Trump has consistently said his priority is to end the war and stem the drain on US resources
A senior adviser to president-elect Donald Trump says the incoming administration will focus on achieving peace in the war in Ukraine rather than winning back territory.
Bryan Lanza, a Republican party strategist, told the BBC the Trump administration would ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his version of a "realistic vision for peace".
"And if President Zelensky comes to the table and says, well we can only have peace if we have Crimea, he shows to us that he's not serious," he said.
Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014. Eight years later, it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has occupied territory in the country's east.
Trump has already spoken to Zelensky since winning the US election - the pair held a phone call on Wednesday with billionaire Elon Musk also taking part.
“It was a short chat with Musk, but it was a good lengthy conversation with Trump, it lasted about half an hour,” a source in Ukraine's presidential office told the BBC.
“It was not really a conversation to talk about very substantial things, but overall it was very warm and pleasant.”
Trump has consistently said his priority is to end the war and stem the drain on US resources.
His Democrat opponents have accused him of cosying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin and say his approach to the war amounts to surrender for Ukraine and will endanger all of Europe.
During his election campaign, Trump repeatedly said he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine “in a day”, but gave no details. A paper written by two of his former national security chiefs in May said the US should continue supplying weapons, but make the support conditional on Kyiv entering peace talks with Russia.
Ukraine should not give up its hopes of getting all of its territory back from Russian occupation, the paper said, but it should negotiate based on current front lines.
Mr Lanza did not mention areas of eastern Ukraine, but he said regaining Crimea from Russia was unrealistic and "not the goal of the United States".
"When Zelensky says we will only stop this fighting, there will only be peace once Crimea is returned, we've got news for President Zelensky: Crimea is gone," he told the BBC World Service’s Weekend programme.
"And if that is your priority of getting Crimea back and having American soldiers fight to get Crimea back, you're on your own."
Mr Lanza said he had tremendous respect for the Ukrainian people, describing them as having the hearts of lions. But he said the US priority was "peace and to stop the killing".
"What we're going to say to Ukraine is, you know what you see? What do you see as a realistic vision for peace. It's not a vision for winning, but it's a vision for peace. And let's start having the honest conversation," he said.
EPA
Zelensky and Trump after a meeting in the US earlier this year - they spoke on the phone on Wednesday
Earlier this week, Putin congratulated Trump on his election victory and said Trump's claim that he can help end the war in Ukraine "deserves attention at least".
Mr Lanza also criticised the support the Biden-Harris administration and European countries have given to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
"The reality on the ground is that the European nation states and President Biden did not give Ukraine the ability and the arms to win this war at the very beginning and they failed to lift the restrictions for Ukraine to win," he said.
The US has been the biggest arms supplier to Ukraine - between February 2022 and the end of June 2024, it delivered or committed weapons and equipment worth $55.5bn (£41.5bn), according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research organisation.
The Roman archaeological site of Pompeii will limit the number of daily visitors to the site to 20,000 a day after a steep rise in visitors.
A record high 36,000 tourists visited the site on the first Sunday of October, when entry was free, local media reported.
The park’s management said on Friday that the site would cap its daily visitor number from 15 November.
Pompeii, the Roman city buried in an eruption from nearby Mount Vesuvius in AD79, is one of the best-preserved Roman sites anywhere in the world.
EPA
Pompeii and its Roman inhabitants were buried in a volcanic eruption from nearby Mount Vesuvius
Nearly 4 million people visited the main Pompeii site in 2023, a third more than the previous year. Visitor counts had been climbing in the run up to the pandemic and in 2023 were above pre-Covid levels.
More than 480,000 people visited in October 2024.
In October 2024, there were more than 480,000 visitors, putting the average at about 15,500 a day. The busiest month so far this year was May, when about 517,000 people visited, or some 16,700 a day.
The 20,000 cap is likely to only lead to tourists being turned away on a handful of occasions. A spokesperson for the park told Reuters that it had only exceeded 20,000 visitors when entry is free on the first Sunday of the month, as well as three or four fee-paying days.
Getty Images
Nearly 4 million people visited the main Pompeii site in 2023, a third more than the previous year
Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the park's director, said that reducing the effects of human visitors at Pompeii was important for conservation and safety reasons.
The city was devastated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which preserved swathes of it almost intact under a layer of ash for over 1,000 years.
About a third of the site has yet to be excavated. It continues to be of huge interest to archaeologists, providing the most complete picture of daily Roman life anywhere in the world.
Earlier this year, archaeologists revealed frescos of mythical Greek figures including Helen of Troy and Apollo. The artworks were found in a banqueting hall with dramatic black walls and a mosaic floor made of more than 1 million white tiles.
Entry tickets to Pompeii start at €18 (£14.90; $19.30).
Trump has consistently said his priority is to end the war and stem the drain on US resources
A senior adviser to president-elect Donald Trump says the incoming administration will focus on achieving peace in the war in Ukraine rather than winning back territory.
Bryan Lanza, a Republican party strategist, told the BBC the Trump administration would ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his version of a "realistic vision for peace".
"And if President Zelensky comes to the table and says, well we can only have peace if we have Crimea, he shows to us that he's not serious," he said.
Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014. Eight years later, it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has occupied territory in the country's east.
