”, he said at a news conference.

Verna Genus was sheltering from the storm at her four bedroom home in the village of Carlisle, St Elizabeth, when the hurricane ripped the zinc roof off her house.

The 73-year-old vegetable farmer was in the house with her sons and baby grandchild when the hurricane made landfall over the area.

Verna has lost communications due to the power lines being down. But her UK-based sister, June Powell, spoke to the BBC about what happened.

“She was crying on the phone,” June said, adding: “You are huddled up inside and then you look up then the roof is gone. I have never heard her like that – she was wailing ‘we are all finished.'”

She is anxiously waiting for the communications networks to be restored so she can talk to her sister.

St Elizabeth, known as Jamaica’s breadbasket, produces much of the island’s produce. With crops submerged and fields destroyed, many farmers will struggle to financially recover.

0:40Watch: Floods hit Jamaica as Hurricane Melissa leaves trail of destruction

On the north coast, Montego Bay – the heart of Jamaica’s tourism industry and home to its main airport – will also take time to get back on its feet. This hurricane has put a hand around the neck of the Jamaican economy.

Montego city was split in two by floodwaters, Mayor Vernon said. He told BBC Breakfast: “Once the wind subsided, we started to get a lot of heavy rain and that has led to massive floods right across the city. One side of the city is now cut off from the other due to roads being inundated by flood water.”

His immediate concern, he added, was simple: “Check if everybody is alive.”

In rural Jamaica, the storm has left people shaken. Tamisha Lee, president of the Jamaica Network of Rural Women Producers, said: “Right now, what I’m seeing is heavy rain, powerful wind, a lot of things flying all over the place, and trees uprooted. There is no electricity. I am feeling anxious and tense. The damage will be enormous.”

Meteorologists said Hurricane Melissa intensified at a speed rarely seen, its rapid strengthening fuelled by abnormally warm Caribbean waters – part of a broader trend linked to climate change.

By the time it struck Jamaica, the storm had reached Category 5 strength, with gusts fierce enough to tear roofs from concrete homes, uproot trees and snap power poles.

Health officials even issued a crocodile warning, cautioning that floodwaters could drive the reptiles into residential areas.

For thousands of tourists caught on the island, the storm brought terror and uncertainty.

“I’ve never heard anything like it,” said Pia Chevallier from Cambridge, who travelled to Jamaica with her 15-year-old son on Saturday.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live from her darkened hotel room, she said: “The glass in the windows and patio doors was all vibrating. The doors sounded like they were slamming, even though they were closed. It was horrendous.”

She added: “There’s debris everywhere – palm trees, coconuts, branches, all over the place. The big palm trees with all the roots are up. That’s how strong the winds have been.”

On the north coast, Wayne Gibson, a British tourist from Kent holidaying in Ocho Rios with his wife and two teenage daughters, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that they were sheltering in a communal hall.

Kyle Holmes from Bolton, visiting Lucea in the north west, described the hotel as “a disaster zone” and said he had no idea when they will be able to get home.

Hurricane Melissa had moved on to make landfall in Cuba by early Wednesday morning, leaving Jamaica paralysed and silent. Though it has since weakened to a Category 3 hurricane, it remains powerful with wind speeds of over 200km/h (124mph).

Jamaica has a catastrophe bond – a type of insurance for the country – which will hopefully allow people to get back on their feet, but the issue is what’s done in the interim.

The 91-year-old writer said in 2016 that he had torn up his U.S. green card and renounced his American residency in protest at the first election of President Donald Trump.

The Nobel laureate has had regular teaching stints at America’s Ivy League universities since the mid-1990s following his Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.

On Tuesday, Soyinka showed reporters a copy of a letter from the U.S. Consulate General in Lagos asking him to bring his passport for physical cancellation of the visa.

The letter, dated October 23, said “additional information became available” after the visa was issued.

The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“I have no visa, I am banned obviously from the United States, and if you want to see me, you know where to find me,” he said, referring to people who planned to invite him to events in the U.S.

The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria said in July that Nigerians seeking to travel to the U.S. on non-immigrant visas would now receive single-entry three-month permits, rolling back the up to five-year, multiple-entry visas they had enjoyed previously.

Source: Reuters  

The Red Crescent in Sabratha, a coastal town some 76 km (47 miles) west of Tripoli, said it had received a report of the capsized boat late on Monday and carried out a rescue operation until early Tuesday morning.

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The bodies were recovered from the shore near the port of Surman, it said.

Pictures posted by the branch showed Red Crescent volunteers carrying the bodies and placing them in white plastic bags before loading them into the back of an ambulance as other rescue workers provided first aid to the survivors.

Earlier this month, a health ministry-run medical centre said the bodies of at least 61 migrants were recovered by medics over a two-week period in the coastal area between the Libyan towns of Zuwara and Ras Ijdir, near the border with Tunisia.

Since the fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi during a NATO-backed uprising in 2011, Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe across the Mediterranean.

Source: Reuters  

Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records by a unanimous jury in New York.

In December, citing Trump’s imminent return to the White House, a New York judge sentenced Trump to an unconditional discharge, meaning he would not serve time or pay a fine.

“This case should never have seen the inside of a courtroom, let alone resulted in a conviction,” Trump’s lawyers said in the latest filing.

They described the case as “the most politically charged prosecution in our nation’s history”.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office, which prosecuted Trump, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors alleged that in the days before the 2016 election, Trump instructed his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to pay $130,000 in hush money to the adult film star Stormy Daniels so she would stay silent about allegations of a sexual encounter with Trump.

Online movie streaming services

The hush-money payment was not illegal, but prosecutors said that when Trump reimbursed Cohen, the payments were fraudulently recorded as legal expenses in order to disguise their true nature.

The spring 2024 trial played out in tandem with Trump’s re-election campaign.

During the trial, prosecutors alleged that disguising the payments amounted to a form of election interference as they kept Daniels’ allegations from voters. Trump denied the charges and any wrongdoing.

A jury found Trump guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records that May, making him the first former or sitting US president to be convicted of a felony.

About a month after his conviction, the US Supreme Court ruled that US presidents had broad immunity from criminal prosecution for “official acts” undertaken during their presidency.

Trump’s lawyers in the Manhattan case then argued that the Supreme Court’s immunity finding should apply to Trump’s hush-money case, and that certain evidence from the trial should have been excluded because it stemmed from Trump’s first presidency.

Justice Juan Merchan, who oversaw Trump’s hush-money case, rejected the argument. But Trump’s team was long expected to appeal.

In their filings, Trump’s lawyer wrote that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “brought those charges in the middle of a contentious presidential election in which President Trump was the leading Republican candidate.

“These charges against President Trump were as unprecedented as their political context,” the lawyers wrote.

They argued that Trump’s actions had not violated New York law and are seeking to have the case dismissed.

The case will go before the New York Appellate Division, First Department.

In August, the same court threw out a $500 million civil fraud penalty against Trump that resulted from a separate civil case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

A panel of appellate judges upheld a lower court finding that Trump was liable for fraud, but found the enormous financial penalties the judge had issued were not justified.

Source: BBC  

The appointments mark a key moment in Madagascar’s political turmoil as the military consolidates power while it tries to address economic hardship and political divisions.

The military staged a coup earlier this month after Rajoelina fled the Indian Ocean island nation following weeks of youth-led protests. Colonel Michael Randrianirina was sworn in as interim president days later.

MILITARY-LED PANEL TO RULE FOR UP TO TWO YEARS

Randrianirina has said that a committee led by the military will rule for up to two years alongside a transitional government until new elections can be organised.

The cabinet of new Prime Minister Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo, announced on national broadcaster TVM, includes 25 civilians and four military or paramilitary officers.

Christine Razanamahasoa, who was stripped of her position as president of the national assembly by Rajoelina’s party last year, was named foreign minister, while Fanirisoa Ernaivo, a Rajoelina opponent living in exile, was named justice minister.

Economics professor Hery Ramiarison was appointed finance minister.

Security officials were appointed to the ministries of the armed forces, public security, land planning and the gendarmerie.

GOVERNMENT TO ADDRESS CHRONIC POWER, WATER SHORTAGES

The government will be tasked with addressing the chronic power and water shortages that triggered the protests against Rajoelina, as well as broader economic challenges.

Between 1960, when Madagascar won independence from France, and 2020, economic output per capita nearly halved, World Bank data shows.

There was no immediate reaction from protest leaders to the cabinet appointments.

Rajoelina, impeached by lawmakers after he fled abroad, has condemned the army takeover and refused to step down while in exile, despite the High Constitutional Court ratifying the new government.

Source: Reuters  

The man asked how long the King had known about his brother and Epstein, and questioned whether he had asked the police to “cover up” for Andrew.

His protest was met by vocal support for the King, including one woman who told him to “shut up.” There were also loud chants of “three cheers for the King.”

Prince Andrew’s links with Epstein have been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks. The prince, who relinquished his titles earlier this month, has strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Throngs of fans had waited to meet the King, who was visiting Staffordshire for an engagement at Lichfield Cathedral.

In video footage from the event, the single protester said, “How long have you known about Andrew and Epstein? Have you asked the police to cover up for Andrew?

“Should MPs be allowed to debate the royals in the House of Commons?”

The King did not respond to the questions but carried on greeting fans, some of whom chanted “God Save The King.” One fan can be heard asking him for a hug.

Several people outside the cathedral looked visibly annoyed by the protester, with a woman telling him to “go away and leave him alone.”

The scandal over Prince Andrew’s connections to Epstein has been reignited by sexual abuse allegations repeated in Virginia Giuffre’s posthumously published memoir.

In the memoir, Ms Giuffre says she had sex with the prince on three separate occasions, including once with Epstein and “eight other young girls.”

Andrew, who reached a financial settlement with Ms Giuffre in 2022, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. In 2019, he told BBC Newsnight he did not remember meeting Ms Giuffre “at all” and that they “never had any sort of sexual contact”.

Recently, fresh questions have been asked about how he is able to fund his lifestyle despite not being a working royal.

The revelation that he has only ever paid a token annual rent on his Windsor mansion, Royal Lodge, has intensified the scrutiny over his living arrangements – even though he made large payments up front, including for renovations.

The Liberal Democrats said he should be called in front of MPs to give evidence about his lease of his lodge.

But last Thursday, the government refused to give MPs time to debate the prince’s titles or his home, despite growing pressure for scrutiny.

Buckingham Palace has not commented on whether Prince Andrew might move out of his home – or where he might go.

Source: BBC

But Trump rejected the possibility of running for vice-president in 2028 – an idea floated by some supporters as a way for him to circumvent the US Constitution that bars the president from running for a third term.

Speaking to reporters during his trip to Asia, Trump described the idea as “too cute” and said it “wouldn’t be right.”

It is unclear what method he would use to run again. Last week, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon said that a “plan” was in place to secure the 79-year-old president another term.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to Japan from Malaysia, Trump said that while he would “be allowed” to run again as vice-president, he had no plans to do so.

“I think people wouldn’t like that,” he said. “It’s too cute. It wouldn’t be right.”

Talking about the possibility of a third term, Trump said: “I haven’t really thought about it. But I have the best poll numbers that I’ve ever had.”

Additionally, Trump also suggested Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as potential successors, calling them “unstoppable”.

“All I can tell you is that we have a great group of people, which they don’t,” he added, referring to Democrats.

The 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution bars presidents from seeking a third term.

Repealing the amendment would require approval from two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, or a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of state legislatures – a process viewed as highly unlikely.

The amendment would also need to have the backing of 38 states to ratify it, or make it officially valid.

Last week, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon – who remains a vocal supporter – claimed there was a “plan” to secure a third term for Trump.

“Trump is going to be president in ’28, and people ought to just get accommodated with that,” Bannon told The Economist. “At the appropriate time, we’ll lay out what the plan is.”

In March, Trump told CNBC he would “probably not” run again, though he later said he was “not joking” about the possibility.

It is still unclear which Democrats intend to run for the White House in 2028, although several have already expressed an interest.

On Sunday, California Governor Gavin Newsom told CBS, the BBC’s US partner, that he would “be lying” if he said he was not giving serious thought to a presidential bid.

Former vice-president Kamala Harris also told the BBC she may run again and that she could “possibly” be president in the future.

Source: BBC

Research into the issue on behalf of the Department for Transport (DfT), conducted last winter, has still not been published.

However, the government now plans to launch a new assessment of the causes and remedies, the BBC has learned.

New measures will be included in the government’s upcoming Road Safety Strategy, reflecting what is becoming an increasingly fraught issue for road users.

Both Ruth Goldsworthy and Sally Burt say bright headlamps make it harder for them to get to their weekly SO Sound choir meetings in Totton, in Hampshire.

“Some of the lights are so bright you are blinded by them, for seconds,” says Ruth.

Drivers say it is LED headlamps, increasingly common in new vehicles, that are causing them problems. The beam is whiter, more focused and brighter than the more diffuse light from halogen lamps fitted in older cars.

“I’m not sure where to look, I look into the gutter,” says Sally. They are both relieved if someone else offers to drive.

Evening driving becomes a bigger problem as the winter evenings draw in, and especially after the clocks change, which means more people are driving home after dark.

The problem is worse for older people, whose eyes take around nine seconds to recover from glare, compared to one second for a 16-year-old, according to road safety consultant Rob Heard.

“In severe cases, we might need to stop until our sight can recuperate,” he said.

A new survey from the motoring organisation, the RAC, has found that more than a third of drivers are nervous about getting behind the wheel as the evenings get darker.

Three-quarters of respondents said driving was getting more difficult due to brighter lights.

The RAC’s senior policy officer, Rod Dennis, said so far little progress has been made on tackling glare, with regulations governing headlights dating back to 1989.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “We know headlight glare is frustrating for many drivers, especially as the evenings get darker.”

Source: BBC

The layoffs, to be rolled out next week, mark the retailer’s first major downsizing in a decade and will slash roughly 8% of its global corporate workforce.

“Too many layers and overlapping work have slowed decisions, making it harder to bring ideas to life,” incoming chief executive Michael Fiddelke said in a memo.

Several quarters of weak sales and a slumping stock price have set Target behind Walmart and other rivals. Shoppers have curtailed non-essential spending, while backlash over diversity policies has added to Target’s woes.

Mr Fiddelke, a 20-year veteran of the company, called the layoffs a “necessary step in building the future of Target”. He was named chief executive in August and is set to take over from Brian Cornell, the company’s current leader, in February.

