On Friday evening, a man ploughed a car into a crowd of shoppers at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg.

The attack has left five people dead and more than 200 injured, with many in a critical condition.

One man has been arrested over the attack, and police believe he was solely responsible.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz travelled to Magdeburg on Saturday, and a city councillor declared Christmas over for the city.

How did the attack unfold?

Unverified footage on social media showed a black BMW travelling at high speeds through the pedestrian walkway between Christmas stalls.

Eyewitnesses described jumping out of the car's path, fleeing or hiding. One told the Reuters news agency that police were already at the venue and chased after the car before arresting the suspect.

Footage from verified sources showed armed police confronting and arresting a man who can be seen lying on the ground next to a stationary vehicle - a black BMW with significant damage to its front bumper.

BBC correspondent Damien McGuinness in Magdeburg reported that the market is "surrounded by concrete blocks". However, "there is a gap which is wide enough for pedestrians to go through, but tragically wide enough for a car to go into the Christmas market", he said.

City officials said around 100 police, medics and firefighters, as well as 50 rescue service personnel rushed to the scene in the aftermath of the attack.

Images from the scene on Friday night showed an area outside the market awash with blue lights as dozens of first responders attended to the injured.

Who are the victims?

Five people have died in the attack, one of whom is a child.

More than 200 people have been injured and at least 41 are in a critical condition.

The toll had earlier been reported as two dead and 68 injured, but was revised to the much higher totals on Saturday morning.

None of the victims have been identified yet.

Who is the suspect?

German media has identified the suspect as Taleb A, a psychiatrist who lives in Bernburg, around 40km (25 miles) south of Magdeburg.

The motive behind the attack remains unclear, but authorities have reported that they believe he carried out the attack alone.

Originally from Saudi Arabia, he arrived in Germany in 2006 and in 2016 was recognised as a refugee.

He ran a website that aimed to help other former Muslims flee persecution in their Gulf homelands.

Evidenced by social media posts, the suspect is an outspoken critic of Islam, and has promoted conspiracy theories regarding a plot to seek Islamic supremacy in Europe.

A report from Der Spiegel said a complaint was filed against Taleb A with the authorities a year ago over statements he made. Officials did not see any concrete threat, the report says.

What have officials said about the attack?

"The reports from Magdeburg raise the worst fears," the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on social media platform X.

Magdeburg's city councillor for public order, Ronni Krug, said the Christmas market will stay closed and that "Christmas in Magdeburg is over", according to German public broadcaster MDR.

That sentiment was echoed on the market's website, which in the wake of the attack featured only a black screen with words of mourning, announcing that the market was over.

The Saudi government expressed "solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims", in a statement on X, and "affirmed its rejection of violence".

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was "horrified by the atrocious attack in Magdeburg", adding that his thoughts were with "the victims, their families and all those affected" in a post on X on Friday night.

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When Syrian rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in Damascus and gave a victory speech on the heels of a lightning military campaign that swept through the country and toppled Bashar al-Assad's regime, one remark went widely unnoticed. That was his reference to an illegal narcotic that has flooded the Middle East over the past ten years.

"Syria has become the biggest producer of Captagon on earth," he said. "And today, Syria is going to be purified by the grace of God."

Mostly unknown outside of the Middle East, Captagon is an addictive, amphetamine-like pill, sometimes called "poor man's cocaine".

Its production has proliferated in Syria amid an economy broken by war, sanctions and the mass displacement of Syrians abroad. Authorities in neighbouring countries have struggled to cope with the smuggling of huge quantities of pills across their borders.

All the evidence pointed to Syria being the main source of Captogan's illicit trade with an annual value placed at $5.6bn (£4.5bn) by the World Bank.

At the scale that the pills were being produced and dispatched, the suspicion was that this was not simply the work of criminal gangs - but of an industry orchestrated by the regime itself.

Weeks on from the speech by al-Sharaa (previously known by his nom de guerre of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani), spectacular images have emerged that suggest the suspicion was correct.

Videos filmed by Syrians raiding properties allegedly owned by relatives of Assad show rooms full of pills being made and packaged, hidden in fake industrial products.

Other footage shows piles of pills found in what appears to be a Syrian military airbase, set on fire by the rebels.

I spent a year investigating Captagon for a BBC World Service documentary and saw how the drug became as popular among the wealthy youth of Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia as it was among the working class in countries like Jordan.

"I was 19 years old, I started taking Captagon and my life started to fall apart," Yasser, a young male addict in a rehab clinic told us in Jordan's capital, Amman. "I started hanging out with people who take this thing. You work, you live without food, so the body is a wreck."

So how will al-Sharaa and his group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), deal with the large number of people in Syria and around the Middle East addicted to Captagon who may suddenly find themselves without a supply?

Caroline Rose, an expert on Syrian drug trafficking at the New Lines Institute, has concerns around this. "My fear is that they will really crack down on supply and not necessarily try to do any sort of demand reduction."

But there is a broader question at play too: that is, what effect will the loss of such a lucrative trade have on Syria's economy? And as those behind it move aside, how will al-Sharaa keep at bay any other criminals waiting in the wings to replace them?