Trump has already spoken to Zelensky since winning the US election - the pair held a phone call on Wednesday with billionaire Elon Musk also taking part.
“It was a short chat with Musk, but it was a good lengthy conversation with Trump, it lasted about half an hour,” a source in Ukraine's presidential office told the BBC.
“It was not really a conversation to talk about very substantial things, but overall it was very warm and pleasant.”
Trump has consistently said his priority is to end the war and stem the drain on US resources.
His Democrat opponents have accused him of cosying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin and say his approach to the war amounts to surrender for Ukraine and will endanger all of Europe.
During his election campaign, Trump repeatedly said he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine “in a day”, but gave no details. A paper written by two of his former national security chiefs in May said the US should continue supplying weapons, but make the support conditional on Kyiv entering peace talks with Russia.
Ukraine should not give up its hopes of getting all of its territory back from Russian occupation, the paper said, but it should negotiate based on current front lines.
Mr Lanza did not mention areas of eastern Ukraine, but he said regaining Crimea from Russia was unrealistic and "not the goal of the United States".
"When Zelensky says we will only stop this fighting, there will only be peace once Crimea is returned, we've got news for President Zelensky: Crimea is gone," he told the BBC World Service’s Weekend programme.
"And if that is your priority of getting Crimea back and having American soldiers fight to get Crimea back, you're on your own."
Mr Lanza said he had tremendous respect for the Ukrainian people, describing them as having the hearts of lions. But he said the US priority was "peace and to stop the killing".
"What we're going to say to Ukraine is, you know what you see? What do you see as a realistic vision for peace. It's not a vision for winning, but it's a vision for peace. And let's start having the honest conversation," he said.
EPA
Zelensky and Trump after a meeting in the US earlier this year - they spoke on the phone on Wednesday
Earlier this week, Putin congratulated Trump on his election victory and said Trump's claim that he can help end the war in Ukraine "deserves attention at least".
Mr Lanza also criticised the support the Biden-Harris administration and European countries have given to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
"The reality on the ground is that the European nation states and President Biden did not give Ukraine the ability and the arms to win this war at the very beginning and they failed to lift the restrictions for Ukraine to win," he said.
The US has been the biggest arms supplier to Ukraine - between February 2022 and the end of June 2024, it delivered or committed weapons and equipment worth $55.5bn (£41.5bn), according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research organisation.
The Roman archaeological site of Pompeii will limit the number of daily visitors to the site to 20,000 a day after a steep rise in visitors.
A record high 36,000 tourists visited the site on the first Sunday of October, when entry was free, local media reported.
The park’s management said on Friday that the site would cap its daily visitor number from 15 November.
Pompeii, the Roman city buried in an eruption from nearby Mount Vesuvius in AD79, is one of the best-preserved Roman sites anywhere in the world.
EPA
Pompeii and its Roman inhabitants were buried in a volcanic eruption from nearby Mount Vesuvius
Nearly 4 million people visited the main Pompeii site in 2023, a third more than the previous year. Visitor counts had been climbing in the run up to the pandemic and in 2023 were above pre-Covid levels.
More than 480,000 people visited in October 2024.
In October 2024, there were more than 480,000 visitors, putting the average at about 15,500 a day. The busiest month so far this year was May, when about 517,000 people visited, or some 16,700 a day.
The 20,000 cap is likely to only lead to tourists being turned away on a handful of occasions. A spokesperson for the park told Reuters that it had only exceeded 20,000 visitors when entry is free on the first Sunday of the month, as well as three or four fee-paying days.
Getty Images
Nearly 4 million people visited the main Pompeii site in 2023, a third more than the previous year
Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the park's director, said that reducing the effects of human visitors at Pompeii was important for conservation and safety reasons.
The city was devastated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which preserved swathes of it almost intact under a layer of ash for over 1,000 years.
About a third of the site has yet to be excavated. It continues to be of huge interest to archaeologists, providing the most complete picture of daily Roman life anywhere in the world.
Earlier this year, archaeologists revealed frescos of mythical Greek figures including Helen of Troy and Apollo. The artworks were found in a banqueting hall with dramatic black walls and a mosaic floor made of more than 1 million white tiles.
Entry tickets to Pompeii start at €18 (£14.90; $19.30).
Thousands of federal bureaucrats have lived through one Donald Trump administration. Many are not sure they can or will survive a second.
POLITICO spoke with more than a dozen civil servants, political appointees under President Joe Biden and recently departed Biden administration staffers in the days since the presidential election was called for Trump, who were granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic and the risk to their jobs. Many are bracing for a wave of departures from key federal agencies in the coming months, amid fears that the next president will gut their budgets, reverse their policy agendas and target them individually if they do not show sufficient loyalty. The result is likely to be a sizable brain drain from the federal workforce — something Trump may welcome.
“Last time Trump was in office, we were all in survival mode with a hope for an end date,” said one State Department official. “Now there is no light at the end of the tunnel.”
The former president and his allies are deeply distrustful of the executive branch bureaucracy and the more than 2 million civil servants who staff it — blaming a federal “deep state” for trying to undermine him in his first term and driving the impeachment efforts against him. As president, Trump named political appointees to various agencies with the purpose of cleaning house — and will again have the chance to nominate people for roughly 4,000 political jobs throughout the administration. In 2021, his White House launched an effort to make it easier to fire civil servants and replace them with political appointees, something he is expected to restart when he returns in January. He’s also threatened to move thousands of federal jobs outside D.C.