About 1,000 corporate employees are poised to be laid off, and 800 vacant roles will no longer be filled, a Target spokesperson said.

More details are set to be announced on Tuesday. Mr Fiddelke asked US corporate employees to work from home next week.

The layoffs will not affect retail employees who work at Target’s nearly 2,000 stores across the US.

Target has historically been known for its affordable clothes and wide range of cheap groceries, homeware, electronics and toys.

But non-essentials like clothing and electronics account for roughly half of the company’s sales making it vulnerable in recent years as customers have curbed spending on extras in the face of rising prices and uncertainty about tariffs.

On top of macroeconomic headwinds, the retailer’s financial struggles have also been linked to company-specific dynamics, including inventory issues and backlash following a previous decision to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) targets.

Target’s share price has fallen 30% this year, while Walmart’s stock has gained nearly 18%.

Target in May warned that sales would be lower than previously expected this year, amid concern about how a consumer pull-back on discretionary items might affect its business. It held its forecast steady in August and narrowly beat quarterly earnings expectations.

When he was appointed chief executive, Mr Fiddelke said in a statement that the company had “work to do”, and needed to move “faster, much faster”. He pledged to improve the quality of products on offer and to embed more technology in the business.

Source: BBC

“Hereby proclaimed President-elect: the candidate Biya Paul,” said Clement Atangana, president of the Constitutional Council.

Biya, 92, took office in 1982 and has held a tight grip on power ever since, doing away with the presidential term limit in 2008 and winning reelection by comfortable margins.

This year his strongest challenge came from Issa Tchiroma Bakary, a former government spokesperson and employment minister in his late 70s who broke ranks with Biya earlier this year and mounted a campaign that drew large crowds and endorsements from a coalition of opposition parties and civic groups.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The order, signed by new Prime Minister Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo, cited local laws stipulating that people who acquired foreign citizenship should lose their Malagasy nationality.

Rajoelina, 51, obtained French citizenship a decade ago, prompting calls for his disqualification from the 2023 presidential election. But he defied those calls and went on to win.

He fled the African island nation after weeks of protests over persistent power and water shortages, culminating in a military takeover led by Col Michael Randrianirina.

Rajoelina has said he has gone into hiding for his own safety, and his whereabouts remain unclear.

When he disclosed his French nationality months before Madagascar’s last presidential election, he argued he had only secretly acquired it to make things easier for his children studying in France.

In recent weeks, he had faced demonstrations initially organised by youth movement Gen Z Mada and inspired by similar anti-government protests in Nepal, which were only exacerbated when his government responded with violence.

Rajoelina sacked his energy minister and then his government – but this did little to quell the calls for him to step down.

Protesters had hoped that Rajoelina would resign to pave the way for a smooth, democratic transition.

Instead, he clung to power, eventually leading to Madagascar’s elite military unit, of which Randrianirina was chief, to seize power.

He has now been sworn in and has formed a new government, pledging to hold elections within two years.

Source: BBC

During a press briefing this week, Ambassador Gilad addressed the contentious adoption, which follows the release of the comprehensive report by the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The ambassador challenged the basis of the accusation, arguing that the designation of genocide, particularly when applied to the Jewish state, carries immense historical gravity.

“Genocide is a very, very serious blame, especially when you blame Israel,” Ambassador Gilad stated, noting that the term itself was coined by Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944, a survivor of the Holocaust, “to depict what happened in the Holocaust.”

The Question of Intent and Hamas’s Role

The core of the Ambassador’s defence rested on the legal definition of genocide, which requires establishing specific intent (“dolus specialis“) to “annihilate completely” a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.

“The main definition of genocide is the intent. If you have an intention to annihilate completely, to destroy the other side, this is genocide,” he explained.

Ambassador Gilad unequivocally shifted the accusation of genocidal intent onto the non-state actor, Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

“The attitude of Hamas towards Israel is genocidal. They say there is no room for a Jewish sovereign state in the Middle East,” the Ambassador asserted. “Actually, if you can blame somebody for being genocidal, this is the Hamas. Israel was forced to conduct a war in Gaza against a terror organisation.”

Tragedy, Collateral Damage, and Military Comparison

The Israeli envoy acknowledged the immense human cost of the conflict, which the UN report—a document of more than 70 pages that the ambassador said he had read in full—details in depth.

“What we saw in Gaza was a huge tragedy. That has to be said. We are not happy with what happened. It was a huge tragedy for the Palestinians, and it was a huge tragedy for us, the Israelis,” he admitted.

However, he stressed that the magnitude of the loss does not determine responsibility.

The military operation, according to the Ambassador, was necessitated by Hamas’s strategy of operating within civilian populations.

He cited the challenge of targeting an estimated 25,000 Hamas terrorists/activists, many of whom utilise an extensive network of tunnels while taking “shelter behind human shields, behind 2 million Palestinians”.

Ambassador Gilad detailed the operational complexities, including the presence of 251 Israeli citizens taken hostage in Gaza and the inevitability of civilian casualties.

“There is no way you can bring down those terrorists… without causing some what is known as collateral damage,” he said, citing the grim reality that Israeli forces even “killed by mistake some of our own people.”

In an effort to contextualise the scale of civilian casualties, the Ambassador controversially compared the Gaza operation to recent Western military campaigns, asserting that Israel’s performance was comparatively superior.

“Judging from the experience of the Americans in Iraq and the Brits in Afghanistan, those things always happen with a lot of collateral damage. I think basically we did a better job than the Americans in Iraq and the Brits in Afghanistan,” he claimed, reiterating, “There was no intent to destroy the Palestinian people. There was an intent to destroy Hamas.”

The Ambassador concluded by describing the Ghanaian minister’s endorsement of the UN report as a “mistake”, though adding that the matter is “already water under the bridge” in diplomatic terms.

Myjoyonline

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The boat sank off the Mediterranean port of Mahdia in central Tunisia while carrying about 70 migrants, an official said.

All the people on board were from sub-Saharan Africa, the official added, without providing further details.

This is the latest disaster to hit migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean from Africa to Europe.

Over 210,000 people tried to cross the Central Mediterranean in 2023, according to data shared by the UN.

More than 60,000 were intercepted and sent back to African shores, while nearly 2,000 lost their lives at sea.

About 30 migrants were rescued in the latest disaster which occurred on Wednesday.

Tunisian authorities have opened an investigation into the causes and circumstances surrounding the boat’s sinking.

The country is facing growing pressure to manage migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in search of better opportunities in Europe.

The sea migration route between Africa and Europe is one of the most dangerous in the world.

Last February, a boat sank off the Tunisian city of Sfax with more than 40 Sudanese people on board.

In 2023, the European Union (EU) signed a deal with Tunisia to tackle irregular migration.

The deal includes $118m (£90m) to stop smuggling, strengthen borders and return migrants.

Source: BBC

The US carrier said in a statement that it was “experiencing an IT outage affecting operations” and issued “a temporary ground stop.”

The airline did not say how long the outage would last or how many flights were impacted. It said it was “actively restoring our operations” following the outage.

The ground stop also affected Horizon Air, which is operated by Alaska Airlines, according to an advisory by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Alaska Airlines, part of the Alaska Air Group based in Seattle, Washington, primarily operates on the West Coast of the US. It services 140 destinations globally, including 37 states and 12 countries, according to its website.

Last year, the carrier merged with Hawaiian Airlines, which was not impacted by Thursday’s ground stop.

It is the second IT outage affecting the airline this year. In July, an outage halted flights for about three hours.

Alaska Airlines did not immediately respond on Thursday to the BBC’s request for comment.

US air travel has been complicated in recent weeks due to the US government shutdown that began earlier this month. Lack of air traffic controllers showing up for work has delayed flights at several airports.

Source: BBC

Under the scrutinising eyes of Michelangelo’s Last Judgment, when Pope Leo said “let us pray”, it meant everyone, including the King, closing a gap that stretched back to the Reformation in the 16th Century.

With music and prayers about nature that would bridge any theological divide, the service offered the King and Queen some calm amid scrutiny over Prince Andrew during their Vatican visit.

Portable speakers

But despite the significance of the state visit, there was no escaping the media – with questions about Andrew’s links to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that show no sign of abating.

Even here, as he met the Pope inside the Vatican, the King commented that the cameras were a “constant hazard”.

Rather laconically the Pope said: “You get used to it”, as he too has faced a rapid lesson in the unrelenting attention that comes with such a high-profile role, although it still seems a surprise to hear a Pope speaking in such relaxed American tones.

There might be irritation at the media during such moments, but without the press such state visits wouldn’t really exist.

It’s all about big images for the media to capture, because no members of the public are allowed past the security barriers to watch.

It’s the intruding lenses of the cameras and the words rushed out for news websites that give such moments shape and impact. Otherwise they could do a state visit on Zoom.

There were many such elegantly choreographed moments in this whistle-stop visit to the Vatican, a city state where every corner could be a postcard, creaking under the weight of its own history and architectural splendour.

In the Sistine Chapel the Catholic and Anglican choirs literally sang from the same hymn sheet. The images of harmony and unity were there in abundance. Once hostile churches were now the closest friends.

Surrounded by Renaissance masterpieces, this was a meeting in one of the great cradles of Western civilisation. A lover of art, music and religion, this must have been a big occasion for King Charles.

But actually later in the day there seemed to be a more intense moment, something that gave the King and Queen a chance to pause for more private prayer and reflection.

At the church of St Paul Outside the Walls they walked down some steps to the tomb of St Paul, one of Christ’s apostles. It was like walking down to the roots of Christianity. They waited there a moment and there were some prayers recited.

The King and Queen, who had switched to a white outfit after wearing black to meet the Pope, walked back up the main body of the church, where another congregation were waiting. Maybe they could have done with a few more minutes in such a simple and sacred place.

But they returned to the huge and gorgeously embellished basilica above. Even by the epic standards of churches in Rome, this was remarkably massive, with choirs once again to fill the operatically high ceilings.

As the day ended, the King and Queen and Vatican will have seen this visit as fulfilling its historic purpose, binding the Catholic and Anglican churches together at the top in a knot of friendship, as they often already can be at the grassroots.

There were exchanges of gifts, including an icon given to Pope Leo, reflecting the King’s fascination with the Orthodox Church and its images.

There were also knighthoods exchanged between King Charles and Pope Leo, but at the moment there might be a question about the value of honours.

For Buckingham Palace, it will have been the completion of a state visit that had previously been postponed by the ill-health of Pope Francis. And it might have been a welcome pause from the growing pressure for answers about Prince Andrew.

Maybe the message was about reconciliation, even if it takes centuries. In the Sistine Chapel there was a serene moment with the singing of a piece by the English Catholic composer Thomas Tallis.

He lived in south London during the some of the vicious and violent religious conflicts of the 16th Century, making his music against this troubled background.

Portable speakers

Five centuries later, his music was being played for a King and a Pope, who were no longer fighting but were on same side.

Source: BBC

Ingrassia, 30, said he was withdrawing his name to lead the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) “because unfortunately I do not have enough Republican votes at this time.”

Several Republican senators had warned they would vote against Ingrassia after Politico reported earlier this week that he had sent messages to a group chat in which he allegedly described himself as having a “Nazi streak.”

A White House official confirmed to BBC News that Ingrassia was no longer Trump’s nominee for the role.

As an independent federal agency, the OSC seeks to protect government employees who blow the whistle on prohibited practices.

In a post on X, Ingrassia, a former right-wing podcast host who serves as a White House liaison at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said he would “continue to serve President Trump and this administration to Make America Great Again”. His post did not refer to the alleged text messages.

The BBC has asked the White House whether Ingrassia will continue in his role at DHS.

The news broke a day after Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the top Republican in the chamber, cast doubt on Ingrassia’s chances of swaying enough senators to vote to confirm him.

When asked if the White House should withdraw his nomination, Thune responded: “I hope so.”

“He’s not going to pass,” Thune added.

Florida Republican Rick Scott also told reporters that he would not support Ingrassia.

In alleged messages published on Monday, Ingrassia reportedly denounced the Martin Luther King holiday, saying it should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell”.

According to Politico, Ingrassia’s texts – sent to a group of Republican operatives – also denounced other holidays celebrating black Americans, including Black History Month and Juneteenth – the newest federal holiday.

“I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time,” one text allegedly read.

Edward Paltzik, a lawyer for Ingrassia, did not confirm whether the messages were authentic, and suggested they could have been AI-generated.

In a statement to Politico, he wrote: “Even if the texts are authentic, they clearly read as self-deprecating and satirical humour making fun of the fact that liberals outlandishly and routinely call MAGA supporters ‘Nazis’.”

The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, condemned the alleged messages as “foul and disqualifying”.

Republicans control the Senate by 53-47 and have been mostly unwilling to vote down Trump’s nominees. Two other high-profile nominees have also been pulled at the last minute amid doubts about their ability to win over senators.

Source: BBC

The Guardian newspaper reported that the man claimed to have been a victim of modern slavery at the hands of smuggling gangs in France.

The Home Office declined to directly confirm the report but said a migrant had been detained and their removal was being sought as soon as possible.

Forty-two people who arrived in the UK illegally have been removed so far under the scheme in which the UK agrees to take in asylum seekers who have a case for protection.

The BBC understands the man is an Iranian national and was initially detained on 6 August and was removed on 19 September, becoming the third person to be sent to France under the scheme. He returned four days ago on 18 October.

The male migrant—who the Guardian has not named—told the newspaper he returned to the UK because he feared for his life in France.

Speaking about his alleged treatments at the hands of smugglers, he said, “They took me like a worthless object, forced me to work, abused me, and threatened me with a gun and told me I would be killed if I made the slightest protest.”

Asked about the report, a Home Office spokesperson said, “We will not accept any abuse of our borders, and we will do everything in our power to remove those without the legal right to be here.

“Individuals who are returned under the pilot and subsequently attempt to re-enter the UK illegally will be removed.”

Maddie Harris, director of Humans for Rights Network, told BBC News her organisation has been in direct contact with the Iranian man.

She said, “From very on early [after his removal] he was experiencing acute fear… as a result of the experience he had at the hands of the smugglers.

“While in France he experienced horrendous treatment at the hands of the people who are organising journeys to the UK.”

She said the man returned because he felt he “was not receiving protection in France and feared those individuals may continue with that horrendous treatment.”