The narco-war in the Middle East

The proliferation of Captagon pushed the Middle East into a genuine narco-war.

While filming with the Jordanian army on their desert border with Syria, we saw how the soldiers had reinforced their fences and learned about their comrades who had been killed in shoot-outs with Captagon smugglers. They accused the Syrian soldiers across the border of aiding the smugglers.

Other countries in the region have been just as disturbed by the trade.

For a while, Saudi Arabia suspended imports of fruit and vegetables from Lebanon because authorities were frequently finding shipping containers full of produce like pomegranates which had been hollowed out and filled with bags of Captagon pills.

We filmed in five countries, including in regime-held and rebel-held Syria, consulted well-placed sources, and gained access to confidential records from court cases in Germany and Lebanon.

We were able to name two major parties as having their hands in the trade - Assad's extended family and the Syrian armed forces, in particular its Fourth Division, led by Assad's brother, Maher.

Questions surrounding Assad's brother

Maher al-Assad was perhaps the most powerful man in Syria aside from his brother.

He was sanctioned by many Western powers for the violence he wrought against protesters during the pro-democracy uprising in 2011 that precipitated the bloody civil war. The French judiciary has also issued an international arrest warrant for him and his brother for their alleged responsibility in chemical weapons attacks in Syria in 2013.

Gaining access to the WhatsApp chats of a Captagon trader imprisoned in Lebanon, we were able to implicate Maher al-Assad's Fourth Division and his second-in-command, General Ghassan Bilal.

The revelation was a huge milestone in confirming the role of Syria's armed forces and Bashar al-Assad's inner circle in the trade.

Seeing the recent images of demoralised Syrian army troops fleeing without a fight as the rebels advanced, I was reminded of an interview we conducted with a regime soldier last year.

He told us his monthly army pay of $30 (£24) barely covered three days of food for his family, so his unit became involved in criminality and Captagon.

"It's what brings most of the money now," he said.

In May 2023, the Arab League agreed to re-admit Syria 12 years after it was expelled for violently suppressing the popular uprising. It was seen as a diplomatic coup for Assad, using promises to tackle the Captagon trade as leverage to be rehabilitated.

Can the rebel leaders crack down?

Now, as Syria's rebel leaders consolidate their power over the organs of state, it seems they are fully aware of positive signals they are sending to wary neighbouring states when they promise to crack down on the Captagon trade.

But it might be a steeper task for them to wrest the country away from a lucrative criminal enterprise after so many years when it was encouraged by the state itself.

Issam Al Reis was a major engineer in the Syrian army until he defected at the beginning of the uprising against the Assad regime, and has spent time investigating the Captagon trade. He believes that HTS will not need to do much to stop the trade initially "because the main players have left" and there's already been a dramatic drop in Captagon exports - but he warns that "new guys" might be waiting in the wings to take over.

This will be particularly problematic if the demand side isn't tackled too. There is little evidence of investment in rehabilitation from the time HTS controlled Idlib province in north-west Syria, according to Ms Rose. "[There was a] very poor picture for trying to address Captagon consumption," she says.

She also says there has already been an uptick in another drug being trafficked through Syria.

"I think many users will seek out crystal meth as an alternative, especially users who have already established a tolerance to Captagon and need something that's a bit more strong."

The other problem, as Mr Al Reis points out, is a financial one. As he puts it: "Syrians need the money."

His hope is that the international community will help prevent people entering the drug trade through humanitarian aid and easing sanctions.

But Ms Rose argues the new leaders will need to identify a "new and alternative economic pathways to encourage Syrians to participate in the licit formal economy."

While the kingpins have fled, many of those involved in manufacturing and smuggling the drug remain inside the country, she said.

"And old habits die hard."

Additional reporting by George Wright

Top picture credit: Getty Images

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In 2012, Elon Musk had just completed a business trip to London and Oxford. "Just returned… I met with many interesting people," he wrote on Twitter. "I really like Britain!"

Fast-forward to 2024, and Musk's views on Britain are a little different.

"Civil war is inevitable" … "Britain is going full Stalin"… "The people of Britain have had enough of a tyrannical police state".

These are just some of his recent comments on X, as he renamed the site after he bought it.

He has repeatedly got into spats with politicians including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, he has amplified voices on the right and far-right online and is in talks to donate to Reform UK, according to the party's leader Nigel Farage.

So why has Musk's relationship with America's closest ally apparently soured and what, if anything, does he hope to achieve?

We would love to ask him ourselves but he didn't respond to our requests for an interview.

His X timeline offers some clues though.

The self-proclaimed "Chief Troll Officer" often exaggerates in an ambiguous way, unclear if he's being sincere or ironic.

When he writes, "Is this Britain or the Soviet Union?" he doesn't really mean that Britain is a totalitarian Communist state but also, he sort of does. Often he reposts content with just a single word - "interesting" - or an emoji, rather than going into details.

In recent years, however, Musk watchers have noticed that the kinds of things he boosts to his 200 million followers tend to come from a particular place: a world view that is libertarian and "anti-woke", against progressives and centrists.

'What's happening in the UK?'

The shift was explicit during last summer's riots following the horrific killing of three girls at a dance class in the north-west England town of Southport.