Trump-Vance Transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt did not reply directly to a query about the future of the federal workforce, saying, via email, “President-Elect Trump will begin making decisions on who will serve in his second Administration soon. Those decisions will be announced when they are made."
Trump’s policy agenda is also at odds with core priorities for a number of agencies under Biden.
Several of Biden’s political appointees at Department of Transportation headquarters near Washington's Navy Yard were despondent at the prospect of a new Trump administration set on undoing much of their work over the past four years, including airline consumer protections and massive investments in infrastructure.
“There’s a lot of anxiety among Biden appointees, like myself, who need to find new jobs — and also among career staff who are worried about Trump trying to remove career civil servants who had a policymaking role,” a DOT official told POLITICO.
“I am glad that I am retiring soon. … EPA is toast,” said a staffer at the Environmental Protection Agency, whose efforts to fight climate change clash with Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” approach to energy policy.
A number of officials, however, are wrestling with the conflicting desire to stay in government and defend the mission of the agencies they work for.
“We do our best to make sure either administration does what's legal,” said a Department of Homeland Security staffer in a legal office. “If I leave, I’d be replaced with an enabler.”
The alarm over Trump’s return is particularly palpable among national security officials, environmental agencies and the federal health agencies, who fear the president-elect will follow through on his pledge to let noted vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “go wild on health.”
In his victory speech early Wednesday morning, Trump reiterated that promise. “He’s going to help make America healthy again. … He wants to do some things, and we’re going to let him get to it,” Trump said.
Still, one current staffer at the National Institutes of Health said concerns are building inside the research agency about the future of vaccine research in the next administration.
NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli seemed to hint at those fears in an email sent to agency staff Wednesday that was shared with POLITICO.
“With the 2024 election day now behind us, I want to acknowledge that change can leave us feeling uncertain,” she wrote.
“I do not want to dismiss those feelings, but I do want to remind everyone that throughout our 137-year history, the NIH mission has remained steadfast, and our staff committed to the important work of biomedical research in the service of public health.”
A former Food and Drug Administration official told POLITICO on Wednesday that Kennedy's assertions that he would have heavy influence over health agencies during Trump's second term is raising the risk of career staff departing the agency responsible for drug oversight and food safety.
“The agency personnel are concerned, especially in light of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s statements and his potential role at the agency," said the former official. "The reality of that is something the agency has to grapple with.”
"They're worried, they've been through transitions before so they clearly understand how to do that, but they read the news, the same as you and me," said a separate former senior FDA official. "I think it's a lot of RFK-driven stuff."
Staffers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also fear that under Trump, the public health agency — so central to the Covid-19 response — has “a target on its back,” as one person who works with the agency said.
Republicans have outlined clear plans for changes to the CDC — including the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which includes ambitions to split the agency into two. (The Trump campaign has insisted that Project 2025 isn’t its official policy.) And many conservatives, including Trump’s former FDA commissioner, have argued that the CDC should narrow its scope to focus mainly on disease control.
“What is very clear is that in 2016, Trump was completely unprepared, and now he has a plan, and public health is right smack in the middle of it," the person said.
A national security analyst who recently left the Biden administration shared similar fears and said having lived through a previous Trump administration, many civil servants are even more wary of working for a second one.
“People are sad and frightened. And what makes it worse is this time we know what is coming. It isn't theoretical. It is real,” the analyst said.
“At State in particular, it is going hard to overstate how targeted people, career officers will be," they said. "There will be no grace.”
Not everyone shared that bleak outlook. “I actually don’t see the freak-out yet, maybe it will come when the transition begins in earnest, but the folks I’ve talked to seem to have a pretty sober take that Trump’s victory means we carry out his policies,” said another State Department official. “If people disagree with those policies, nobody will hold anything against anyone that opts to leave.”
One Health and Human Services official who has worked under both Republican and Democratic administrations told POLITICO that while individual employees are freaking out about the election results, the overall vibe of her office this week is: “Business as usual. Keep on working. It is what it is.”
She is trying to find a glimmer of hope in the Trump administration’s mixed record on health care.
“There are sometimes weird synergies,” she said. “Like under the first Trump administration, Scott Gottlieb was a very strong tobacco control advocate, and the Center for Tobacco Products was actually able to do more than they could under the Obama administration.”
“So I'm asking myself: Are there pathways to work with people that you disagree with and despise?”
Michael Doyle, Kevin Bogardus and Hannah Northey contributed to this report.
The Queen will miss Remembrance events this weekend while she recovers from a chest infection, Buckingham Palace says.
A statement said Queen Camilla was "following doctors’ guidance to ensure a full recovery from a seasonal chest infection, and to protect others from any potential risk".
"While this is a source of great disappointment to the Queen, she will mark the occasion privately at home and hopes to return to public duties early next week," the statement said.
On Friday, it was confirmed the Princess of Wales would attend Remembrance events in London this weekend as she gradually returns to public duties following her cancer treatment.