She also said her organisation had seen cases of others returned under the scheme who have had “compelling” evidence of mistreatment and who were not able to receive “adequate legal advice” during the “rushed” removal process.

Asked about the “one in, one out” scheme on Wednesday, a Downing Street spokesperson said, “We’ve been clear about the arrangement with France, that this is the beginning of a landmark scheme which is not in itself a silver bullet.”

The scheme, which was announced in July, is intended to deter people from crossing the Channel and encourage migrants to make asylum claims on the continent. Twenty-three people have returned to France.

Under the treaty, France agreed to take back migrants who had travelled to the UK by small boat and had their asylum claim rejected.

For each person returned to France, the UK has agreed to accept someone with a case for protection as a refugee who has not attempted to cross the Channel.

On Sunday, the Home Office said 16 people had been removed to France on a single flight, the largest group removal under the scheme yet.

The Iranian man’s return to the UK came as small boat arrivals on Wednesday meant that the number of attempts to cross the Channel this year has now exceeded the 36,816 recorded in 2024.

An official figure won’t be confirmed until Thursday.

The record number of arrivals for a single year was 45,755 in 2022, and this year’s rate is closely tracking that.

Home Office figures show that there were no crossings on six out of the last seven days but that 369 made the journey on 18 October

Source: BBC

According to defence secretary Pete Hegseth, two people on board the vessel were killed. No US forces were harmed.

The vessel was known to US intelligence and was believed to be carrying drugs along a known trafficking route in international waters, Hegseth added.

The strike marks the eighth US strike against suspected drug boats since 2 September – but the first in the Pacific.

Video of the strike appears to show a long, blue speed boat moving through the water before being struck by US ordinance.

“Narco-terrorists intending to bring position to our shores will find no safe harbour anywhere inour hemisphere,” Hegseth wrote on X. “Just as Al Qaeda wages war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people.”

“There will be no refuge or forgiveness – only justice,” he added.

In a leaked memo recently sent to US lawmakers, the Trump administration said it determined it was involved in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug-trafficking organisations.

At least 36 people have been killed in the American strikes on alleged drug boats, including a recent strike on a semi-submersible vessel in the Caribbean.

Two men survived a strike last week, and were repatriated to Colombia and Ecuador.

Ecuador’s government later released him – identified as Andrés Fernando Tufiño – saying there was no evidence of wrongdoing. The other man, from Colombia, reportedly remains hospitalised.

US President Donald Trump and administration officials have repeatedly justified the strikes as counter-narcotics measures necessary to fight drug-trafficking organisations, several of which have been designated as terrorist organisations by the US.

The location of the most recent strike and the origin of the vessel remain unclear.

News of the strike, however, comes amid rising tensions between the Trump administration and the Colombian government of President Gustavo Petro.

On Sunday, Trump denounced Petro as an “illegal drug leader” who is “strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia.”

Trump added that the US will no longer offer subsidies to Colombia, which has historically been one of its closest allies in Latin America.

Both Colombia and nearby Ecuador have significant Pacific coastlines that experts have said are used to funnel drugs north towards the US through Central America and Mexico.

US estimates from the Drug Enforcement Agency, or DEA, indicate that the vast majority of cocaine bound for US cities passes through the Pacific.

Drug seizures in the Caribbean – where the bulk of confirmed US strikes have so far taken place – account for a relatively small percentage of the total, although US officials have warned it is rising.

To date, US officials have offered few details on the identities of those killed in the strikes or what drug trafficking organisations they allegedly belong to.

Around 10,000 US troops, as well as dozens of military aircraft and ships, have been deployed to the Caribbean as part of the operation.

Source: BBC

Before entering politics, he worked as a lawyer, defending the rights of vulnerable people.

He has often credited his Ghanaian roots for instilling resilience, faith, and compassion—traits that continue to define his public service.

In 2018, he was featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe under the Law & Policy category, recognising his commitment to social justice and responsible governance.

His political journey began as a member of the Amsterdam City Council in 2018 before advancing to Parliament in 2021.

The National Political Index draws on official data from the Dutch House of Representatives, assessing MPs based on how effectively they perform their legislative duties, a critical, though often overlooked, measure of accountability.

Reacting to the news, Ghana Union Netherlands Treasurer Robert Biney expressed immense pride.

“We are proud as a Dutch-Ghanaian community to see one of our own recognised at a national level. This is what we strive for — that our children will excel in every sphere of society. Ghanaian roots. Dutch results,” he said.

As Ceder campaigns for re-election in the upcoming Dutch general elections on October 29, his recognition stands as both a personal milestone and a symbol of how diasporans continue to shape global leadership and governance.

Source: Adomonline

Not since World War Two Nazi collaborationist leader Philippe Pétain was jailed for treason in 1945 has any French ex-leader gone behind bars.

Sarkozy, who was president from 2007-2012, has appealed against his jail term at La Santé prison, where he will occupy a small cell in the its isolation wing.

More than 100 people applauded and shouted “Nicolas!” as he left his villa in the exclusive 16th district of Paris, holding his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy by the hand.

His son Louis, 28, had appealed to supporters for a show of support, while another son, Pierre, called for a message of love – “nothing else, please”.

Nicolas Sarkozy, 70, was driven through the entrance of the notoriously overcrowded 19th-Century prison in the Montparnasse district south of the River Seine at 09:40 local time (07:40 GMT), while dozens of police officers cordoned off most of the surrounding streets.

He continues to protest his innocence in the highly controversial Libyan money affair and posted a message on X as he was driven to the jail, saying: “I have no doubt. Truth will prevail. But how crushing the price will have been.”

“With unwavering strength I tell [the French people] it is not a former president they are locking up this morning – it is an innocent man,” he wrote. “Do not feel sorry for me because my wife and my children are by my side… but this morning I feel deep sorrow for a France humiliated by a will for revenge.”

Moments after Sarkozy entered jail, his lawyer Christophe Ingrain said a request for his release had been filed. Nothing justified his imprisonment, said Mr Ingrain, adding: “He’ll be inside for at least three weeks or a month.”

Sarkozy has said he wants no special treatment at La Santé prison, although he has been put in its isolation section for his own safety as other inmates are infamous drugs dealers or have been convicted for terror offences.

Small cell with TV, and one hour’s daily exercise

Sarkozy’s cell in the prison’s isolation wing is believed to be on the top floor and will measure between 9-11 sq m (95-120 sq ft). There had earlier been talk of him serving his term in the another wing for “vulnerable people”, where other VIPs have been jailed in the past.

He will have a toilet, a shower, a desk, a small electric hob and a small TV, for which he will have to pay a monthly €14 (£12) fee, and the right to a small fridge.

The former president has the right to receive information from the outside world and family visits as well as written and phone contact.

But he is in effect in solitary confinement, allowed just one hour a day for exercise, by himself in the wing’s segregated courtyard.

“Conditions of detention in an isolation wing are pretty hard,” La Santé ex-deputy head Flavie Rault told BFMTV. “You are alone, all the time. The only contact you have is with prison staff. You never come across another detainee for security reasons and there’s a type of social isolation which makes life difficult”.

At the end of last week, Sarkozy was received at the Élysée Palace by President Emmanuel Macron, who told reporters on Monday “it was normal that on a human level I should receive one of my predecessors in that context”.

Macron stressed on Tuesday that it was not his role “to comment on or criticise judicial decisions”, but he said it was normal that for many in France the sight of “a president jailed by this judicial decision would provoke comment”.

In a further measure of official support for the ex-president, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said he would go to visit him in prison as part of his role in ensuring Sarkozy’s safety and the proper functioning of the jail.

“I cannot be insensitive to a man’s distress,” he added.

Ever since he left office in 2012, Sarkozy has been dogged by criminal inquiries and for months had to wear an electronic tag around his ankle after a conviction last December for trying to bribe a magistrate for confidential information about a separate case.

Late next month, France’s highest administrative court will give its verdict on Sarkozy’s appeal against a six-month jail term in another illegal campaign financing case known as the Bygmalion affair.

Ahead of his arrival at La Santé prison, Sarkozy gave a series of media interviews, telling La Tribune: “I’m not afraid of prison. I’ll keep my head held high, including at the prison gates.”

Sarkozy has always denied doing anything wrong in a case involving allegations that his 2007 presidential campaign was funded by millions of euros in Libyan cash.

The former centre-right leader was cleared of personally receiving the money but convicted of criminal association with two close aides, Brice Hortefeux and Claude Guéant, for their role in secret campaign financing from the Libyans.

The two men both had talks with Gadaffi’s intelligence chief and brother-in-law in 2005, a meeting arranged by a Franco-Lebanese intermediary called Ziad Tiakeddine, who died in Lebanon shortly before Sarkozy’s conviction.

As he lodged an appeal, Sarkozy is still considered innocent but he has been told he must go to jail in view of the “exceptional seriousness of the facts”.

Sarkozy said he would take two books with him into prison, a life of Jesus by Jean-Christian Petitfils and the Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas’s classic story of a man wrongly imprisoned who escapes to wreak vengeance on his prosecutors.

Takaichi replaces Shigeru Ishiba, ending a three-month political vacuum and wrangling since the Liberal Democratic Party’s disastrous election loss in July.

Ishiba, who lasted only one year as prime minister, resigned with his Cabinet earlier in the day, paving the way for his successor.

Takaichi won 237 votes — four more than a majority — compared to 149 won by Yoshikoko Noda, head of the largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, in the lower house, which elects the prime minister. As the results were announced, Takaichi stood up and bowed deeply.

The LDP’s alliance with the Osaka-based rightwing Japan Innovation Party, or Ishin no Kai, ensured her premiership because the opposition is not united.

Takaichi’s untested alliance is still short of a majority in both houses of parliament and will need to court other opposition groups to pass any legislation — a risk that could make her government unstable and short-lived.

“Political stability is essential right now,” Takaichi said at Monday’s signing ceremony with the JIP leader and Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura. “Without stability, we cannot push measures for a strong economy or diplomacy.”

The two parties signed a coalition agreement on policies underscoring Takaichi’s hawkish and nationalistic views.

Their last-minute deal came after the Liberal Democrats lost its longtime partner, the Buddhist-backed Komeito, which has a more dovish and centrist stance. The breakup threatened a change of power for the LDP, which has governed Japan almost uninterrupted for decades.

Later in the day, Takaichi, 64, will present a Cabinet with a number of allies of LDP’s most powerful kingmaker, Taro Aso, and others who backed her in the party leadership vote.

JIP will not hold ministerial posts in Takaichi’s Cabinet until his party is confident about its partnership with the LDP, Yoshimura said.

Takaichi is running on deadline, as she prepares for a major policy speech later this week, talks with U.S. President Donald Trump and regional summits. She needs to quickly tackle rising prices and compile economy-boosting measures by late December to address public frustration.

While she is the first woman serving as Japan’s prime minister, she is in no rush to promote gender equality or diversity.

Takaichi is among Japanese politicians who have stonewalled measures for women’s advancement. Takaichi supports the imperial family’s male-only succession and opposes same-sex marriage and allowing separate surnames for married couples.

A protege of assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Takaichi is expected to emulate his policies including a stronger military and economy, as well as revising Japan’s pacifist constitution. With her potentially weak grip on power, it’s unknown how much Takaichi will be able to achieve.

Also an admirer of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Takaichi was first elected to parliament in 1993 and has served in a number of senior party and government posts, including as ministers of economic security and internal affairs, but her diplomatic background is thin.

When Komeito left the governing coalition, it cited the LDP’s lax response to slush fund scandals that led to their consecutive election defeats.

The centrist party also raised concern about Takaichi’s revisionist view of Japan’s wartime past and her regular prayers at Yasukuni Shrine despite protests from Beijing and Seoul that see the visits as lack of remorse about Japanese aggression, as well as her recent xenophobic remarks.

Takaichi has toned down her hawkish rhetoric. On Friday, she sent a religious ornament instead of going to Yasukuni.

Source: AP

More than 1,000 apps and websites, including social media platforms like Snapchat and banks such as Lloyds and Halifax, were impacted by problems that Amazon said were at the heart of the cloud computing giant’s operations in the US.

The platform outage monitor Downdetector said user reports of problems globally soared to more than 11 million during the outage on Monday.

Even after Amazon fixed the underlying problem, experts said the outage demonstrated the perils of having so many companies rely on a single, dominant provider.

“What this episode has highlighted is just how interdependent our infrastructure is,” said Prof Alan Woodward of the University of Surrey

“So many online services rely upon third parties for their physical infrastructure, and this shows that problems can occur in even the largest of those third-party providers.

“Small errors, often human-made, can have widespread and significant impact.”

The issues appear to have begun at around 07:00 BST on Monday, as users began to report problems accessing a slew of platforms.

This included a wide range of different sites and services, from massive online games like Fortnite to the language-learning app Duolingo.

Early in the day, Downdetector told the BBC it had seen more than four million reports from users across 500 sites within just a few hours – more than double the amount it would see across an entire regular weekday.

These later peaked at more than 11 million, it said, as more services including Reddit and Lloyds Bank attempted to recover.

At around 2300 BST, Amazon said all AWS services had “returned to normal operations.”

But not before the company had to throttle parts of its own system in order to address the root issue.

A new series of “cascading failures” may have arisen after the initial outage, according to Mike Chapple, an information technology professor at Notre Dame University.

“It’s like when you have a large-scale power outage. Crews start working to try to bring it back on line,” Mr Chapple said. “The power might flicker a few times,” he explained, but it’s possible Amazon had initially “only addressed the symptoms” and not the cause.

What went wrong?

Amazon has not yet fully detailed what caused Monday’s outage or issued an official statement regarding it.

It said in an update on its service status web page the issue “appears to be related to DNS resolution of the DynamoDB API endpoint in US-EAST-1”.

DNS, which stands for Domain Name System, is often likened to a phone book for the internet.

It effectively translates the website names people use (like bbc.co.uk) into numbers which can be read and understood by computers.

This process basically underpins the way we use the internet, and disruptions to it can leave web browsers unable to locate the content they are looking for.

Matthew Prince, chief executive of Cloudflare, told the BBC the AWS outage highlighted the power cloud services have over how the internet works.

“Everyone has a bad day, today Amazon had a bad day,” he said.

“There are amazing things about the cloud, it allows you to scale… but if you have an outage like this it can take down a lot of services we rely on.”

And Cori Crider, head of the Future of Technology Institute, told the BBC it was “a bit like a bridge collapsing”.