False rumours about the attacker were circulated on X, including by far-right accounts which had been unbanned since Musk took over the company two years before.

As a protest turned violent and rioting flared, Sir Keir issued a warning: "To large social media companies, and those who run them - violent disorder, clearly whipped up online, that is also a crime.

"It's happening on your premises, and the law must be upheld everywhere."

Musk replied with one word: "Insane".

Later, he would state that "civil war is inevitable" and spread a false message from the leader of a far-right party, claiming that Sir Keir was considering building detainment camps for rioters on the Falkland Islands. By the time he deleted the post, it had been viewed more than a million times.

Musk also criticised Britain's "prison overcrowding situation" on Joe Rogan's podcast - watched 19m times on YouTube - saying we should "make Orwell fiction again", a reference to George Orwell's writings about dystopian society.

While free speech is not Musk's only big issue - he appears to care a lot about existential questions around the future of humanity too - it's a subject that the Tesla, SpaceX and X owner has repeatedly returned to.

Just a few weeks ago, in response to a tweet from a right-wing American influencer, making an exaggerated claim about a report from the last government on radicalisation, he commented: "What is happening in the UK?"

And he may be planning to do more than tweet. He was recently pictured with Farage and Reform UK treasurer Nick Candy, amid reports he is preparing to donate a large sum of money to the party.

Why Musk cares about Britain

Musk's interest in UK affairs could be a reflection of how his own political beliefs have changed. He previously described himself as a centrist and even donated to Hillary Clinton's campaign, but now he talks a lot about the "woke mind virus".

According to interviews he's given and a recent biography, the transition of one of his children from male to female - and that child, Vivian Wilson, subsequently cutting him off from her life - appears to be one of the key turning points.

Winston Marshall, a former Mumford & Sons guitarist turned podcast host and right-leaning political commentator whose father jointly owns TV channel GB News, speculates that Musk could be picking fights because "he cares very deeply about the UK".

"Britain is the birthplace of liberal democracy, of many of the great philosophies that underpin America," Marshall says.

"So then he looks over to the UK and he sees what's been going on for several years, but which is now crescendoing after the August riots, with many, many people being given long jail sentences for literally Facebook memes in some cases."

"Facebook memes" sounds pretty harmless but these examples include - for instance - a three-month jail sentence for a person who posted a meme along with the caption "let's [expletive] riot" on a Facebook group with "riot/protest" in the name during the Southport disorder.

Some question whether the tycoon is really as committed to free speech as he claims.

The Center for Countering Digital Hate, which scrutinises social media companies, was critical of Musk's tenure at X - prompting the tycoon to sue, accusing the organisation of misusing data and scaring off advertisers. The case was thrown out by a US judge.

Its CEO Imran Ahmed called the incident "indicative of the mindset of a man who simply cannot understand that freedom of speech is a freedom afforded to all, not just to him".

Other critics have pointed out that Musk has been careful not to criticise the president of China, a country where Tesla has huge business interests, despite Beijing's well-documented culture of censorship.

He has far less at stake, business-wise, in Britain, but the country could still affect his bottom line via the Online Safety Act, passed by Parliament in late 2023. It will allow regulator Ofcom to issue huge fines to social media companies if they're found to have certain types of illegal content on their platforms.

Andrew Chadwick, professor of political communication at Loughborough University, explains that while some provisions in the bill are uncontroversial, "where it gets a bit more tricky is where this illegal content blurs across into what we might call the kinds of disinformation or misinformation that we see circulate on a daily basis on social media platforms".

This could include "racially or religiously aggravated public order offences or the incitement of violence," he says.

The Act comes with some potentially huge punishments – a fine of up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue.

Could it be that Musk is worried about Britain biting off a chunk of X's revenues – or even, as the Act allows for in some circumstances, blocking access to the site in the UK?

Defenders of the Act argue that it's got nothing to do with censoring free speech. Gawain Towler, former head of press for Reform UK, says while Musk might not have "a forensic knowledge of all the details of backbench committee" he does "see the bigger picture" – what Reform activists and others describe as a creeping culture of censorship.

"You don't have to concentrate always on the trees. And I think Musk sees the forest quite, quite well," he adds.

Nobody can read the mind of the world's richest man.

But it's clear that Musk has funnelled his vast wealth into influence and is now exporting his values – including a mainstream American view of free speech and largely unfettered capitalism – around the world.

And one thing's for sure – he's not yet done with the UK.

Two Somali fishermen wearing big scarves over their heads to hide their faces glance around furtively as they walk into the room for a secret meeting to tell me why they have recently decided to become gun-wielding pirates - in search of million-dollar ransoms.

"You are free to record - we accept," one tells me as they sit down nervously for the interview that has taken months to set up in the small coastal town of Eyl.

This behaviour is in start contrast to the bravado of the pirates who used to strut around this charming, ancient port nestled between arid mountains on Somalia’s Indian Ocean coast.

It has always been considered strategic, not only because of its location but also because it has a fresh-water source - and during the piracy boom of the early to mid-2000s the pirates made it their base.

It became known as "Harunta Burcadda" - the Pirate Capital. From here, they targeted the container ships that transport goods around the world and even some oil tankers, forcing shipping companies to change their routes.