The Queen, who is 77, had withdrawn from events earlier in the week.
She missed the annual opening of the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey on Thursday, where she was instead represented by the Duchess of Gloucester.
The Queen returned to the UK last Wednesday after a trip with the King to Australia and Samoa, which included a stopover in India on the way back.
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Britain's Mark Cavendish, the most successful sprinter in cycling history, will retire after racing in the Tour de France Criterium in Singapore on Sunday.
The 39-year-old from the Isle of Man, who said in May that this season would be his last, broke the Tour de France record for stage wins with his 35th victory in July.
Cavendish won the road world title in 2011 and twice won the green jersey - awarded to the rider with the most points - at the Tour.
He has won 165 races since the start of his professional career in 2005, including 17 stages in the Giro d'Italia and three in the Vuelta a Espana, and received a knighthood in October.
On the track, Cavendish won omnium silver at the 2016 Olympics and was a three-time madison world champion.
"Racing career - completed it," Cavendish, who rides for the Astana-Qazaqstan team, wrote on Instagram.
"I am lucky enough to have done what I love for almost 20 years and I can now say that I have achieved everything that I can on the bike.
"Cycling has given me so much and I love the sport. I’ve always wanted to make a difference in it and now I am ready to see what the next chapter has in store for me."
Cavendish showed promise as a BMX and mountain bike rider, and was then part of the new era of investment in cycling in Britain as British Cycling dominated track cycling at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
He began his professional career on the road in 2005 in a feeder team for T-Mobile, winning his first Tour stage in 2008 for Team Columbia.
Cavendish suffered from injury and illness from 2017 and hinted at the end of the 2020 season that he could retire.
But following a return to form the following year he won four more Tour stages and the green jersey in his second spell with Quick Step.
Cavendish and his family were the victims of a violent robbery at their home in 2021.
He was omitted from Quick Step's Tour squad the following year, after which he signed for Astana-Qazaqstan for 2023.
Cavendish was set to retire at the end of the 2023 season but, after a crash ended his involvement in the Tour that summer, he delayed it by a year.
Having jointly held the record for Tour stage wins with the legendary Eddy Merckx since 2021, Cavendish surpassed the Belgian with victory in Saint Vulbas in July.
He finished third in the Tour de France Saitama Criterium in Japan last weekend.
Charlotte Gill found she was eligible for £68 in refunds
University graduates across the UK are being urged by a campaign group to check whether they are due a refund on their student loan repayment after it was revealed that nearly £200m was overpaid last year.
Save the Student's comments come after figures were published which show that hundreds of thousands of people currently paying off their loans are eligible for a share of £184m in refunds.
It is easy to check whether a refund is owed by logging on to the government's Student Loan Company portal, where individual refunds could range from tens of pounds to more than £1,000.
Tom Allingham from Save the Student said for many getting a refund could make a world of difference.
Charlotte Gill is one such former student who was eligible for a refund on her loan payments, to the tune of £68.
She said it did not make a huge difference "but every little helps when you are a student".
"At the end of the day, it's your money, it’s not the government's money, so if you've got any entitlement to a refund then absolutely take it," she said.
Martin De'Ath received £396 in his refund and says the substantial payment made him question how he could have used it in the 10 months he was without it.
"I was definitely pleased to get it back at least," he said.
Martin De-Ath
Martin De'Ath received nearly £400 in his student loan refund
There are four reasons people may be eligible for refunds.
The main reason, behind £146m of the total, is that repayments were taken from people despite them not earning above the annual threshold at which point repayments automatically kick in.
This can happen when someone earns above the monthly threshold which triggers the beginning of loan repayments, due to things like to taking extra shifts, getting a new job or receiving a bonus, but their annual earnings might still fall below the yearly threshold.
Other reasons may be that former students are charged repayments before they are required to pay, which is generally in the April after they finish studying.
Some people may have been put on the wrong payment plans by their employer, while others may have continued making payments after their loan had been paid off in full.
Any money overpaid does count towards the full repayment of the loan, and may save graduates money in the long run on interest.
However, as Mr Allingham said, many university graduates may need the cash for their day-to-day expenses.
"It is definitely worth doing, particularly even with the cost of living crisis still lingering on a little bit, having that extra boost of cash right now could make a world of difference," Mr Allingham said.
Donald Trump addressed supporters in the early hours of Wednesday after the election results became clear
In the build-up to Tuesday’s US election, claims of voter fraud flooded social media - but as Donald Trump’s victory crystallised, the chatter largely subsided.
The claims didn’t stop entirely, however. A number of right-wing influencers and organisations pushing stories about “cheating” and a “rigged” vote pointed to incomplete vote totals and continued to repeat discredited theories about the 2020 election.
And disappointed Democratic Party supporters developed their own unsubstantiated voter fraud theories, some of which went viral on X, formerly Twitter, and other platforms.
The reach of the posts is nowhere near the deluge of content that circulated after Trump lost the 2020 election.
And with no support from losing candidate Kamala Harris or other Democratic Party officials, the chances seem slim of a large-scale movement developing along the lines of the “Stop the Steal” drive four years ago, which culminated in a riot at the US Capitol.
These included claims of the vote being “stolen” in some key swing states, with exaggerated takes on real events being used in some cases to bolster the allegations.