“An essential part of the economy has fallen to pieces,” she said.

And with so much of cloud computing relying on Amazon, Microsoft and Google – estimated at around 70% – she said the status quo was “unsustainable”.

“Once you have a concentrated supply in a handful of monopoly providers, when something like this falls over, it takes a huge percentage of the economy out with it,” she said.

“We should really look at trying to buy more local services, rather than relying on a handful of American monopoly platforms.

“That’s a risk to our security, our sovereignty and our economy and we need to look at structural separations to make our markets more resilient to these kind of shocks.”

One computer science expert says some of the responsibility rests with the companies that use AWS.

“Companies using Amazon haven’t been taking enough adequate care to build protection systems into their applications,” says Ken Birman, a computer science professor at Cornell University in New York.

Outages like the one on Monday occur frequently, although not always at this scale.

Birman tells the BBC that app developers should take care to invest in backing up mission-critical applications that live in the cloud.

“We know how to make these systems stronger, and we know how to do it securely,” Birman says.

The question of responsibility could well land in the courts.

More than a year after the massive CrowdStrike outage, Delta Airlines is still wrangling with the company to recover more than $500m in losses.

Even after CrowdStrike had fixed the issue, the airline said it had to manually reset 40,000 servers, leading to major flight delays over several days.

Source: BBC

Construction crews on Monday tore down massive chunks of a covered entryway and windows in the East Wing, which Trump said is being “fully modernised”.

The president previously said that his $250m (£186m) White House ballroom addition would be “near” the existing structure but would not change it.

“It won’t interfere with the current building. It won’t be. It’ll be near it but not touching it – and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of,” Trump said in July. “It’s my favourite. It’s my favourite place. I love it.”

Trump announced the construction in a social media post, saying “ground has been broken” on the “much-needed” ballroom space.

“For more than 150 years, every President has dreamt about having a Ballroom at the White House to accommodate people for grand parties, State Visits, etc,” he wrote.

He said the project is being privately funded by “many generous Patriots”. Their identities are unclear still as the White House has not released any names of who might be funding it.

The White House has served as the historic home of the US president for two centuries. The East Wing was constructed in 1902 and was last modified in 1942.

From the south side of the building, the BBC saw several large pieces of construction equipment – some adorned with US flags – near the East Wing.

Trump wrote in his post that the East Wing was “completely separate” from the White House, though it is attached to the main structure.

The covered entryway, which spans much of the East Wing’s south side, appeared as though it was being gutted, with concrete debris and metal cables clearly visible from several hundred metres.

Controversy and preserving history

Though the White House and its adjoining parks are administered by the National Park Service (NPS), the president generally has broad powers to make renovations.

Robert K Sutton, former chief historian of the NPS, told the BBC that there is always public concern when the White House goes under construction.

“There has been controversy with anything going on related to the White House pretty much since it was built,” he said.

The NPS has guidelines and a rigorous review process for any construction. That includes things like reviewing in-depth plans for a project, vetting the architect and designs and reviewing the costs.

That – he said – hasn’t been done here.

“This building is so important. It’s considered, I think, to be the most important executive building in the world – yet we just don’t know what’s happening and I think that’s very inappropriate.”

Mr Sutton noted that figures for how many people the new ballroom can host have been tossed around, ranging from 600 to more than 900.

The White House has released some information on the project, including drawings that give a sense of its scale and a new interior that includes seating for hundreds and decadent gold chandeliers.

It said that construction would begin in September and Trump had met with those at the National Parks Service and the US Secret Service, among others, about the project.

The Trump administration said it selected Clark Construction to head the project, with McCrery Architects designing it. The White House has said the Secret Service “will provide the necessary security enhancements and modifications” to the building.

“I am honored that President Trump has entrusted me to help bring this beautiful and necessary renovation to The People’s House, while preserving the elegance of its classical design and historical importance,” McCrery Architects head Jim McCrery said.

Sutton said an extensive review process is typically in place for projects like this to ensure there is functionality to any changes, and that the White House sticks to its iconic appearance – noting these changes will outlive presidents and generations.

He said he worried that this process is being rushed and will be a reflection of Trump and his signature style instead of the country’s history.

“It’s always been called the People’s House,” he said.

Trump has installed a number of changes at the White House this year, including re-decorating the Oval Office with a variety of gold decor and paving over the grass in the Rose Garden with concrete to add tables and chairs.

Presidents from Obama to Truman have made changes

The new White House renovation project has also been criticised by the Society of Architectural Historians, an international non-profit group that studies the preservation of historic buildings worldwide.

In a statement last week, the group said it “expresses great concern over the proposed ballroom additions”, which it notes, “will be the first major change to its exterior appearance in the last 83 years (since the East Wing in its current form was built in 1942).

“Therefore, such a significant change to a historic building of this import should follow a rigorous and deliberate design and review process.”

The American Institute of Architects has also expressed alarm, and called for a transparent review of the project.

But Trump is certainly not the first president to leave his mark on the building.

President Barack Obama, who preceded Trump, had the White House tennis court converted to be able to also host basketball games.

The White House swimming pool was converted to the White House Press Room during Richard Nixon’s presidency. Briefings now still regularly take place in the room where presidents once swam laps.

The indoor pool had originally been installed in 1933 for President Franklin D Roosevelt, who swam regularly for exercise due to a polio diagnosis more than a decade earlier.

After it closed, Gerald Ford had an outdoor pool installed in 1975.

Before that, one of the biggest renovations came under Harry Truman, who saw the complete gutting and rebuilding of the White House from 1948 to 1952. Truman was relocated from living at the White House during the extensive project.

Source: BBC

A total of 14 people have been convicted for their part in a £28m conspiracy to defraud more than 3,500 timeshare owners.

The victims were desperate to get out of decades-old timeshare contracts and went looking for help.

Most were aged between 60 and 80. More than 500 of them lost over £10,000, and one handed over more than £80,000.

Those targeted were subjected to high-pressure sales meetings lasting up to six hours. They were left out of pocket, owning useless fake “credits” and still locked into expensive timeshare contracts they often could no longer use.

The company at the centre of the fraud was Sell My Timeshare (SMT). They took people’s money to fund the owners’ lavish lifestyle of private schools, millionaire mansions and private jets.

The man at the top of the company, Mark Rowe, was given a seven-and-a-half-year sentence in January for conspiracy to defraud.

On Friday, his wife Nicola was one of the final three to hear their sentences.

She received a two-year suspended jail sentence at Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty to money laundering.

This has been a long time coming and represents a huge win for the people who spoke out, the police and prosecutors.

Nine years ago, I made a programme for the BBC Scotland Investigates strand which exposed through secret filming the way SMT fleeced its victims.

Almost a decade on, the end of the criminal process brings some closure to those who were ripped off. But it’s worth knowing how the fraudsters were able to get away with it for so long.

I first heard about SMT in the summer of 2016. I was working in the investigations unit of BBC Scotland News, making current affairs and investigative documentaries.

A friend mentioned that his mum had inherited the use of a timeshare apartment in Spain and, after years of holidays there, had begun looking to get out of the contract.

It’s worth mentioning here how popular timeshares had become with British holidaymakers in the 1980s and 1990s.

Timeshares allowed people to access the same accommodation every year, or swap their weeks with other owners who had properties in other resorts. About 600,000 sun-lovers took up that opportunity.

The first timeshare rush was accompanied by a lot of stories about rip-off merchants mis-selling properties. They became a staple of consumer and investigative TV programmes such as Watchdog and The Cook Report.

The typical timeshare contract tied investors in for decades.

By 2016, those owners who had enjoyed their guaranteed place in the sun for 20 or 30 years were ageing, and many were looking to wave goodbye to their timeshares.

Some had declining mobility and couldn’t get to their properties. Some just felt they’d got all they wanted from them. And some had died, in many cases leaving their loved ones to inherit the contracts – including their annual payments and maintenance fees.

And that’s where my friend’s mum had found herself. She searched the web for answers and found SMT, a company whose website promised to get her out of her contract.

But, having paid a fee and booked a meeting with them, her family smelled a rat.

Further research revealed hundreds of people saying they had paid money and got nothing out of it. In fact, they had lost money. A lot of it.

Our team began investigating what was going on. It quickly became clear that there were some shady characters operating in the timeshare resale sector.

One lawyer had hundreds of individual complaints waiting to sue SMT.

We spoke to people who had used the firm, and they all told the same story. They thought the company would buy their property off them, but when they went to a consultation (for which they paid up front) they were told there was no resale value.

Instead, they were encouraged – in fact pressured – to spend more money investing in “Monster Rewards”, named after the outfit’s parent company, Monster Travel.

What exactly these were was not exactly clear. They sounded like a kind of currency, giving access to discount travel and services and shopping deals

And they were apparently “tradable” with other owners, sometime down the line.

Investing money up front now would result in an eventual payoff that would cover SMT’s fees and leave the property owner in profit, freed at last from their pesky contract.

Too good to be true? Well, yes.

A ‘bait-and-switch’ scam

If these accounts were true, this was a massive scam.

It’s what is called a “bait-and-switch”.

Someone – in this case SMT – “baits” the customer by advertising a particular product or service only to then say that’s not available, pushing the client towards another, inferior, product or service.

That’s illegal. Armed with all the testimony we had collected, we made the case to secretly film one of the company’s meetings.

This takes time, effort, and clear arguments for why this is the only way to gather the information needed to prove wrongdoing.

Armed with that permission, our small team set up a meeting with one of the company’s representatives in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Posing as a member of the public hoping to get his mum out of her timeshare contract, our presenter, the personal finance journalist Fergus Muirhead, filmed the entire three-hour encounter.

And everything went exactly as we’d been told.

For a start, Fergus was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement, designed to stop him from revealing anything that was discussed in the meeting.

Any idea that the company would be able to sell the (fictional) property was soon dismissed. The only way out of it would be through Monster Rewards – and to get them, he would have to cough up £6,740 on the spot.

In the great traditions of British journalism, we made our excuses and left.

We broadcast the programme on 24 October 2016.

In the run up to transmission we gave SMT a right of reply to our allegations about their illegal business practices.

They denied any wrongdoing and questioned both the transparency and probity of our sources. They said our allegations were defamatory and they reserved the right to pursue legal action against the BBC.

What they didn’t know, until the moment we published the online news piece ahead of transmission, was that we had everything on tape.

We never heard from them again.

Within days of broadcast, we were contacted by police who were already investigating SMT. They were looking to get hold of our footage of the recorded meeting.

As journalists, we have to be careful about handing over to the police material which we have collected for our reporting. We must remain independent, and the BBC will not normally hand over unused material in such circumstances without a court order.

So we waited until they were granted a court order for the material, which we then complied with. And that was the last we heard of the matter for the next three-and-a-half years.

As the nation headed towards the first Covid lockdown in February 2020, we were informed that 19 people connected to the firm had been arrested.

Fergus and I were asked to give witness statements. We spent the next five-and-a-half years never knowing whether we would be called, or knowing what was going on.

It was only with the end of the judicial process this week that we learned there had been four trials over two years at Southwark Crown Court in London. Reporting restrictions were in place until the final guilty pleas were lodged.

In total, there were 14 convictions.

Among those was 60-year-old Josephine Cuthill-Fox, the woman we filmed in 2016. She received 24 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will now turn to pursuing the money and assets gained by the defendants through their crimes.

This story isn’t over yet.

Source: BBC

The US president announced the decision in a Truth Social post on Sunday, labelling Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro as “an illegal drug leader” who has “strongly encouraged the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia.”

His comments come after Petro accused the US of committing “murder” when it carried out a military strike on a boat in Colombian territorial waters in September.

The move is the latest in a string of escalating tensions between the US and countries in Latin America, as the US military continues to strike ships in the Caribbean Sea, it alleges carry drugs.

Trump said that because the US offers “large-scale payments and subsidies” and Petro “does nothing” to stop the drug production, the US will no longer offer “payment or subsidies” to Colombia.

According to a government website, the US provided over $740m (£551m) in aid to Colombia in 2023. It is unclear if all of that aid will stop, or when.

In September, for the first time since 1996, the US declared that Colombia had failed to uphold its drug trafficking promises and is ineligible for aid as defined in the Foreign Assistance Act. But the State Department included a waiver that allowed Colombia to continue to receive aid.

But following Petro’s recent accusation of Americans committing “murder,” Trump has escalated matters and says he will halt aid.

Under Petro, cocaine production has reached a record level, and the country has failed to reach its coca eradication goals, the State Department said in September.

Petro has said the US violated his country’s sovereignty, killing a Colombian fisherman with its September attack.

Posting on social media, he said, “The Colombian boat was adrift and had its distress signal up due to an engine failure” when it was struck. He added, “We await explanations from the US government.”

“Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to the drug trade, and his daily activity was fishing. The Colombian boat was adrift and had its distress signal up due to an engine failure.”

Alejandro Carranza was reportedly killed on 15 September when US forces allegedly fired on his boat while he was fishing in the Caribbean.

Trump has defended the ongoing boat attacks, saying they are aimed at stemming the flow of drugs from Latin America into the US, but his government has not provided evidence or details about the identities of the vessels or those on board.

UN-appointed human rights experts have described the US strikes as “extrajudicial executions.”

The escalation between Trump and Petro comes on the heels of another attack on a ship in the Caribbean Sea.

That attack, which happened on Thursday, is at least the sixth US strike on ships in the Caribbean Sea in recent weeks. At least 27 people were killed in the prior five boat strikes in the waters off Venezuela, according to figures released by the US administration.

The Thursday attack, on a submarine, is the first time survivors have been reported, though the attack also killed two people.

Trump said US intelligence confirmed the vessel was “loaded up with mostly fentanyl and other illegal narcotics.”

The US president said two people who survived the submarine attack would be returned to their countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia.

They were transferred to a US Navy ship, a source familiar with the matter told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

In recent weeks, Trump has ramped up threats against Venezuela’s leadership over claims that the country is sending drugs to the US. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused Trump of trying to make the South American nation “an American colony.”

Trump earlier told reporters that he had authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela and that he was considering launching attacks on Venezuelan soil.

Source: BBC

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A planned attack against Palestinians would “undermine the significant progress achieved through mediation efforts,” the State Department said.

The statement did not provide further details on how this would be a breach of the US-brokered ceasefire agreed with Israel.