The regional authorities held no sway - and the local police force was too scared to enter the town.

Pirates kept their hijacked ships anchored offshore and businesses in the town and region profited from ransom payments. Between 2005 and 2012 the World Bank estimates pirate groups earned between $339m (£267m) and $413m.

But the pirates suffered a reversal of fortunes when international navies began to patrol the seas off Somalia and these days the Puntland Maritime Police Force has a base in Eyl.

Most people in the town welcomed this as the pirates brought with them eye-watering inflation, drugs, alcohol and a notoriety that the local Muslim elders shunned.

But the longstanding resentment felt towards foreign shipping, in particular fishing trawlers, has never gone away in a town full of fishermen that depends on the sea for its survival. To this day they accuse these fishing boats of stealing their living - often violently.

"Ships came and took all our equipment and belongings," Farah, one of the fisherman-turned-pirates looking out defensively from behind his blue scarf, tells the BBC.

Both his name and that of his friend Diiriye, who is wrapped in a white headscarf, have been changed - one of the conditions of our meeting.

He and a few others had invested approximately $10,000 in a fishing venture for a boat, outboard engine and nets. But Farah says last year the crew of one foreign trawler came and stole the nets, along with its catch, and then shot the engine - destroying it.

The pair give another example: some of their relatives had gone out to check their nets one morning and never came back - usually the fisherman go out at dawn and return before the midday heat hits.

Three days later they were found, floating towards the beach.

"There were bullets in their bodies," Diiriye says.

"They had no guns; they had gone to the sea with their nets to make their livelihood."

Farah goes on: "We work and live by the sea. The sea is our business.

"When someone intimidates you and robs you, it is compulsory to fight. They caused the fight. Had they not taken our property, we would not go to piracy."

These men - aged in their 30s - are not alone in making the decision over the last year to turn to piracy.

According to the European Union’s naval force Operation Atalanta, which patrols nearby, there were 26 pirate attacks between 2013 and 2019 - and then not a single one from 2020 to 2022. But they resumed in 2023, with six attacks and surged to 22 this year, figures until 5 December show.

Most of these skirmishes do not end up in a successful hijacking - but when it does, it pays. Pirates say they received a ransom of $5m to release the Bangladesh-flagged MV Abdullah, hijacked in March 2024. The vessel's owner has not confirmed this, but did say it was freed following negotiations.

Sources in the semi-autonomous Puntland state, where Eyl is located, told the BBC they estimate about 10 gangs, each with around 12 members, are operating in the area.

They go off to sea for 15 to 30 days at a time, packing their small speed-boats with AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), food and fuel.

Farah and Diiriye say their aim is to hijack a medium-sized vessel deep in the Indian Ocean and then make it back to their mother ship, using its GPS tracking system to find bigger ships to target.

"You can attack the ships using small speed boats," says Farah.

Their Bazooka rocket launcher is also an essential part of their strategy.

"We use the RPG to stop the ship. When the ship doesn’t stop, we shoot over it. We don’t kill. The aim is to get something, not to kill. [The aim is] to frighten them," says Diiriye.

All this weaponry does not come cheap - so the gangs essentially seek funding from interested investors. The disgruntled fishermen put out feelers and a syndicate is formed often involving different businessmen from the cities of Garowe and Bosaso.

One may fund the boats, another the weapons and a third sundries like fuel. These entrepreneurs sometimes invest in several groups in the hope that one of them will hit the jackpot when a vessel is captured so they can get their cut of the ransom.

And it is easy to get hold of a gun in Somalia - even in Eyl you can pick up an AK-47 for about $1,200, a legacy of its two-decade civil war and years of lawlessness.

Farah and Diiriye say they were not involved in the piracy boomtime and have not taken any advice from retired pirates, some of whom also started out as disgruntled fishermen.

Most of these old pirates have left the area - often they have gone abroad or have repented.

In one famous case a former pirate - Abdirahman Bakeyle - gave away his wealth. In 2020, he donated the houses and hotels he had bought in Garowe to Muslim charities and is now a travelling preacher going from town to town in Puntland urging people to lead an austere and morally upright life.

Adado, a town in central Somalia where pirates once invested, earned the nicknamed "Blue City" because their newly built mansions often had blue-painted iron sheet roofs.

A good deal of these houses now lie empty - or available to rent for as little as $100 a month.

In Eyl, the town elders say the main legacy of piracy is the prevalence of alcohol, often smuggled in from Ethiopia, and drugs such as opioids - with concerns that some young men who already chew the stimulant leaf khat, a popular afternoon pastime, are becoming addicts.

The men who gather outside teashops in the afternoons to play dominoes and discuss the news say they do not approve of piracy - although they understand the enmity towards foreign ships.

The recent incident of the three fishermen who were shot dead clearly rankles with many.

Ali Mursal Muse, who has been fishing for lobsters and sharks off Eyl for about 40 years to support his wife and 12 children, believes they may have been mistaken for pirates - as he was years ago.

"We left here with another fishing boat and went to the sea. At the same time pirates tried to hijack a ship. A plane came. My boat came to the shore; the other fishing boat was attacked," he recalls.

Forty-year-old widow Hawa Mohamed Zubery believes her husband suffered the same fate 14 years ago when he went missing.