Early on election day in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, a Republican stronghold, there were problems with voting machines malfunctioning. The issues were fixed and voting hours in the affected areas were extended.
However, many online immediately used the story to suggest nefarious activities were taking place.
One post at 08:45 local time on Tuesday said: “The election steal is happening!”
Other rumours were spread in posts that popped up throughout the day, including one at around 14:00, which claimed ballots in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, had been pre-marked for Kamala Harris.
In Milwaukee, the biggest city in the swing state of Wisconsin, elections officials made a decision to re-run around 30,000 ballots out of an “abundance of caution”, after doors on the back of voting machines were left open.
Once the count was completed, it showed that support for Harris had dropped compared with Joe Biden's four years earlier.
Like many of the pro-Trump posters, Harris supporters pointed to real but isolated events - fires at ballot drop boxes in Washington and Oregon, and a series of fake bomb threats that disrupted voting at several polling locations on election day - as evidence of widespread voter fraud.
However, there’s no evidence that the incidents significantly altered the vote or changed the outcome.
Several posts from Democratic Party activists questioning the result went viral and were seen by millions on X and other platforms.
Pam Keith, a Harris supporter in Florida, posted: “Is it possible that the machines were hacked to switch the tallies from Harris to Trump?” Her message was seen more than one million times on X, according to the site’s metrics. The BBC has reached out to her for comment.
Unlike Trump’s campaign in 2020, however, the Harris campaign and top Democratic Party officials have not endorsed allegations of cheating or voter fraud.
On election day, fraud rumours also came from President-elect Trump himself, who has repeatedly argued from the outset of his political career that the voting system is unfairly stacked against him.
Just after 16:30 Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social: “A lot of talk about massive CHEATING in Philadelphia. Law Enforcement coming!!!”
The now president-elect did not give any details and the Philadelphia Police Department told BBC Verify they were not aware of what Trump was referring to.
Seth Bluestein, the Republican City Commissioner in Philadelphia, posted on X: "There is absolutely no truth to this allegation. It is yet another example of disinformation. Voting in Philadelphia has been safe and secure."
Trump has not repeated the fraud allegations since election day.
We have contacted several hugely influential accounts that regularly posted about election fraud claims in the build-up to the vote, but none of them replied.
With data firm NodeXL, the BBC tracked accounts that engaged with Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump, Lara Trump and Elon Musk on X around election day.
Posts mentioning vote fraud peaked at 15:00 EST on 5 November - but then dropped off significantly that evening and into the next day as polls closed and results came in.
However, some organisations and activists who promoted voter fraud allegations in the past continued to repeat debunked rumours even after the results became clear.
Emerald Robinson, a former reporter with right-wing TV networks and a pro-Trump influencer with more than 750,000 followers on X, insisted that Democrats were “cheating right now” and posted: “I always told people the voting machines were rigged!”
More generally, reaction from pro-Trump groups and influencers who previously hyped up vote fraud claims varied - from silence on the issue, to continued insistence that the 2020 vote was marred by fraud.
The BBC contacted Ms Robinson for comment.
EPA
A dejected supporter of Kamala Harris. Some Democratic Party supporters have spread unevidenced claims in the wake of Harris's defeat
Conspiracy theories based on vote numbers
In another case, a chart that was widely circulating online claimed to show a sharp drop-off in vote totals in 2024 compared to 2020.
Many are pointing to the figures as “proof” of fraud.
Conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza, a Trump supporter who has pushed voter fraud theories, posted the day after the election: "Kamala got 60 million votes in 2024. Does anyone really believe Biden got 80 million in 2020? Where did those 20 million Democratic voters go? The truth is, they never existed."
However, the chart and the figures circulating online were based on preliminary vote totals, which continue to go up as final results are still being tabulated.
Already, Harris has more than 69 million votes in her column - with Trump on more than 73 million. As of Friday, fewer than two million ballots have yet to be counted nationally, in states including Arizona and California, according to Reuters.
The BBC contacted Mr D'Souza for comment.
Those same numbers are also fuelling conspiracy theories from supporters of Harris, who are wondering where their “missing” voters are - and ignoring the fact that turnouts and preferences frequently shift, often dramatically, between elections.
Partisans on both sides are also pointing to differences in vote tallies for Harris and other Democrats running for Senate seats.
But there is no requirement for US voters to support candidates from just one party, and “ticket-splitting” - voting for candidates from different parties in different races - although becoming rarer, is fairly common in American politics.
Small but influential Qatar is a key US ally and hosts a major air base
Senior US officials have reportedly said Washington will no longer accept the presence of Hamas representatives in Qatar, accusing the Palestinian group of rejecting the latest proposals to achieve a Gaza ceasefire and a hostage deal.
In anonymous briefings to the Reuters news agency, the officials said the Qatari government had agreed to tell Hamas to close its political office 10 days ago.
Hamas have had a political base in Doha since 2012, reportedly at the request of the Obama administration, to allow communication with the group.
The reports have been denied to the BBC by Hamas officials; Qatar has yet to comment.