Hamas has strongly denied any planned imminent attack and has, in turn, accused Israel of supporting rival armed groups in Gaza. It has, however, been re-establishing control in the power vacuum that followed the Israeli partial withdrawal.

The State Department said it had already informed other guarantors of the Gaza peace agreement, which includes Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, and demanded Hamas uphold its end of the ceasefire terms.

“Should Hamas proceed with this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire,” the US statement said.

President Donald Trump has previously warned Hamas against the killing of civilians.

“If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social earlier this week.

He later clarified that he would not be sending US troops into Gaza.

Last week, BBC Verify authenticated graphic videos that showed a public execution carried out by Hamas gunmen in Gaza.

Fierce clashes erupted a week ago, involving Hamas security forces and armed members of the Dughmush family in Gaza City.

Twenty-seven people were killed in what was one of the most violent internal confrontations since the end of major Israeli operations in the enclave.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) still occupy and control just over 50% of the Gaza Strip, having withdrawn, under Phase 1 of the Trump plan, to an agreed ‘Yellow Line.’

There are concerning reports that Gaza gangs, which have looted aid convoys, are currently able to move with impunity in the eastern part of the territory under Israeli control.

Hamas, which has ruled the territory for 18 years, is facing a challenge from armed groups, such as Abu Shabab’s Popular Forces, gangs which it says are being armed and supported by Israel.

It has recalled about 7,000 members of its security forces to reassert control in Gaza, according to local sources.

Under the Trump 20-point ceasefire, Hamas is supposed to relinquish its weapons so that it no longer poses a threat to Israel.

It has not done so, and in its response to the US warning on Saturday, Hamas said its police forces in Gaza, “with broad popular and community support, are fulfilling their national duty in pursuing these gangs and holding them accountable.”

Another clause in the ceasefire agreement states that regional partners will ensure that “Hamas and the factions comply with their obligations and that New Gaza poses no threat to its neighbours or its people.”

Therefore, any instances or evidence of armed action by either Hamas or other factions in Gaza would be considered a violation of the ceasefire.

Source: BBC

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The Emirates flight EK9788, a Boeing 747-481 owned by Turkish cargo airline Air ACT, was arriving from Dubai at about 03:50 local time (19:50 GMT) when it hit a vehicle on the north runway.

Two airport ground staff fell into the sea, a statement from the Civil Aviation department says. They were rescued but later died in hospital, according to local media, including public broadcaster RTHK, citing police.

Four crew members onboard the plane survived and were taken to the hospital.

The affected runway is closed, but the airport’s other two runways are still in operation.

The Airport Authority is set to host a press conference at 10:00 local time (02:00 GMT).

Hong Kong’s Government Flying Service has deployed helicopters above the affected runway, while Fire Services Department vessels also took part in the rescue, media reports say.

At least 11 cargo flights initially scheduled to arrive at Hong Kong International Airport on Monday have been cancelled, according to the Airport Authority’s website.

It is a rare incident for the Hong Kong International Airport, which has had a good safety record.

Source: BBC

Thousands packed New York City’s iconic Times Square and streets all around, with people holding signs with slogans like “Democracy not Monarchy” and “The Constitution is not optional”.

Ahead of the demonstrations, Trump allies accused the protesters of being linked with the far-left Antifa movement, and condemned what they called “the-hate America rally”.

Several US states had mobilised the National Guard. But organisers said the events were peaceful.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has expanded the scope of presidential power, using executive orders to dismantle parts of the federal government and to deploy National Guard troops to US cities despite objections by state governors.

He has also called on the administration’s top law enforcement officials to prosecute his perceived enemies.

The president says his actions are necessary to rebuild a country in crisis and has dismissed accusations that he is behaving like a dictator or fascist as hysterical.

But critics warn that some of the moves by his administration are unconstitutional and a threat to American democracy.

In an interview with Fox News, set to air on Sunday, Trump appeared to address the rallies.

“A king! This is not an act,” Trump said in a preview clip of the interview. “You know – they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king.”

In New York, sections of the crowd regularly erupted into chants of “This is what democracy looks like” as a near-constant drumbeat boomed in the background.

Helicopters and drones could be seen flying overhead, and police stood on the sidelines.

The New York Police Department said more than 100,000 people had gathered across all five of the city’s boroughs, and that no protest-related arrests were made.

In Times Square, a police officer standing by estimated that over 20,000 were marching down 7th Avenue.

Beth Zasloff, a freelance writer and editor, said she had joined the New York protest because she feels outraged and distressed at “a move toward fascism and an authoritarian government” happening under the Trump administration.

“I care a lot about New York City,” she said.

“It gives me hope to be out here with many, many other people.”

Massimo Mascoli, a 68-year-old retired electronic engineer and resident of New Jersey who grew up in Italy, said he was protesting because he was concerned the US was following the same path that his home country did in the last century.

Mr Mascoli said he was particularly worried about the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and healthcare cuts for millions of Americans.

“We cannot count on the Supreme Court, we cannot count on the government,” he told the BBC. “We cannot count on the Congress. We have all the legislative, the executive and the judiciary that are all against the American people right now. So we are fighting.”

In Washington, DC, where the National Guard has been deployed since August at Trump’s request, no troops were visible at the protest, either.

One protester at the rally in the capital held up a sign that read “I am Antifa”.

Chuck Epes, 76, said it was a “loaded” term, and just meant he supported “peace, daycare, livable wage, healthcare”, as well as immigrants and people of colour.

“He’s gaslighting everybody – or trying to, and it ain’t working,” he said.

Democratic politicians joined the protests around the country.

“We have no dictators in America. And we won’t allow Trump to keep eroding our democracy,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on X alongside photos of himself holding up a sign that read “fix the health care crisis” in New York.

In Washington, DC, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders delivered a keynote speech.

“We’re not here because we hate America, we’re here because we love America,” he said to a crowd of thousands.

Democratic senators Cory Booker and Adam Schiff also posted videos of themselves attending protests, thanking Americans for showing up across the country.

“This is what democracy looks like. Thank you, all of America, for speaking out,” Schiff said.

Senator Chris Murphy shared footage of the huge turnout in his home state of Connecticut: “Breathtaking. This is why today will likely go down as the biggest day of peaceful protest in our nation’s 250-year history.”

Republican governors in several US states had placed National Guard troops on standby ahead of the protests.

The move was denounced by Democrats, including the state’s top Democrat Gene Wu, who argued: “Sending armed soldiers to suppress peaceful protests is what kings and dictators do – and Greg Abbott just proved he’s one of them.”

Virginia’s Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin also ordered the state National Guard to be activated, though local reports said troops were not present during the protest.

The protests weren’t confined to the US.

Throughout Europe, there were also demonstrations in Berlin, Madrid and Rome as people showed solidarity with their American counterparts. In London, several hundred protesters gathered outside the US embassy.

There were similar scenes in Toronto, where demonstrators near the US consulate waved signs including “Hands off Canada”.Americans are deeply divided on Donald Trump.

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that only 40% approved of his performance as president, while 58% disapproved. This puts him about on par with his average approval rating during his first term, but lower than his 47% approval rating when he took office for the second time in January.

It is common for presidents to become more unpopular as their term wears on. Joe Biden had a 55% approval rating, according to Reuters/Ipsos, in January 2021. By October of that year, his approval had declined to 46%.

Source: BBC  

The family, it said, were trying to reach their home to inspect it when the incident happened in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City on Friday night.

This is the deadliest single incident involving Israeli soldiers in Gaza since the start of the ceasefire eight days ago.

The Israeli military said soldiers had fired at a “suspicious vehicle” that had crossed the so-called yellow line demarcating the area still occupied by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Israeli soldiers continue to operate in more than half of the Gaza Strip, under the terms of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP news agency the victims were members of the Abu Shaaban family and were killed while “trying to check on their home” in the area.

The dead included women and children, according to the civil defence.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said a “suspicious vehicle was identified crossing the yellow line and approaching IDF troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip” on Friday, prompting it to fire “warning shots” towards the vehicle.

It said the vehicle “continued to approach the troops in a way that caused an imminent threat to them” and “troops opened fire to remove the threat, in accordance with the agreement.”

Hamas said the family had been targeted without justification.

The IDF has warned Palestinians from entering areas in Gaza still under its control.

With limited internet access, many Palestinians do not know the position of Israeli troops as the yellow demarcation line is not physically marked, and it is unclear if the area where the bus was travelling did cross it.

The BBC has asked the IDF for coordinates of the incident.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday the army would set up visual signs to indicate the location of the line.

In a separate development on Saturday, the Palestinian embassy in Cairo said the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza will open on Monday for Palestinian residents in Egypt to return to Gaza.

In another part of the ceasefire deal, Hamas on Friday had released the body of Israeli hostage Eliyahu Margalit to the Red Cross, which returned it to Israel.

Mr Margalit was the tenth deceased hostage to be returned from Gaza. The remains of another 18 people are yet to be repatriated.

Israel handed the bodies of 15 more Palestinians over to officials in Gaza via the Red Cross, the Hamas-run health ministry said, bringing the total number of bodies it has received to 135.

There has been anger in Israel that Hamas has not returned all of the dead hostages’ bodies, in line with last week’s ceasefire deal – though the US has downplayed the suggestion it amounts to a breach.

The IDF has stressed that Hamas must “uphold the agreement and take the necessary steps to return all the hostages”.

Hamas has blamed Israel for making the task difficult because Israeli strikes have reduced so many buildings to rubble and it does not allow heavy machinery and diggers into Gaza to be able to search for the hostages’ bodies.

As part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal, Israel freed 250 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.

Hamas also returned all 20 living hostages to Israel.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 others hostage.

At least 67,900 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the UN as reliable.

Source: BBC

“We had suspicions from the day my sister died. We insisted on a postmortem, but Mahendra staged an emotional drama saying he couldn’t bear to see her body being cut,” Kritika’s sister, Dr Nikhita, told reporters on Thursday.

She alleged that Mahendra had been administering unnecessary medicines and drips to Kritika. “She was completely healthy. My parents treated Mahendra like their own son. But later, we found out about his immoral relationship,” she said.

Police said Mahendra allegedly injected propofol — a powerful anaesthetic — into Kritika under the guise of treatment at their Marathahalli residence.

“Preliminary evidence suggests that Dr Mahendra Reddy deliberately administered the anaesthesia injection to end his wife’s life. We are examining call records, financial transactions, and forensic findings to establish the complete motive. More arrests cannot be ruled out as the probe deepens,” said DCP Parashuram.

Kritika’s sister also alleged that Mahendra had opposed her plan to start her own clinic. “She wanted to open a small clinic to help poor patients, but he never supported her. He didn’t even agree to register their marriage officially,” Nikhita said.

The family recalled that Mahendra had resisted the idea of a postmortem at the time of Kritika’s death. “He acted as if he was heartbroken and emotionally shattered, convincing us not to put her body through postmortem. But we demanded it, and later, the truth started to unfold,” Nikhita added.

Unable to continue living in the house where Kritika died, her family has donated the property to ISKCON. “Kritika always wanted to do good for others. We gave her home to God as a way to honour her memory,” they said.

Meanwhile, Victoria Hospital, where Mahendra previously worked, has distanced itself from the case, clarifying that he resigned months ago.

“Dr Mahendra Reddy was a certified gastro surgeon from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) for the academic year 2023–24. He completed his fellowship in March and worked on a contract basis until July 2, 2025, when he was relieved from his duties,” the hospital said in an official statement.

Police said they are investigating multiple angles, including an alleged affair, financial disputes, and premeditated intent. “It is premature to come to any conclusion about the motive. We will unearth it once the probe is completed,” DCP Parashuram added.

The fee “will make it cost-prohibitive” for US employers to use the programme, said Neil Bradley, Chief Policy Officer at the pro-business group.

Trump signed an executive order last month instituting the fee, arguing the visa programme has been abused. Critics have said it undercuts the American workforce. It is used heavily by the US tech sector, both by major companies and small startups.

The White House responded to the suit by calling the fee lawful and a “necessary, initial, incremental step towards necessary reforms” to the programme.

Mr Trump’s order only applies to new visa requests in the programme and vows to restrict entry unless a payment is made.

The move drew the ire of tech executives, including billionaire Elon Musk, who have argued that the H-1B programme enables the US to attract top talent from around the world.

Mr Musk, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, and Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google-parent Alphabet, are among the executives who began their careers in the US on H-1B visas.

Mr Trump also set up a new “gold card” to fast-track visas for certain immigrants in exchange for fees starting at £1m.

The Chamber of Commerce argued in its complaint Tuesday that if implemented, “the fee would inflict significant harm on American businesses,” forcing them to either dramatically increase their labour costs or hire fewer highly skilled employees.”

But in a press release, the Chamber, which represents more than 3 million businesses, also praised Mr Trump for an agenda of “securing permanent pro-growth tax reforms, unleashing American energy, and unravelling the overregulation that has stifled growth.”

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick argued in support of Trump’s order and said “all of the big companies” were on board with the fee.

“The company needs to decide… is the person valuable enough to have a $100,000-a-year payment to the government, or they should head home, and they should go hire an American?” Lutnick has said.

Many H1-B visa holders come to the United States from India and China.

Tech companies argue that workers brought into the US cannot readily be replaced by American workers.

But White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said the administration’s action on H-1B visas discourages companies from “driving down American wages.”

Source: BBC

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The superstar, 43, hit out at Federline, 47, and their two sons, Sean Preston, 19, and Jayden, 18, following her ex’s recent shocking claim that their boys would wake up to find her holding a knife.

The Toxic hitmaker said she’s ‘had enough’ in an emotional Instagram post on Wednesday, writing, ‘The constant gaslighting from ex-husband is extremely hurtful and exhausting.’ 

Spears also admitted she has felt ‘demoralized’ about the fractured relationship with her boys, writing, ‘I have always pleaded and screamed to have a life with my boys.’

The devastated singer added that she’s seen one of her sons for only ’45 minutes in the past 5 years.’ 

DailyMail.com has reached out to Federline’s representatives for comment. 

‘Relationships with teenage boys is complex. I have felt demoralized by this situation and have always asked and almost begged for them to be a part of my life.’ 

‘Sadly, they have always witnessed the lack of respect shown by own [sic] father for me,’ Spears went on.

‘They need to take responsibility for themselves,’ she added.