This was when piracy was at its peak and she had just given birth to a son, whom they wanted to circumcise.

"My husband was thinking that if he caught a shark then we could pay to have the baby circumcised," she tells the BBC, clearly still distressed about his death. She says she struggles to pay school fees for her children from her living selling samosas.

Mr Muse says the main issue for him these days is the unethical behaviour of fishing fleets from countries like Iran and Yemen which often steal his equipment.

He believes they are issued with fake Somali fishing licences by powerful local backers who also provide them with gunmen for protection. He accused them of looting their catches and muscling in on their fishing grounds.

"They have a zone they work and they even come on the beach. When we go and ask for our equipment back, they shoot at us. Recently, they hurt some people. They shot a boy, wounding his hand and leg."

The fisherman says he has complained to the local authorities on multiple occasions, but nothing is ever done.

Puntland’s Information Minister Caydid Dirir admits the presence of some illegal vessels and says some foreign ships may be granted licences and "misuse them".

"Illegal fishing exists in all seas, and piracy can occur anywhere. Progress is being made gradually," he tells the BBC.

Illegal fishing has been a controversial issue in Somalia for many years.

Many fishing vessels operate without licences or with licences issued by bodies without the authority to do so, according to the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime.

It quotes evidence, including satellite navigational data, to show that many of the vessels originate from China, Iran, Yemen and south-east Asia. A report from the US embassy in Mogadishu suggests Somalia loses $300m each year as a result.

Operation Atalanta’s Rear Admiral Manuel Alvargonzález Méndez says his forces only target pirate vessels and now also have to protect ships from Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

But he maintains the area is much safer and Somalis can now "cast their fishing nets without fear" - as does the Puntland Maritime Police Force, which works closely with the EU naval mission.

Its commander Farhan Awil Hashi is confident that it will not return to the "bad old days" of piracy.

He believes the long-term answer is "job creation".

"Young people must get jobs, always. If the person is busy doing something, they will not think about heading to the sea and hijacking ships," he tells the BBC.

Farah and Diiriye make the same argument - they say because fishing no longer pays, hijacking a ship for ransom is the only way they can support their children.

They know piracy is wrong - and Diiriye admits he is too scared to tell his own mother.

"If she knew, she would be very disappointed. In fact, she would inform the authorities."

You may also be interested in:

• Risking death to smuggle alcohol past bandits and Islamist fighters
• Are we witnessing a return to piracy off Somalia's coast?
• How foreign navies curbed Somalia's piracy
• Life in Somalia's pirate town

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

The Princess of Wales enlisted the help of recently-widowed Lady Gabriella Windsor in planning her Westminster Abbey carol service this year.

Lady Gabriella, whose husband Thomas Kingston took his own life in February, helped select which musical performances featured at the annual Together at Christmas event.

The second cousin of King Charles enjoyed her role in the service and was excited to take part after a difficult year, the BBC understands.

This year's service on 6 December marked Catherine's biggest return to royal duties after finishing chemotherapy. The event was dedicated to individuals who have shown love, kindness and empathy to their communities.

The Princess of Wales asked Lady Gabriella to be involved in the summer with Catherine understood to have been incredibly grateful for her contribution.

Lady Gabriella is the daughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent - with Prince Michael, aged 81, a grandson of King George V and first cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Lady Gabriella's husband, financier Thomas Kingston, died from a head injury at his parents' home in the Cotswolds. In October, a coroner concluded that he took his own life at the age of 45.

In a tribute shared at the time of his death, Lady Gabriella and his family called Mr Kingston "an exceptional man who lit up the lives of all who knew him".

The Christmas message at this year's service was about promoting "love, not fear".

"Love is the light that can shine bright, even in our darkest times," the princess wrote in a letter to guests.

It marked the end of what has been a difficult year for her and her family with both Catherine and King Charles undergoing cancer treatment.

The Prince and Princess of Wales were joined by their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis at the service.

The 1,600-strong congregation all held candles during the service that will be broadcast by ITV on Christmas Eve.

The world-renowned Abbey Choir performed a number of carols and the event featured performances by Paloma Faith, Gregory Porter, Olivia Dean, and singer-songwriter JP Morgan who performed alongside the Soul Sanctuary Choir.

Readings were given by actor Richard E Grant, Olympic swimming gold medallist Adam Peaty and Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery.

It will feature three films about people and organisations that have inspired and comforted others in times of need.

In a pre-recorded opening address, Catherine will read extracts from a letter she wrote about love and empathy that was included in the event's order of service.

She will say: "The Christmas story encourages us to consider the experiences and feelings of others.

"It also reflects our own vulnerabilities and reminds us of the importance of giving and receiving empathy, as well as just how much we need each other in spite of our differences.

"Above all else, it encourages us to turn to love, not fear. The love that we show ourselves and the love we show others. Love that listens with empathy, love that is kind and understanding, love that is forgiving, and love that brings joy and hope."

Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of US President-elect Donald Trump, has withdrawn her name from consideration for a seat in the Senate.

She stepped down this month as co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), fuelling speculation that she might replace outgoing Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, whom Trump has nominated for secretary of state.