The small but influential gulf state is a key US ally in the region. It hosts a major American air base and has handled many delicate political negotiations, including with Iran, the Taliban and Russia. Alongside the US and Egypt, the Qataris have also played a major role in rounds of so-far unsuccessful talks to broker a ceasefire in the year-long war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The latest round of talks in mid-October failed to produce a deal, with Hamas rejecting a short-term ceasefire proposal. They have always called for a complete end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
Israel has also been accused of rejecting deals. Days after being fired earlier this week, former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of rejecting a peace deal against the advice of his security chiefs.
Dr H A Hellyer, senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), thinks the reports are credible. “I think we’re in the last phase before Hamas is forced to relocate,” he told me. “The writing on the wall has been there for months.”
The call for Hamas to be expelled from Qatar appears to be an attempt by the outgoing Biden administration to force some sort of peace deal before the end of his term in January.
Were Hamas to be forced to leave Doha, it is unclear where they would base their political office. Key ally Iran would be an option, although the assassination of former leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July suggests they may be at risk from Israel if based there. It would also not give them anything close to the same diplomatic channels to the West.
Reuters
Hamas has had a political base in Doha since 2012, reportedly at the request of the Obama administration
A more likely option would be Turkey. As a Nato member but also a Sunni majority state, it would give the group a base from which to operate in relative safety. Last April President Erdogan hosted then Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh and his delegation in Istanbul, where they talked about “what needs to be done to ensure adequate and uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and a fair and lasting peace process in the region".
The move would also most likely be welcomed by Ankara, which has often sought to position itself as a broker between east and west.
It is thought the personal safety of Hamas leadership is now a major concern for the group, which saw two leaders killed in less than four months. As well as Haniyeh’s death in July, in October Israel killed Yahya Sinwar in Gaza - he was the mastermind behind the 7 October Hamas attack on southern Israel.
According to the European Council of Foreign Relations, “Hamas has adopted a temporary model of collective leadership to mitigate the effect of future Israeli assassinations”.
Dr Hellyer thinks that nowhere “will give them protection from Israeli assassination attempts in the same way that being in Doha, where America has its largest military base in the region, did”.
The latest move comes as US officials appear increasingly frustrated with the approach the Israeli government has taken to ending the war. In October, the US Secretaries of State and Defense said if Israel did not allow more humanitarian aid into the territory within 30 days, they would face unspecified policy “implications”.
Last weekend a number of UN officials warned the situation in northern Gaza was “apocalyptic”. On Saturday the independent Famine Review Committee said there was a “strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas”.
The relationship between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu has deteriorated over the course of the war in Gaza, with increasing pressure from Washington to improve the humanitarian situation for the Palestinians and find some sort of negotiated settlement.
But, according to Dr Hellyer, US attempts at negotiation have been fatally flawed.
“By setting red lines and allowing Netanyahu to cross them without consequence, the Biden administration effectively encouraged further impunity. I don’t think any of this will change in the next 10 weeks,” he said.
Any overtures have been repeatedly rejected by Mr Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition, who will now also feel emboldened by the prospect of an incoming Donald Trump presidency.
While exactly what approach Donald Trump will take to the region remains uncertain, he is thought to be more likely to allow Israel to act on its terms.
He has previously said Israel should “finish what they started” in Gaza. During his last term in the White House, he took a number of steps deemed highly favourable to Israel, including moving the US embassy to Jerusalem.
It has also been reported, however, that Trump told Netanyahu that he wants to see an end to the fighting by the time he takes office.
Either way, it seems likely that the current US administration will have less influence over the government in Jerusalem.
They may therefore believe the best way to force some sort of deal is to apply pressure on Hamas. Whether it pays off may depend on whether Qatar, so long a reliable ally, decides to go along with it.
Tony Todd appeared as Candyman in four films, from 1992 to 2021
Actor Tony Todd, best known for starring in the Candyman horror films, has died aged 69.
The American actor died at his home in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, according to reports.
He starred as the title character in the horror series, depicting the ghostly Candyman character with a hook for a hand, summoned by saying his name five times in front of a mirror.
Todd continued as Candyman from the first film in 1992 through follow-ups in 1995 and 1999, and reprised the role in 2021 for a fourth film serving as a direct sequel to the original.
Throughout his 40-year career, Todd also featured in hundreds of films, stage productions and television dramas, including roles in the Transformers and Final Destination films.
In Candyman, Todd's titular character is the ghost of artist Daniel Robitaille, a black man who was lynched in the 19th Century.
The 1992 film sees Todd's character accidentally summoned to the real world by a graduate student in Chicago intrigued by the urban legend of the Candyman, setting off a chain of murderous events.
Speaking to the Guardian in 2019, Todd recalled the film's famous scene that sees Candyman swarmed with bees, during which he was stung 23 times and apparently paid a $1,000 bonus each time.
"Everything that’s worth making has to involve some sort of pain," he remarked.
On his Candyman character, he told the same interview: "I’ve done 200 movies, this is the one that stays in people’s minds. It affects people of all races. I’ve used it as an introductory tool in gang-intervention work: what frightens you? What horrible things have you experienced?"
Paying tribute, actor Virginia Madsen, who starred as student Helen Lyle in Candyman, said Todd "now is an angel. As he was in life".
She called him a "truly poetic man" with "a deep knowledge of the arts".
"I will miss him so much and hope he haunts me once in a while," she added. "But I will not summon him in the mirror!"