Read More

 Britney Spears’s ex claims sons woke up to find their mother holding knife at bedroom door 

The Grammy lamented how little she has seen her sons, declaring that she will now be the one to set the rules for their visits. 

‘With one son only seeing me for 45 min in the past 5 years and the other with only 4 visits in the past 5 years. I have pride too. From now on I will let them know when I am available.’ 

Spears continued, adding that she is the one who ‘gets hurt’ from the ‘white lies’ in Federline’s tell-all book. 

‘Trust me, those white lies in that book, they are going straight to the bank and I am the only one who genuinely gets hurt here.’

The Baby One More Time singer concluded her statement with love for her two boys.

‘I will always love them and if you really know me, you won’t pay attention to the tabloids of my mental health and drinking.’

‘I am actually a pretty intelligent woman who has been trying to live a sacred and private life the past 5 years. I speak on this because I have had enough and any real woman would do the same.’

It comes after Federline shockingly claimed their children would wake up to find her holding a knife.

Federline dropped the alleged bombshell in his upcoming memoir, You Thought You Knew, according to an excerpt obtained by the New York Times.

Spears reportedly has had a strained relationship with the two children she shares with her former spouse these last few years, and Federline alleges their sons no longer wanted to visit their mother at home in their teen years – citing fear as one of their reasons.

‘They would awaken sometimes at night to find her standing silently in the doorway, watching them sleep — “Oh, you’re awake?” — with a knife in her hand,’ Federline wrote in the excerpt obtained by The Times. ‘Then she’d turn around and pad off without explanation.’

Federline also wrote about his growing concerns about his ex after she began behaving erratically.

He laid bare his fears Spears was hurtling towards an ‘irreversible’ direction: ‘The truth is, this situation with Britney feels like it’s racing toward something irreversible,’ Federline said in the book.

‘It’s become impossible to pretend everything’s OK,’ Federline adds. ‘From where I sit, the clock is ticking, and we’re getting close to the 11th hour. Something bad is going to happen if things don’t change, and my biggest fear is that our sons will be left holding the pieces.’

Federline’s memoir also reflects on the night in 2008 when Spears was committed to the psych ward of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and placed on a 5150 psychiatric hold, after she refused to relinquish custody of her sons to Federline.

Federline called it ‘one of the hardest nights of my life’ as he watched his partner in the midst of the ordeal.

‘I felt sick over what she was going through. This was someone I had loved. Someone I had built a life with. The mother of my children,’ he wrote.

The event came just before Spears was placed on her conservatorship, which was terminated after 13 years amid support from the Free Britney movement.

But Federline feels the movement had unintended consequences on the pop star’s current wellbeing.

While he says the support for ending the arrangement probably ‘started from a good place’, he notes it may have scared off professionals from helping his ex after seeing the backlash her inner circle received from Free Britney followers.

‘All those people who put so much effort into that,’ he wrote, ‘should now put the same energy into the “Save Britney” movement. Because this is no longer about freedom. It’s about survival.’

Federline admitted to The Times he has not spoken with Spears about what he has written.

‘I’ve never, ever, once, been against Britney,’ he told the publication. ‘I’ve only tried to help my sons have an incredible relationship with their mother. And it’s hard because when I really reflect on everything that’s happened — my kids do not know the woman that I married. And I’ve spent two decades trying to bridge that gap.’

In her memoir, Spears said she ‘never had a drinking problem’ nor any desire to take hard drugs, yet she did admit to taking Adderall, an ADHD medication. She also described struggling with postpartum depression during their contentious split and custody battle.

‘Kevin tried to convince everyone that I was completely out of control,’ Spears wrote. ‘He started to say I shouldn’t have my kids anymore — at all.’

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Spears for comment regarding Federline’s claims but have not yet heard back. A spokesperson for the pop star declined comment to The Times.

Federline’s knife allegation is reminiscent to a claim Spears’s sister Jamie made in her 2022 memoir Things I Never Said, in which she claimed her scared sibling locked them in a room together while holding a knife – an allegation the Lucky singer denied as ‘crazy lies’.

Spears famously wed the back-up dancer in 2004 after a whirlwind romance and they welcomed two children together.

The claim involves 3,000 people and focuses on internal memos and scientific reports, which have been seen by the BBC.

The lawsuit alleges that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) was aware as early as the 1960s that its mineral-based talcum powder contained fibrous forms of talc, as well as tremolite and actinolite. Both minerals – when in their fibrous form – are classified as asbestos and linked to potentially deadly cancers.

The court papers allege that, despite knowing the minerals were directly linked to cancers, J&J never issued warnings on the packaging of its baby powder. Instead, it launched aggressive marketing campaigns portraying the powder as a symbol of purity and safety, the lawsuit claims.

J&J denies the allegation as well as any claims it knowingly sold baby powder contaminated with asbestos.

A statement, issued on behalf of the firm, said its baby powder “was compliant with any required regulatory standards, did not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer.”

The sale of baby powder containing talc stopped in the UK in 2023.

The UK action mirrors extensive litigation in the US, where multiple lawsuits have been filed and claimants have been awarded billions of dollars in damages. The company has successfully appealed in some cases.

Lawyers for the claimants estimate damages sought in the UK could extend to hundreds of millions of pounds and that the claim could become the largest product liability case in British history.

‘Keep the whole thing confidential’

The claims of links between talcum powder and cancer revolve around asbestos – a known cause of cancer.

Talc, which was used in J&J talcum powders, is a naturally occurring mineral that is often mined in close proximity to deposits of asbestos. It is asbestos minerals in their fibrous needle-like form that are associated with cancer.

The claim alleges J&J had identified asbestos in its baby powder as early as the 1960s. One internal document from 1973 allegedly says: “Our baby powder contains talc fragments classifiable as fiber. Occasionally sub-trace quantities of tremolite or actinolite are identifiable…”

J&J says this letter was discussing how regulation might change and thereby define talc fibres as asbestos. The firm said that would have been wrong.

In the same year, executives discussed the value of a possible patent for a method that aimed to remove asbestos fibres from talc. At the end of the letter, it added: “We may wish to keep the whole thing confidential rather than allow it to be published in patent form and thus let the whole world know.”

J&J says these discussions were confidential because a new patent could have been extremely valuable if the new method had been effective. Ultimately, it did not prove to be effective.

Instead of declaring warnings on the bottle, the lawsuit claims J&J moved to conceal the risk for decades and maximise profits.

The claim alleges that, despite knowing there were carcinogenic fibres in the baby powder, the firm’s marketing team discussed how to maximise sales.

In the 1970s and 1980s, US marketing focused on the sale of pure and gentle powder for newborn babies. By the 1990s and into the 2000s the marketing focus turned to African American women.

In 2008, an internal email – seen by the BBC – allegedly discussing branding, says, “The reality that talc is unsafe for use on/around babies is disturbing…” It went on to say: “I don’t think we can continue to call it baby powder and keep it in the baby aisle.”

J&J says this conversation was in reference to asphyxiation, which was a rare but known risk at the time relating to use of all body powder, but was not linked to cancer or asbestos and was warned about on the bottle.

Documents cited in the UK lawsuit are also alleged to show that from the early 1970s J&J executives pushed US regulator the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to accept lower sensitivity standards so that tests did not pick up on small amounts of asbestos fibres.

The claim cites internal documents, which it says show J&J advocated for talc testing standards that tolerated up to 1% asbestos contamination, arguing that more sensitive detection methods were unnecessary.

This, the lawsuit alleges, enabled the company to maintain claims of product purity, misleading regulators and consumers about the presence of asbestos in its talc products.

J&J says this misrepresents the context of the document, which references a hypothetical calculation, as requested by the FDA.

‘My mother used it – I used it’

Many of the claimants in the UK are suffering with, or have died from ovarian cancer, mesothelioma – a cancer that is usually caused by asbestos exposure – or other cancers. All the claimants are alleged to have used J&J’s baby powder over an extended period of time.

Siobhan Ryan, 63, was one young mother who saw the adverts and says she trusted J&J’s baby powder.

“My mother used it and I used it. It smelt nice and was soft and lovely. When my babies were born I used it on them. I thought I was doing my best for them,” she told the BBC from her home in Somerset.

“It was such a shock. We just hugged and cried. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing when the doctor told me I had stage 4 ovarian cancer.”

At the time of diagnosis it wasn’t clear how long Siobhan would survive for, but after three rounds of chemotherapy, a bout of sepsis that nearly killed her, and major surgery to her abdomen, she is alive and able to tell her story 18 months later.

Siobhan, like the other claimants in this case, thinks her cancer was caused by use of J&J’s baby powder.

The first rounds of treatment helped control the spread of her cancer, but a few months ago Siobhan found another lump in her groin. She is now back in chemotherapy and surgeons say her cancer is no longer operable.

“They knew it was contaminated and still they sold it to new mums and their babies,” Siobhan says.

Ovarian cancer is caused by a combination of genetic, internal and external factors.

“The female reproductive tract is open to the external environment so that women can get pregnant,” says Prof Christina Fotopoulou, a leading gynaecological oncology surgeon at Imperial College London and a leader in the field of ovarian cancer.

“Cancer is usually an accumulation of mistakes in the reproduction cycle of the cells and so any harmful factors – internal or external – that disrupt the balance of the cells may contribute to these mistakes that eventually may lead to cancer.”

Common symptoms of ovarian cancer include persistent bloating, persistent pelvic or abdominal pain, feeling full quickly or an inability to eat, and an increased or urgent need to urinate.

Those who experience such symptoms frequently – more than 12 times a month – should see a doctor. Extreme fatigue, changes in bowel habits like constipation or diarrhoea, and vaginal bleeding after menopause are also signs you should see your GP.

Our baby powder ‘was compliant’

Earlier this month, a court in the US state of Connecticut ordered J&J – and its successor entities – to pay $25m to a man diagnosed with terminal peritoneal mesothelioma after lifelong use of J&J baby powder. The jury in the trial found the pharmaceutical company negligent for selling asbestos-contaminated talc products.

This trial also included deposition testimony from Dr Steve Mann, former director of toxicology at J&J consumer products, who said he had made safety claims without reviewing any test data. Dr Mann conceded that he had received test results showing asbestos in the baby powder but chose not to inform management or regulators.

The judge noted that safer alternatives, such as cornstarch, were available and known to the company, yet J&J continued selling talc-based powder in the US until 2020 and in the UK until three years later.

Following the Connecticut judgement, J&J has denied wrongdoing and is expected to appeal.

J&J has moved its consumer health arm to a new company, called Kenvue, which said in a statement: “We sympathise deeply with people living with cancer. We understand that they and their families want answers - that’s why the facts are so important.”

It said the safety of the baby powder was backed by years of testing by “independent and leading laboratories, universities, and health authorities in the UK and around the world”.

It said J&J’s baby powder “was compliant with any required regulatory standards, did not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer”.

It comes less than a week after the administration confirmed several agencies had begun laying off about 4,000 workers.

US District Judge Susan Illston granted a request by two unions to block layoffs at more than 30 agencies.

During the hearing, Illston said she agreed with the unions that the administration was unlawfully using the lapse in funding, which began on 1 October, to carry out its plans to downsize the federal government.

She also cited a series of public statements by President Donald Trump and the White House’s budget chief, Russell Vought, that she said showed explicit political motivations for the layoffs, such as Trump saying that cuts would target “Democrat agencies.”

A US Justice Department lawyer said that the unions must bring their claims to a federal labour board before going to court.

The Trump administration is expected to appeal against the restraining order.

On Friday, major departments such as Treasury and Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed they were issuing notices to employees. Homeland Security, where many of its employees are considered essential, said it would lay off workers at its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

A filing from the Office of Management and Budget revealed more than a quarter of the cuts were to be made at the Treasury Department, where notices were being sent to approximately 1,446 employees.

HHS was notifying between 1,100 and 1,200 employees, the filing said. The department said later, it was only planning to lay off about half that amount.

The Department of Education and the Department of Housing and Urban Development intended to lay off at least 400 employees apiece, while the Departments of Commerce, Energy, Housing and Urban Development and Homeland Security each planned cuts ranging between 176 to 315 employees, according to the filing.

In response to Vought and Trump’s comments about potential firings, two major unions, the American Federation of Government Employees and AFL-CIO, had already filed a lawsuit and then on Friday, asked Judge Illston for an emergency restraining order while the case proceeds.

They argued that implementing layoffs was not an essential service that can be performed during a lapse in government funding.

They also say the shutdown does not justify mass firings because most federal workers have been furloughed without pay.

With the federal shutdown now in its third week, the US Senate again on Wednesday failed to pass a resolution that would reopen the government – the ninth time that resolution fell short.

Republicans, who control both houses of Congress as well as the White House, blame Democrats for the impasse, saying they should agree to pass a “clean” funding resolution that would simply continue current spending levels. Because Republicans hold a slim majority in the chamber, they need a handful of Democratic votes in order to meet the 60-vote threshold to pass the resolution.

Democrats have been fairly unified in holding out for a resolution that addresses health care costs for lower-income Americans that are set to rise soon.

Still more than they were subject to before Mr Trump’s “liberation day”, but less than they had feared.

Spare a thought then for Switzerland, which has been hit with punitive tariffs of 39%, and has so far been unable to persuade the US president to relent. Switzerland is not in the EU, so it can’t benefit from the deal struck by Brussels.

But Switzerland is regularly ranked as the world’s most competitive and innovative economy. It is also one of the biggest investors in the US, creating, Swiss business leaders say, 400,000 jobs. That’s why they find the US strategy not only outrageous, but also inexplicable.

“Thirty-nine per cent tariffs: I was just shocked,” says Jan Atteslander, director of international relations for the Swiss business federation Economiesuisse

“This is unjustified; you can’t explain why they are so high.”

Since the tariffs (the highest in Europe and the fourth-highest worldwide) were announced on 1 August, the Swiss government has been desperately trying to renegotiate with Washington, to no avail. The US president, it seems, has moved on to other matters.

Around 17% of all Swiss exports go to the US, a market Switzerland cannot afford to lose overnight. Now that the tariffs have come into effect, the once muscular Swiss economy is suffering. Economic growth is shrinking, and job losses in key industries appear inevitable.

Switzerland’s most lucrative exports to the US are pharmaceuticals. Ironically, they are not affected by the 39% tariffs, but might be subject to the 100% tariff on imported medicines that Trump recently threatened. That would be another huge blow.

Another big Swiss exporter to the US is Switzerland’s world-leading medical technology industry.