But in a post on X, she said she had removed herself from consideration "after an incredible amount of thought, contemplation, and encouragement from so many".

She said she wished Florida Governor Ron DeSantis luck in hand-picking a replacement to serve out the remainder of Rubio's six-year term, which ends in 2026.

In her post on X on Saturday, Lara Trump said: "I could not have been more honoured to serve as RNC co-chair during the most high-stakes election of our lifetime and I'm truly humbled by the unbelievable support shown to me by the people of our country, and here in the great state of Florida."

She said she had a big announcement to share in January, without giving further details.

Lara Trump was elected as RNC co-chair in March, solidifying her father-in-law's influence over the party as he campaigned for the presidency.

Alongside her husband, Trump's son Eric, and his older brother Don Jr, she emerged as one of the top campaign surrogates for the Republican candidate in the run-up to the election.

Ukrainian sniper Oleksandr Matsievsky was captured by Russians in the first year of the full-scale invasion. Later, a video emerged showing him smoking his last cigarette in a forest, apparently next to a grave he had been forced to dig.

"Glory to Ukraine!" he says to his captors. Moments later, shots ring out and he falls dead.

His execution is one of many.

In October this year, nine captured Ukrainian soldiers were reportedly shot dead by Russian forces in Kursk region. Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating the case including a photo showing half-naked bodies lying on the ground. This photo was enough for one of the victims, drone operator Ruslan Holubenko, to be identified by his parents.

"I recognised him by his underwear," his distraught mother told local broadcaster Suspilne Chernihiv. "I bought it for him before a trip to the sea. I also knew that his shoulder had been shot through. You could see that in the picture."

The list of executions goes on. Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating reports of beheadings and a sword being used to kill a Ukrainian soldier with his hands tied behind his back.

In another instance, a video showed 16 Ukrainian soldiers apparently being lined up and then mowed down with automatic gunfire after emerging from a woods to surrender.

Some of the executions were filmed by Russian forces themselves, while others were observed by Ukrainian drones hovering above.

The killings captured on such videos usually take place in woods or fields lacking distinctive features, which makes confirming their exact location difficult. BBC Verify, however, has been able to confirm in several cases - such as one beheading - that the victims wear Ukrainian uniforms and that the videos are recent.

Rising numbers

The Ukrainian prosecution service says that at least 147 Ukrainian prisoners of war have been executed by Russian forces since the start of the full-scale invasion, 127 of them this year.

"The upward trend is very clear, very obvious," says Yuri Belousov, the head of the War Department at the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General's Office.

"Executions became systemic from November last year and have continued throughout all of this year. Sadly, their number has been particularly on the rise this summer and autumn. This tells us that they are not isolated cases. They are happening across vast areas and they have clear signs of being part of a policy - there is evidence that instructions to this effect are being issued."

International humanitarian law - particularly the Third Geneva Convention - offers protection to prisoners of war, and executing them is a war crime.

Despite this, Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman leader of Russia's Chechnya, briefly ordered his commanders involved in the Ukraine war "to take no prisoners".

Impunity

Rachel Denber, Deputy Director of the Europe and Central Asia Division at Human Rights Watch, says there is no shortage of evidence supporting allegations of Ukrainian prisoners of war being executed by Russian troops. According to her, impunity plays a key part, and the Russian army has some serious questions to answer.

"What instructions do these units have, either formally or informally from their commanders? Are their commanders being quite clear about what the Geneva Conventions say about the treatment of prisoners of war? What are Russian military commanders telling their units about their conduct? What steps is the chain of command taking to investigate these instances? And if higher ups are not investigating, or not taking steps to prevent that conduct, are they aware that they too are criminally liable and can be held accountable?" she asks.

So far, there has been nothing to suggest that Russia is formally investigating claims that its forces have been executing Ukrainian prisoners of war. Even mentioning similar allegations is punishable by lengthy prison sentences in Russia.

According to Vladimir Putin, Russian forces have "always" treated Ukrainian prisoners of war "strictly in line with international legal documents and international conventions".

Ukrainian forces have also been accused of executing Russian prisoners of war, but the number of such claims has been much smaller.

Yuri Belousov says that the Ukrainian prosecution service treats such accusations "very seriously" and is investigating them - but so far no one has been charged.

According to Human Rights Watch, since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022 the Russian forces have committed "a litany of violations, including those which should be investigated as war crimes or crimes against humanity".

The Russian army's record of abuses is such that some Ukrainian soldiers prefer death to capture.

"He told me: Mum, I'll never surrender, never. Forgive me, I know you'll cry, but I don't want to be tortured," Ruslan Holubenko's mother says. Her son is still officially classed as missing in action, and she hopes against hope.

"I'll do everything that's possible and impossible to get my child back. I keep looking at this photo. Maybe he is just unconscious? I want to believe, I don't want to think that he's gone."

The US military says it has carried out a series of air strikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa targeting a missile storage site and command facilities operated by Iran-backed Houthi militants.

US Central Command added it also hit multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea.

It comes hours after the Houthis fired a ballistic missile at Israel which injured more than a dozen people in a Tel Aviv park.

The Houthis, an Iran-backed rebel group that controls north-western Yemen, began attacking Israel and international shipping shortly after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Palestinians.