Getty Images / TriStar
Todd holding on to Virginia Madsen in a scene from 1992's Candyman
The original film's sequel - Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh - set three years later sees Todd's iconic lead appear again in New Orleans, encountering a descendant of his daughter.
The third film - Candyman: Day of the Dead - was released in 1999, but set in 2020 Los Angeles.
Todd, and others from the 1992 film, reprised their roles in the 2021 film.
Elon Musk and RFK Jr are among Trump's most prominent backers, while Susie Wiles (centre) co-managed his election campaign
Donald Trump's transition team is already vetting potential candidates who could serve in his administration when he returns to the White House in January.
On Thursday, he made the first announcement naming his campaign co-manager Susan Summerall Wiles as his White House chief of staff.
Many of the figures who served under Trump in his first term do not plan to return, though a handful of loyalists are rumoured to be making a comeback.
But the US president-elect is now surrounded by a new cast of characters who may fill his cabinet, staff his White House and serve in key roles across government.
Here is a look at the some of the names being floated for the top jobs.
Robert F Kennedy Jr
Reuters
The past two years have been quite a journey for the nephew of former President John F Kennedy.
An environmental lawyer by trade, he ran for president as a Democrat, with most of his family speaking out against his anti-vaccine views and conspiracy theories as they endorsed Joe Biden's re-election.
He then switched to an independent candidacy but, failing to gain traction amid a series of controversies, dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump.
In the last two months of the 2024 election cycle, he spearheaded a Trump campaign initiative called "Make America Healthy Again".
Trump recently promised he would play a major role related to public health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Safety Administration (FDA).
RFK Jr, as he is known, recently asserted he would push to remove fluoride from drinking water because "it's a very bad way to deliver it into our systems" - though this has been challenged by some experts.
And in an interview with NBC News, Kennedy rejected the idea that he was "anti-vaccine", saying he wouldn't "take away anybody's vaccines" but rather provide them with "the best information" to make their own choices.
Rather than a formal cabinet position, Kennedy used the interview to suggest he could take on a broader role within the White House.
Susie Wiles
Reuters
Trump's landslide victory over Kamala Harris was masterminded by campaign co-chairs Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, who he referred to in his victory speech on Wednesday as "the ice baby".
Wiles, who Trump claimed "likes to stay in the background”, is considered one of the most feared and respected political operatives in the country.
Less than a year after she started working in politics, she worked on Ronald Reagan’s successful 1980 presidential campaign and later became a scheduler in his White House.
In 2010, she turned Rick Scott, a then-businessman with little political experience, into Florida’s governor in just seven months. Scott is now a US senator.
Wiles met Trump during the 2015 Republican presidential primary and she became the co-chair of his Florida campaign, at the time considered a swing state. Trump went on to narrowly defeat Hillary Clinton there in 2016.
Wiles has been commended by Republicans for her ability to command respect and check the big egos of those in the president-elect's orbit, which could enable her to impose a sense of order that none of his four previous chiefs of staff could.
Elon Musk
Reuters
The world's richest man announced his support for the former president earlier this year, despite saying in 2022 that "it's time for Trump to hang up his hat and sail into the sunset".
The tech billionaire has since emerged as one of the most visible and well-known backers of Trump and donated more than $119m (£91.6m) this election cycle to America PAC - a political action committee he created to support the former president.
Since registering as a Republican ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, Musk has been increasingly vocal on issues including illegal immigration and transgender rights.
Both Musk and Trump have concentrated on the idea of him leading a new "Department of Government Efficiency", where he would cut costs, reform regulations and streamline what he calls a "massive, suffocating federal bureaucracy".
The would-be agency's acronym - DOGE - is a playful reference to a "meme-coin" cryptocurrency Musk has previously promoted.
Mike Pompeo
Reuters
The former Kansas congressman served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and then secretary of state during Trump's first administration.
A foreign policy hawk and a fierce supporter of Israel, he played a highly visible role in moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He was among the key players in the implementation of the Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
He remained a loyal defender of his boss, joking that there would be "a smooth transition to a second Trump administration" amid Trump's false claims of election fraud in late 2020.
He has been tipped as a top contender for the role of defence secretary, alongside Michael Waltz, a Florida lawmaker and military veteran who sits on the armed services committee in the US House of Representatives.
Richard Grenell
Reuters
Richard Grenell served as Trump's ambassador to Germany, special envoy to the Balkans and his acting director of national intelligence.
The Republican was also heavily involved in Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, in the swing state of Nevada.
Trump prizes Grenell's loyalty and has described him as "my envoy".
In September, he sat in on Trump's private meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The former president has often claimed he will end the war in Ukraine "within 24 hours" of taking office and Grenell has advocated for setting up an autonomous zone in eastern Ukraine as a means to that end - an idea seen as unacceptable by Kyiv.
He's considered a contender for secretary of state or national security advisor, a position that does not require Senate confirmation.
Karoline Leavitt
Reuters
Karoline Leavitt was Trump campaign's spokeswoman
The Trump 2024 campaign's national press secretary previously served in his White House press office, as an assistant press secretary.
The 27-year-old Gen-Zer made a bid to become the youngest woman ever elected to the US Congress in 2022, to represent a seat in her home state of New Hampshire, but fell short.