“It’s precision mechanics, it has its roots in the watchmaking industry,” explains Adrian Hunn, who is managing director of Swiss Medtech, the trade body representing the industry.

The town of Biel, the historic home of Swiss watchmaking and now the site of medical technology companies, demonstrates why there may be no winners, but only losers, from Washington’s tariff policy.

The company MPS (short for micro precision systems) produces medical instruments from aortic valve replacements to the tiniest of surgical drills, used in hip or knee replacements. Just the kind of things a wealthy country with an ageing, and increasingly overweight population – like the US – needs.

So precise is the production process that even the machines used to produce the devices are made and specially calibrated locally.

“It’s a very integrated way of working,” explains MPS’s CEO Gilles Robert.

“Measuring equipment, milling tools, cutting liquids. That’s why we call it an ecosystem that we have here in Switzerland.”

Mr Robert’s proudest product is the engine for the world’s only medically-registered artificial heart.

Just 120 of them have been transplanted worldwide. “It’s a pump that will pulse in both sides, to create beating in both chambers, and allow people currently waiting for a transplant, people with terminal heart deficiencies, to keep on living.”

Technology like this is very different from the car industry, where, often, the brakes are made in one country, the windscreen wipers or door handles in another, and everything is assembled in a third.

That’s why Mr Robert is not convinced that Trump’s stated strategy of moving production to the US could work.

“It would be extremely challenging, if not impossible, to separate the components from the actual product assembly,” he says. “And I think those types of skills would be extremely hard to find in the US.”

Trump has said the countries hit with tariffs will “eat them”. So can MPS absorb the 39%?

“They had the best price before the new tariffs came into effect,” says Mr Robert.

“We don’t have the leeway to give a discount to our customers, because the margins are already as low as they can be.”

Instead, says Adrian Hunn of SwissMedTech, “Medical devices will get more expensive for US patients.”

And he adds, probably for US taxpayers as well. “Costs for hospitals and healthcare systems in the US in many cases are funded by public reimbursement programmes, and this means taxpayers bear the burden.”

Perhaps even more worrying for patients, since some high precision medical devices are made only in Switzerland, is the possibility that Swiss companies will stop exporting to the US altogether.

“These are companies that have very good products,” says Jan Atteslander of Economiesuisse. “And they have told us, we just stopped delivering, sorry guys.”

Mr Atteslander and Mr Hunn agree with the Swiss government’s strategy of not retaliating to the US tariffs. Switzerland’s David, the thinking goes, cannot realistically take on America’s Goliath.

But the Swiss are actively chasing other markets. A trade deal with India – “the fastest growing economy on the planet, 1.4 billion potential consumers,” Mr Atteslander points out – came into force on 1 October.

An agreement with the South American trade block Mercosur has also just been concluded, Switzerland’s longstanding trade deal with China is being upgraded, and free trade with the EU, the market for 50% of all Swiss exports, remains intact.

So, although the US tariffs are already damaging the Swiss economy, and some still cling to hope that Trump may change his mind, there is also a quiet confidence that Switzerland will, if it has to, weather this storm.

“To be a successful export nation, you have to have resilience in your DNA,” says Mr Atteslander.

The more long-term damage may be to the traditionally good business relations between the two countries.

In Switzerland, there is a real feeling of hurt. The US wasn’t just an important market: the Swiss loved doing business there.

Many thought they had found entrepreneurial soulmates, more oriented to the free market than their more regulated partners in the EU. Now, both Adrian Hunn of SwissMedTech and Gilles Robert of MPS have abandoned that notion – for now at least.

“I lived six years in the US, so I was very close,” says Mr Hunn.

“I have a lot of friends there. So, this, it didn’t change my view of America, but it did change my view, you know, of how the current administration in the US is acting globally, and treating allies.”

“I studied a year in the US,” says Mr Robert.

“It had an impact on me, on my way of looking at the world. How you can take risks, be an entrepreneur, and be positive about the future.”

But, he adds hopefully, “Even though I’m sad about this situation, we will overcome, we’ll find solutions, and I’m sure in the end reason will prevail.”

The Defence Department had set a Tuesday deadline for news outlets to either sign a new Pentagon access policy or lose access to press credentials and Pentagon workspaces.

At least 30 news organisations, including Reuters, declined to sign the new policy, citing a threat to press freedoms and their ability to conduct independent newsgathering on the world’s most powerful military.

The policy requires journalists to acknowledge new rules on press access, including that they could be branded security risks and have their Pentagon press badges revoked if they ask department employees to disclose classified and some types of unclassified information.

The Pentagon Press Association, which represents more than 100 news organisations, including Reuters, said in a statement that Wednesday was “a dark day for press freedom that raises concerns about a weakening U.S. commitment to transparency in governance, to public accountability at the Pentagon and to free speech for all.”

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement on Monday: “The policy does not ask for them to agree, just to acknowledge that they understand what our policy is. This has caused reporters to have a full blown meltdown, crying victim online. We stand by our policy because it’s what’s best for our troops and the national security of this country.”

The Pentagon declined to make additional comment on Wednesday.

Journalists described the press area at the Pentagon on Wednesday as unusually quiet, as they removed furniture, computer servers, TV studio soundproofing material and other contents.

“I’ve never seen that place not buzzing like a beehive,” said JJ Green, National Security Correspondent at Washington news radio station WTOP.

Green, who has worked as a national security correspondent for 20 years, turned in his press credential Wednesday morning. Television outlets have until Friday to remove their gear.

Credentialed reporters have traditionally been limited to unclassified spaces in the Pentagon and have worked across the hallway from the Pentagon press office, which has allowed them access to department spokespeople. Press badges signify that they have gone through a background check.

“We’ve never been allowed to just bolt right on into classified areas or people’s offices,” said Stephen Losey, a reporter who covers the Air Force for Defence News.

“I don’t know anybody who would purposely eavesdrop or anything like that, which is what some people have made it seem like we’re doing.”

Some journalists interviewed by Reuters said the new restrictions won’t keep them from reporting on the U.S. military.

“The irony of irony is that Pentagon reporters are not having conversations about controlled information in the hallways,” said a member of the Pentagon Press Association speaking on condition of anonymity. “We’re doing it over (the encrypted app) Signal.”

The Pentagon’s new policy is the latest expansion of restrictions on press access under Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host.

Fox News is among the news organisations that have refused to sign on to the new press restrictions.

The State Department said Tuesday it had determined they should lose their visas after reviewing their online social media posts and clips about Kirk, who was killed while speaking at a Utah college campus on Sept. 10.

The announcement came as President Donald Trump was posthumously awarding him America’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. At Kirk’s funeral in September, Trump called him a “great American hero” and “martyr” for freedom.

The administration and its supporters have targeted people for their comments about Kirk, leading to firings or other discipline of journalists, teachers and others, and raising free speech concerns.

The six foreigners who had their visas revoked were from Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Paraguay and South Africa. They were not identified.

Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “will defend our borders, our culture, and our citizens by enforcing our immigration laws,” the State Department said.

“Aliens who take advantage of America’s hospitality while celebrating the assassination of our citizens will be removed.”

Vice President JD Vance and other top U.S. officials have encouraged people to call out offensive language about Kirk that they see online.

In an unusual tweet last month, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau asked social media users to copy him on any relevant posts, saying he was personally “disgusted to see some on social media praising, rationalizing, or making light of the event, and have directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action.”

In addition to Tuesday’s action, the administration has ramped up efforts to identify and potentially expel thousands of foreigners in the United States, notably students, who it says have either fomented or participated in unrest or publicly supported protests against Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

The administration has also denied visas to applicants whose social media histories have been critical of its policies.

Among the higher-profile cases, the administration has expelled South Africa’s ambassador to the United States for comments critical of Trump, revoked a visa for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to attend the U.N. General Assembly and yanked the visas for British punk-rap duo Bob Vylan.

It said it is reviewing the status of the more than 55 million current U.S. visa holders for potential violations of its standards.

Those actions have been criticized by civil rights groups as violations of constitutional protections for freedom of speech, which apply to anyone in the United States and not just to American citizens.

Thomas Weidenmüller claimed in court docs obtained by Page Six that the “Anaconda” rapper and her husband, Kenneth Petty, have refused to pay him the more than $500,000 they owe him after he filed an assault lawsuit against the registered sex offender.

Weidenmüller has now asked a court to help him collect the money by placing Minaj’s 11-bedroom, Hidden Hills, Calif., home up for sale.

“The dwelling is subject to a $13,258,000 mortgage lien and a $722,151 homestead exemption—together just under $14 million,” the court docs read.

“The property’s current fair market value is appraised at $20 million, yielding approximately $6 million in equity beyond the lien and exemption. That amount is more than sufficient to satisfy the judgment, plus accrued interest and enforcement costs.”

Weidenmüller’s legal team claims in the docs that the sale of the pop star’s home “would satisfy the entire judgment, with millions to spare.”

“Minaj is a global music superstar, estimated to have a net worth of anywhere between $150-190 million
and is reportedly the highest paid female rap star in the world,” the docs state.

“There is little doubt that she is highly capable of paying the judgment in full and, yet, she has refused to do so despite multiple written requests for payment and levies served upon several of her suspected creditors. [Weidenmüller] should not have to wait any longer.”

Page Six has reached out to Minaj’s rep for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Us Weekly was first to report the news.

When Weidenmüller worked as a security guard for Minaj’s 2019 concert in Germany, he claimed Petty, 47, sucker punched him in the jaw.

The incident allegedly occurred after the “Starships” emcee, born Onika Maraj, berated a female security guard for allowing a male fan to get onstage during her show.

Minaj, 42, allegedly yelled at the guard, calling her a “f–king bitch” while recording the belittling exchange.

Weidenmüller, who was the head of security for the evening, said he stepped up to console the crying guard before approaching the “Barbershop: The Next Cut” actress to discuss the alleged incident.

“Who do you think you are?” he claimed Minaj yelled before allegedly throwing her shoe at him.

Weidenmüller then claimed the “Moment 4 Life” rapper verbally berated him in her room before Petty punched him out of the blue, breaking his jaw.

Due to the alleged assault, Weidenmüller claimed he had to undergo eight surgeries to repair the damage to his jaw, which involved inserting five plates into his face.

A judge awarded Weidenmüller $503,318 for the damage under a default judgment.

Minaj and Petty tied the knot in October 2019 and welcomed a son, only known as “Papa Bear,” in September 2020.

He noted that Ghana’s responsibilities under international treaties, particularly those prohibiting forced returns, must guide both Parliament and the Executive as they deal with the controversial agreement.

Prof. Appiagyei-Atua explained that even though domestic legal processes, such as the ratification of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by Parliament, are important, they cannot override Ghana’s binding commitments as a member of global and regional organisations like the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU), and ECOWAS.

He pointed to the principle of non-refoulement as the key standard by which the issue must be judged.

The principle, central to international refugee and human rights law, is found in the UN Refugee Convention and the Convention Against Torture (CAT), both of which Ghana has ratified.

“Parliament is bound by certain international agreements, such as the Convention Against Torture, which Ghana is a party, and certain agreements which, including the Refugee Convention, which includes the principle of non-refoulement, which says that you cannot deport somebody to a country where the person might have already suffered torture,” Professor Atua stated.

He added that the government must ensure no deportation occurs if the person “has already suffered torture,” if returning them “would lead to a continuation of that torture,” or if “there’s reasonable grounds to conclude that torture has been taking place in that place, so taking the person there will result in the person being tortured.”

Prof. Appiagyei-Atua stressed that both the government and Parliament “will have to take into account all these obligations that Ghana has” as part of the international community.

He further suggested that in certain cases, international law may take precedence over local statutes, especially where fundamental human rights are concerned.

“There are certain laws which, as international laws, may override the local laws, or we have to make our laws reflect and conform to those international obligations,” he explained.

“So that would be the final determinant, or the basis for Parliament to rule, or to make a decision as to whether the MOU should be ratified, or made domesticated, and made part of Ghana’s laws,” he added.

His remarks come ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on October 22, where Democracy Hub is contesting the government’s agreement with the United States, which has resulted in the deportation of at least 42 West African nationals—none of whom are Ghanaian—through Ghana.

The group argues that detaining and re-deporting these individuals, particularly those protected by US court orders from being returned to their home countries due to fear of persecution, breaches the very non-refoulement principles Ghana is obligated to uphold.

Source: Myjoyonline

ALSO READ:

• Ghana could face legal and security challenges over US deportees – Analyst

• Democracy Hub drags gov’t to Supreme Court over ‘secret’ deal to accept U.S. deportees

The changes, which will come into force from 8 January 2026, will affect some graduates and those applying for skilled worker or scale-up visas, which are for people employed by fast-growing businesses.

The new rules form part of wider plans to cut levels of immigration to the UK outlined in a white paper in May.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “If you come to this country, you must learn our language and play your part.”

“This country has always welcomed those who come to this country and contribute,” Mahmood said.

“But it is unacceptable for migrants to come here without learning our language, unable to contribute to our national life.”

Applicants will be tested in person on their speaking, listening, reading and writing at Home Office-approved providers, with their results checked as part of the visa process.

Those applying for skilled worker, scale-up and high potential individual (HPI) visas will be required to reach B2 level – a step up from the current B1 standard, which is equivalent to GCSE.

To come to the UK on the skilled worker visa, migrants have to work for a government-approved employer and earn at least £41,700 a year, or the “going rate” for their type of work, whichever is highest.

The scale-up visa is open to migrants coming to work for a fast-growing UK business. Migrants can apply for a high-potential individual visa if they have been awarded a qualification from a top global university within the last five years.

According to the British Council, which offers English language courses, learners who achieve B2 level can “understand the main ideas of complex texts on concrete or abstract topics.”

They can express themselves “fluently and spontaneously” and communicate comfortably with other English speakers. They can also produce “clear, detailed text on many subjects and explain a complex viewpoint”.

Further English language requirements for other visa routes and family dependants are expected to be introduced in due course, Home Office Minister Mike Tapp told Parliament on Tuesday.

The prime minister previously said the changes outlined in the white paper would make the UK’s immigration system “controlled, selective and fair”.Remove AdsRemove Ads

Home Office estimates suggest the measures could reduce the number of people coming to the UK by up to 100,000 per year.

Net migration to the UK – total permanent arrivals minus total permanent departures – fell to 431,000 in 2024, down almost 50% on the total in 2023, when it reached a record high of 906,000.