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

The US military also said it struck "multiple Houthi one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles, or drones, and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea".

American F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets were used in the operation, the US Central Command added.

• Who are the Houthis and why are they attacking Red Sea ships?

Since November 2023, Houthi missile attacks have sunk two vessels in the Red Sea and damaged others. They have claimed, often falsely, that they are targeting ships only linked to Israel, the US or the UK.

Last December, the US, UK and 12 other nations launched Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect Red Sea shipping lanes against the attacks.

On Saturday, Israel's military said its attempts to shoot down a projectile launched from Yemen were unsuccessful and the missile struck a park in Tel Aviv.

Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel's emergency medical service, said it treated 16 people who were "mildly injured" by glass shards from shattered windows in nearby buildings.

Another 14 people suffered minor injuries on their way to protected areas were also treated, it said.

A Houthi spokesman said the group hit a military target using a hypersonic ballistic missile.

Earlier this week, Israel conducted a series of strikes against what it said were Houthi military targets, hitting ports as well as energy infrastructure in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Houthi-run Al Masirah TV reported that nine people were killed in the port of Salif and the Ras Issa oil terminal.

The Houthis have vowed to continue their attacks until the war in Gaza ends. The US says its latest strike is part of a commitment to protect itself and its allies.

US President-elect Donald Trump has appointed British TV executive Mark Burnett, who produced him on The Apprentice, as his special envoy to the UK.

Trump said it was his "great honour" to pick his former colleague for the role, which is separate to the position of US ambassador to the UK.

"Mark will work to enhance diplomatic relations, focusing on areas of mutual interest, including trade, investment opportunities, and cultural exchanges," he added.

Burnett said in a statement: "I am truly honoured to serve The United States of America and President Trump as his Special Envoy to the United Kingdom."

He created The Apprentice and produced it along with a range of other reality TV programmes, winning 12 Emmy Awards.

"With a distinguished career in television production and business, Mark brings a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition to this important role," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Saturday.

The president-elect, who takes office next month, has already picked billionaire donor Warren Stephens as his ambassador to the UK. While Stephens's nomination requires confirmation by the US Senate, Burnett's role needs no such approval.

Burnett, 64, was raised in Essex and served as a paratrooper in Army before emigrating to the US in 1982, when he was 22.

He went on to work for MGM and became known as a significant figure in reality television.

In addition to creating and producing The Apprentice, Burnett created formats such as Survivor, The Voice and Shark Tank - the US version of Dragon's Den.

He helped propel Trump, a real estate developer, to new heights of fame as he starred in The Apprentice from 2008-15.

Burnett became president of MGM Television in December 2015, but stood aside in 2022 when Amazon acquired the studio.

He had a role in planning Trump's first inauguration in 2017.

Burnett told the BBC in 2010 that Trump was "fearless" and "a big, strong tough guy".

"He is a very, very down-to-earth normal guy and he's a really, really loyal friend and, as I've seen him with many other people, not the kind of enemy you would want," said Burnett.

Trump's first run for the presidency as Republican nominee in 2016 was plunged into crisis as tapes emerged of him telling Access Hollywood presenter Billy Bush that "you can do anything" to women "when you're a star".

Burnett released a statement at the time denying he was a supporter of Trump.

"Further, my wife and I reject the hatred, division and misogyny that has been a very unfortunate part of his campaign," he said. Burnett is married to Londonderry-born actress Roma Downey.

Another former producer of The Apprentice subsequently claimed that Trump had been heard making "far worse" remarks in recordings from the show.

But Burnett rejected calls to release all outtakes of Trump, saying he was unable to do so and citing "various contractual and legal requirements".

When Charli XCX recorded her sixth album, Brat, she thought her prickly, abrasive dance anthems were "not going to appeal to a lot of people".

In the end, the record topped the charts and became a cultural phenomenon. It was nominated for seven Grammys, referenced in the US presidential election, turned into a paint swatch, and named "word of the year" by Collins Dictionary.

Now the album has been named the best new release of 2024 in a "poll of polls" compiled by BBC News.

In multiple end of year lists, critics called Brat "brilliant from start to finish" and "pop music for the future", praising the way its "painfully relatable" lyrics captured Charli's insecurities, anxieties and obsessions.

In the star's own words, the record is "chaos and emotional turmoil set to a club soundtrack".

"The louder you play it, the more honest it gets," said the Los Angeles Times.

The BBC's poll is a "super-ranking" compiled from 30 year-end lists published by the world's most influential music magazines - including the NME, Rolling Stone, Spain's Mondo Sonoro and France's Les Inrockuptibles.

Records were assigned points based on their position in each list - with the number one album getting 20 points, the number two album receiving 19 points, and so on.

Brat was the runaway winner with a score of 486 points, nearly twice as many as the number two album, Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter.

In total, the critics named 184 records among their favourites, from the The Cure's long-awaited comeback, Songs Of A Lost World, to the kaleidoscopic rap of Doechii's Alligator Bites Never Heal.

Here's the top 25 in full.

1) Charli XCX - Brat

Charli was born Emma Aitchison in Essex, UK, and has been chipping away at the coalface of pop for more than a decade.