She is tipped to become the White House press secretary - the most public-facing position in the cabinet.
Tom Homan
Getty Images
Tom Homan served as the acting director of the US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) during the first Trump administration, where he was a proponent of separating migrant children from their parents as a way to deter illegal crossings.
At the time, he made headlines for saying politicians who support sanctuary city policies should be charged with crimes. He later resigned from his Ice position in 2018, mid-way through the Trump presidency.
He has since emerged as a key figure in developing Trump's mass migrant deportation plan, and has been floated as a potential pick to head the Department of Homeland Security.
Homan spoke on the deportation plan last month in an interview with BBC's US partner CBS News, saying that "it's not going to be - a mass sweep of neighbourhoods."
"They'll be targeted arrests. We’ll know who we’re going to arrest, where we’re most likely to find ‘em based on numerous, you know, investigative processes," he said.
This will be the first major electoral test for the Fine Gael leader
When a politician insists they are not planning to call an election, it is best practice not to believe them.
Simon Harris is now among that rank of party leaders.
Having claimed for months that he wanted his government to serve its full term into next year, the temptation of positive polls has clearly proved too much.
But while this is the first major electoral test for the Fine Gael leader, for his political opponents there is just as much at stake.
Getty Images
Sinn Féin surprised political rivals when they won 37 seats at the last general election four years ago
At the last general election four years ago, Sinn Féin - the main opposition party in the Republic - surprised political rivals and pundits alike when they made significant gains, winning 37 seats and securing the most first preference votes of any party.
It marked a break with the two-party governing system, traditionally dominated by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, signalling a huge shift in support for the all-island party.
Senior party members acknowledged their tactics had been too cautious and could have won more seats if they had run more candidates.
They declared victory even though the larger parties refused to enter government with them, and insisted next time round that party president Mary Lou McDonald would be elected as the first female taoiseach (Irish prime minister).
But this time, there is little to no expectation of the party managing a repeat performance.
PA Media
Sinn Féin suffered recent losses at the local elections and in the European elections
The first sign that all was not well came in the form of disappointing local government and European election results over the summer.
Sinn Féin put the losses and drop in opinion polls down to a range of factors and insisted it would "regroup" ahead of the general election, but time to do that has been much shorter than it would have liked.
There is also additional pressure on the party after it was revealed that two press officers provided references for a former party employee who was being investigated by police for child sex offences. They have since resigned.
Then, in October, it emerged that Sinn Féin senator Niall Ó Donnghaile had not quit the party in December 2023 for health reasons, as the party had said.
Mr Ó Donnghaile had been suspended from the party months earlier for sending inappropriate texts to a teenager.
McDonald had to answer questions in the Dáil over the party's handling of the issue.
PA Media
Recent polling suggested that housing and immigration are major issues for voters
An issue that has also proved tricky for Sinn Féin and other parties is failing to spell out how to manage immigration.
It has become a major social and political issue in Ireland after the country accepted a large number of Ukrainian refugees, alongside an increase in other sources of immigration.
Between March and December 2022 almost 68,000 people arrived in Ireland from Ukraine under the EU’s temporary protection directive.
That sudden and unprecedented influx placed significant pressure on Irish state resources, with the government having to take measures such as temporarily housing people in tents.
Ireland’s government was already struggling with a housing crisis before the increase in immigration.
Right-wing protesters have held a series of demonstrations at asylum accommodation centres and some buildings earmarked for asylum seekers have been burnt down.
Recent polling suggested that housing and immigration are major issues for voters - a fact that will not go unnoticed by the parties, but one they will all struggle with.
Bonanza budget
As for Fine Gael, Simon Harris goes into this election hoping for stronger results than his predecessor Leo Varadkar managed in 2020, when the party lost 15 seats.
Unable to form a government by itself, it sought to form a coalition government with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party - an agreement that took four months to negotiate.
There is no doubt Fine Gael has felt a bounce with Harris stepping into the top job.
He still faces a challenge to prove to voters that his party should continue to govern after almost two decades, but having thrown the electorate a bonanza budget with extra cash for lots of sectors, hope is high in the party that it will see an improved performance.
PA Media
Micheál Martin has led Fianna Fáil for 13 years
When it comes to Fianna Fáil, its leader Micheál Martin has spent the last four years rotating through the top two jobs in elected politics.
First as taoiseach, taking over from Leo Varadkar for the first half of the term as part of the coalition arrangements, before becoming Tánaiste (Irish deputy prime minister) and Ireland's foreign affairs minister in 2022 - a role that has seen him heavily engaged in political events north of the border too.
His party narrowly won the most seats in 2020, pipping Sinn Féin’s 37 seats with just one more.
Recent polls have shown the party sitting on about 20%.
Whether the party does better than last time or struggles against Fine Gael will determine how Fianna Fáil views Micheál Martin’s future as leader, after 13 years in the job.
The success of independent candidates and some of the smaller parties in the recent council elections is a factor that could back come into play this time.
Elections always bring twists and turns, soundbites from candidates who come to regret them and sometimes, a moment that truly shifts the dial.
The Republic of Ireland is now set to see all that as the campaign machine grinds into gear once more.
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