Dr Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said the government faced a “trade-off” between “ensuring migrants speak good English and enabling employers to recruit workers who are expected to bring economic benefits.”

Many graduate jobs already require language skills above A-level standard, she said.

The new language requirements will have “more impact in middle-skilled jobs involving technical and manual skills, where employers sometimes do not require high language proficiency”.

Immigration lawyer Afsana Akhtar told BBC News she thought it was “unfair” that migrants had to reach such a high standard of English “because even many people in the UK probably wouldn’t be able to pass English A-level”.

“This would rule out even skilled workers who want to come and contribute to our British economy,” she said.

“The GCSE standard is sufficient – and then when they come live here, [and] integrate into England and the English way of life, their English will improve inevitably.”

Other measures in the white paper include cutting the time period international students can stay in the UK to find a graduate job after their course ends from two years to 18 months, which will take effect from January 2027.

Students will also have to meet higher financial requirements, raised to £1,171 per month outside London (from £1,136) for up to nine months.

The Global Talent visa, for high achievers in technology, arts and academia fields, has also been expanded to include winners of more prestigious prizes.

Source: BBC

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Sixteen bodies have been recovered but were burned beyond recognition, the fire service said.

Distraught relatives gathered outside the four-storey factory in Dhaka’s Mirpur area on Tuesday in search of their loved ones still missing.

The blaze, which broke out at the factory around midday, was extinguished after three hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse continued to burn, authorities said.

Large fires are relatively common in densely populated Bangladesh, often due to lax safety standards and poor infrastructure. Hundreds of people have been killed in fires in recent years.

Up until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) yesterday, the fire at the chemical warehouse in Mirpurhad not been completely doused, media reports said.

Fire service officials have not ascertained which of the two buildings caught fire first.

According to eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse stored bleaching powder, plastic and hydrogen peroxide, all of which can intensify fires. Plastic also releases toxic fumes when burned.

Fire service director Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury told local media the victims probably died “instantly” after inhaling “highly toxic gas”.

Police and military officers are still trying to locate the owners of the factory and the warehouse, Mr Chowdhury told reporters.

An investigation on whether the warehouse was operating legally is also ongoing, he added.

Tearful family members stood outside the charred buildings, many of them clutching photographs of their missing relatives.

Among them is a man searching desperately for his daughter, Farzana Akhter.

“When I heard about the fire, I came running. But I still haven’t found her….I just want my daughter back,” he told Reuters news agency.

In 2021, a fire at a food and drink factory left at least 52 people dead and another 20 injured. The factory was built illegally and had no emergency exit, an investigation later found.

In 2019, a fast-moving fire swept through a historic district in Dhaka, killing at least 78 people, including members of a bridal party.

The country’s most deadly industrial accident to date took place in 2013, when an eight-storey commercial building collapsed owing to a structural failure, killing more than 1,100 people.

The talks, which coincided with the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Ghana and China, centered on enhancing political and economic cooperation between the two countries.

President Xi reaffirmed China’s dedication to strengthening its partnership with Ghana, noting that both nations should collaborate to advance shared interests and foster development.

According to him, China is ready to work with Ghana to promote the upgrading of cooperation in various fields and make greater contributions to building an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.

He underscored the importance of implementing the outcomes of the 2024 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and exploring new areas of collaboration in mining, energy, infrastructure, agriculture, and fisheries.

Xi further indicated that China would assist Ghana in converting its natural resource wealth into sustainable development and expressed hope that Ghana would soon benefit from China’s zero-tariff policy for African countries.

President Mahama, in his remarks, congratulated China on the successful hosting of the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women, describing the event as “of great significance” and a testament to China’s leadership in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment worldwide.

He reaffirmed Ghana’s commitment to the One-China policy and expressed optimism about strengthening cooperation in key sectors.

President Mahama also emphasized Ghana’s support for multilateralism and reforms in global governance, pledging to back initiatives that promote fairness and justice in international relations.

The meeting reaffirmed the enduring relationship between Ghana and China, with both leaders expressing confidence in a stronger, more dynamic, and mutually beneficial partnership in the years ahead.

Source : Adomonline

Like many couples, they had never discussed organ donation, but she knew it was what he would have wanted.

Now, Arlene and son, Jack, 12, take comfort in the knowledge that Mark has helped transform the lives of others.

She said, “He lives on in four people. That can only be a good thing.”

Arlene and Jack, who live near Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire, hope that their story encourages people to speak about the sensitive subject before it is too late.

They also want to raise awareness about strokes.

Arlene, 51, who works in marketing, met Mark in 2004.

He worked in behavioural health and safety, but they did not become a couple until 2007.

Arlene described him as the love of her life, and they married in New York in 2010.

Jack was born two years later, and they were soon joined by pet dog, Luna.

She recalled, “We had a really happy life together, the three of us.”

Arlene said they had a “healthy” family lifestyle.

The couple were non-smokers, ate well, and enjoyed taking Luna for walks.

But last summer their lives were suddenly turned upside down.

Arlene and Jack took the dog for a walk while Mark was in the shower getting ready for a family event.

When they got back, Arlene said Mark was emotional.

“He told me he was not feeling right at all and had fallen,” she said. “He just wasn’t himself. And he had a numb tongue.”

Mark’s speech started to go, and one side of his face drooped—classic stroke symptoms.

“It was very, very distressing,” she said.

They tried to keep him calm while they waited for an ambulance.

After arriving in the hospital, Arlene was told her husband had a blood clot in the brain but was still conscious and sitting up.

She said there was “fear” in Mark’s eyes, and he was taken to the stroke ward.

Over the coming days, the talk was of recovery.

But Mark then suffered a second stroke and lost consciousness.

Arlene said she “still had hope” as they waited for scan results, but they revealed the “devastating” news that Mark’s brain had been left severely damaged.

“There was not any good outcome,” she said.

“I knew Mark would never want to be like that, where he just could not do anything for himself.

“I will never have to do anything as hard as tell Jack.”

As Arlene came to terms with the news, she spoke to the donor team.

‘Recipient’s life has changed’

She said, “We decided that was what we would like to do.

“Mark was going to die. I felt it was an easy decision for me to make.

“Knowing the person Mark was, I know that he would have wanted this wholeheartedly to help others.”

He died two days later and was taken to the theatre.

Arlene said, “The amazing specialist organ donation team stepped in.

“They cared for Mark and my family with so much dignity and respect.

“They were with us during our darkest moments and when Mark passed away.

“The team found four recipients for Mark’s organs, and we have amazingly since heard from one recipient whose life has completely changed since gaining two kidneys from Mark.”

Arlene and Jack recently unveiled an art installation at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, which pays tribute to organ donors.

Artist Shelagh Swanson was commissioned to work with the relatives of donors, along with young people at more than a dozen secondary schools, to create the ripple-effect art.

Workshops were held with secondary school pupils across Aberdeen and in Aberdeenshire in Stonehaven, Kemnay, Huntly, Inverurie, and Peterhead.

Arlene said she was honoured to unveil the artwork and added, “I am in awe of what the small but dedicated organ donation team achieves and will be forever grateful to them.”

What is the law on organ donation in Scotland?

Everyone in Scotland became an automatic organ donor from 2021 under new laws, unless they opt out.

Under the previous system, more than half of Scotland’s population were registered to donate their organs or tissue after their death.

It is now presumed that people have consented to donation unless they have stated otherwise.

There are some exemptions, including children under the age of 16 and adults who lack the capacity to understand the new law—for example, those with dementia.

The aim is that more people can be given life-saving and life-changing transplants.

People who do not want their organs to be donated for a transplant can opt out through the Organ Donation Scotland website.

Arlene said her husband “just wanted to spread joy.”

She added, “He was caring, a big softie. He had a massive smile on his face all the time. He was such a happy man.”

Reflecting on his loss, she said, “We will never know why, as it was completely out of the blue.

“It’s been over a year, and every day is hard. All of this has changed our lives.”

Jack, now 13, described his dad as “always upbeat [and] joyful.”

He said, “He was a lot of fun, always doing silly things to make us laugh. He would always wind us up.”

Asked how he felt about his father’s organs ultimately helping four other people, Jack replied, “It’s a comfort.

“I am very proud.”

Source: BBC

“A new and beautiful day is rising, and now the rebuilding begins,” said Trump, praising regional leaders who helped cement the truce between Israel and Hamas.

Earlier, in his address to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, the president told cheering lawmakers that “the long and painful nightmare is finally over.”

Israel is releasing 250 Palestinian prisoners and more than 1,700 other Palestinians detained during the two-year military operations in Gaza in exchange for the last 20 living Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

The exchange, the first phase of Trump’s peace plan, is also due to include the return of the bodies of 28 dead Israeli hostages.

In Egypt, Trump was all smiles in the company of Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and more than 20 other leaders from around the world.

“Everybody’s happy,” Trump said, adding that he had done “big deals before,” but “this has taken off like a rocket ship.”

“This took 3,000 years to get to this point, can you believe it? And it’s going to hold up too,” he said.

After the ceremony, President al-Sisi awarded Trump the Order of the Nile, a necklace made of pure gold considered to be Egypt’s highest honour.

The Egyptian president called the day a “historic milestone that ends an agonising chapter.”

Among the many world leaders at the summit who stood for a photo opportunity with Trump was Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who less than a week ago was blocked by the US from attending the UN General Assembly in New York.

Although the first phase of the ceasefire agreement has been enacted, there is a lingering question over what role the Palestinian Authority might eventually play in Gaza.

Trump said the second phase of negotiations on a peace agreement was underway.

During his address to the Knesset, the American president suggested the region was experiencing “the historic dawn of a new Middle East.”

His words echoed the phrasing he used when Israel signed landmark deals with several Arab states during his first presidency.

“At last, not only for Israelis but also Palestinians, the long and painful nightmare is finally over,” Trump told the Israeli parliament.

Adding to the jubilant atmosphere in the room were politicians’ chants of “Trump, Trump, Trump.”

The ceasefire that he helped to broker was “the most challenging breakthrough of them all, the most challenging breakthrough maybe ever,” the US leader reflected. He indicated that ending the Russia-Ukraine war would be his next focus.

Trump gave an insight into some of his recent conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he felt the Israeli military campaign in Gaza was becoming “bad” and “heated.”

“I said, ‘Bibi, you’re going to be remembered for this far more than if you kept this thing going, going, going, kill, kill, kill,'” Trump recalled.

Introducing Trump to parliament, Netanyahu called the US president the “greatest friend” Israel had ever had in the White House.

“Everything changed” in the American attitude to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza when Trump was re-elected as US president last year, he said.

The Israeli prime minister thanked Trump for his “unremitting help” in securing the return of the remaining hostages – part of a group of 251 people seized during the 7 October 2023 attacks in southern Israel by Hamas.

Trump went on to offer a tribute of his own to his counterpart, saying: “He’s not the easiest guy to deal with, but that’s what makes him great.”

Also welcomed to the Knesset alongside Trump were other key US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The names of Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner received particularly loud cheers from Israeli MPs for their own roles in brokering the ceasefire. Kushner was accompanied by his wife, Ivanka Trump.

Members of Trump’s audience wore red caps. Instead of Trump’s signature slogan “Make America Great Again”, they read “Trump the Peace President”.

Trump was told by the parliamentary speaker that there was “no-one” more deserving of next year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Some Israeli lawmakers who want the war in Gaza to continue did not attend.

Trump’s speech was briefly interrupted as an opposition parliament member held up a piece of paper that said “Recognise Palestine.” At least one person was escorted out of the room.

The ceasefire in Gaza took effect on Friday morning after Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of Trump’s 20-point peace plan. The next phases are still to be negotiated.

Trump has said the ceasefire will hold and that a “board of peace” he is due to head would quickly be set up to administer the territory.

Source: BBC 

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Downdetector, which monitors web outages, showed more than 130,000 people had flagged problems affecting their Vodafone broadband or mobile network on Monday afternoon.

According to its website, the firm has more than 18 million customers in the UK, including nearly 700,000 home broadband customers.

In an updated statement on Monday evening, Vodafone apologised to customers and said its network was “recovering”.

“This afternoon the Vodafone network had an issue affecting broadband, 4G and 5G services,” a company spokesperson said.

“2G voice calls and SMS messaging were unaffected and the network is now recovering.

“We apologise for any inconvenience this caused our customers.”

It comes after people on social media said they were struggling to access Vodafone customer service operators, amid ongoing issues affecting mobile data and broadband.

Many also said they have had difficulty accessing the company’s website and app, which typically allow people to view the status of its network services.

Customers have also taken to social media to complain of “complete outages” in their area.

The issues appear to have begun for customers shortly after 15:00 BST.

Internet monitor Netblocks said in a post on X that live network data showed Vodafone was experiencing “a national outage” impacting both broadband and mobile data.

Some customers expressed being doubly frustrated by not being able to access their Wi-Fi or mobile data.

“Sort it out soon please,” wrote one frustrated X user – who said they were having to use a coffee shop’s Wi-Fi to access online services, without the means to do so using their mobile data or broadband.

Another said they were self-employed and could not work because of the outage, adding: “Never regretted more having my mobile and broadband on the same network.”

The issues are also understood to have impacted some Vodafone shops.

‘Dropped off the internet’

The issues affecting Vodafone services have also impacted customers of other telecoms firms that use its network.

Downdetector saw a similar spike in reports on Monday afternoon from users of the mobile network Voxi, which is owned by Vodafone.

Lebara, which piggy-backs off Vodafone’s network, has also been affected by the company’s outage.

“Outages have been reported across multiple networks across broadband and mobile services,” said Sabrina Hoque, telecoms expert at Uswitch.

These, she added, can be “a really frustrating experience for customers, especially when it’s not clear how long it could last”.

Vodafone has not yet said how long it expects its outage to last – though its website since appears to have come back online.

Cloudflare Radar, which tracks and displays patterns in global internet traffic, said in a post on Bluesky earlier it had “effectively dropped off the internet, with traffic dropping to zero”.

The company has also not said what caused the issue affecting its networks.

“Incidents like this are often caused by a technical fault or configuration error rather than a major cyber-attack, so until more details are confirmed it’s best not to speculate,” said Daniel Card, a cyber expert with BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

“Having teams capable of diagnosing and responding rapidly to network failures is key to maintaining public trust and keeping the UK’s digital infrastructure running smoothly.”

Source: BBC