At the start of her career, she scored hits with shiny pop anthems such as Fancy, I Love It and Boom Clap - but over the years, her music has become more volatile and aggressive.

Underground anthems like Vroom, Vroom and Track 10 turned her into a cult star but, as she confessed on Brat: "I've started thinking again about whether I deserve commercial success".

With that in mind, she entered 2024 with a new sense of purpose.

"Before we'd even done much writing, she had a masterplan of all the stuff she wanted to write about, and all the things she wanted to say," producer AG Cook tells the BBC. "She had a real vision for the album, right from the start."

"Even the name Brat was in play for about two years," adds co-producer Finn Keane.

Released in June, Brat became the soundtrack to the summer; and Charli extended her success with a remix album that rewrote many of the songs and added an array of guest stars, from Billie Eilish and Robyn to The 1975 and Lorde.

The remix project was "really, off-the-cuff and last minute", says Cook, "but that's been part of the fun of Brat".

"Charli is just incredibly quick and open to ideas," adds Keane. "You can give her kind of any kind of crazy track, and she'll instantly be able to come up with something super hooky, with a twist that's very memorable and elaborate.

"She's just incredibly musical."

Billboard: "Charli XCX pulled off one of the most exciting and culturally significant album launches in modern memory... And best of all? It was all on Charli's own terms. Drawing inspiration primarily from club culture and hyperpop, Charli pulled once-niche spaces in music into the mainstream."

The Forty Five: "In making a club record to ignite the underground, she's reached the world's biggest stages. Musically, Charli is at her peak."

2) Beyoncé - Cowboy Carter

Frequently mis-labelled as a country album, Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter is so much more. A racial reckoning with the black roots of American folk music, its 27 tracks embrace everything from line-dancing to psychedelic rock, with guest appearances from Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Post Malone.

The Times: "The pop hoedown single Texas Hold 'Em remains the best piece, but the acoustic guitar-driven sexy ode Bodyguard is another highlight. Will this finally win Beyoncé her best album Grammy?"

NME: "A masterclass in creativity from an artist who never forgets her roots."

3) Fontaines D.C. - Romance

The fourth album by Dublin's Fontaines DC saw the quintet take their scratchy, sinister sound and run it through a technicolor filter. The results include everything from stadium-sized sing-alongs (Favourite) to panic-inducing punk anthems (Starburster).

Allmusic: "When all is said and done, they remain fantastic songwriters, able to convey a variety of emotions without relying on the trappings of punk. The corners may have been sanded off, but it has only revealed new and interesting textures underneath."

Mojo magazine: "Fontaines D.C. are now, in terms of risk-taking potential, the Arctic Monkeys' closest rivals."

4) Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard And Soft

The title says it all. None of the songs on Billie Eilish's exquisite third album are content to sit still, moving from hushed intimacy to emotional volatility as the singer navigates the murky waters of her early 20s.

The Telegraph: "Eilish has made something rich, strange, smart, sad and wise enough to stand comparison with Joni Mitchell's Blue. A heartbreak masterpiece for her generation, and for the ages."

The Guardian: "An album that keeps wrongfooting the listener, Hit Me Hard and Soft is clearly intended as something to gradually unpick: A bold move in a pop world where audiences are usually depicted as suffering from an attention deficit that requires instant gratification."

5) MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks

Billed by one publication as the "poet laureate of indie rock", MJ Lenderman's breakthrough album is tender, melancholy and wryly funny, populated by a cast of flawed, disappointed and disappointing characters he observed around his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina.

New York Times: "An ace guitarist with a keen ear for jangly tones, he lends even his most pathetic characters a bit of warm-blooded humanity."

The Line Of Best Fit: "How he gets you to care about nobodies from nowhere and their very strange plights is in part to do with his knack for universal empathy, but more importantly, the fact that he sings everything like he was just robbed at gunpoint by his 8th grade bully who he later watched win the lottery. You feel bad for things you don't necessarily even understand."

6) The Cure - Songs Of A Lost World

Sixteen years in the making, The Cure's 14th studio album didn't disappoint. Written during a period where frontman Robert Smith lost his mother, father and brother, it is simultaneously dark and fragile.

Speaking to the BBC, Smith said making the record had been "hugely cathartic" in escaping the "doom and gloom" he felt.

Time magazine: "It's no exaggeration that this is an album haunted by death, so it's almost ironic that, musically speaking, there hasn't been this much life in The Cure for decades."

Pitchfork: "It feels like a record whose time is right, delivering a concentrated dose of The Cure and cutting the fat that dogged their later albums."

7) Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee

A sprawling, two-hour opus of dreamy pop and psychedelia, this is one of the year's most mysterious records. You can't buy the CD or vinyl, and it's not available on Spotify or Apple Music. At the time of writing, it's only available as a continuous, ad-free stream on YouTube, or as a download from Bandcamp.

But the seventh album by Cyndi Lee (the drag alter-ego of rock musician Patrick Flegel) is definitely worth your seeking out - like the lost transmissions of a ghostly 1960s pirate radio station.

Uncut: "Cindy Lee has managed to buck just about every trend, convention and expectation of what releasing music in the digital age is supposed to look and like. And, even more crucially, it sounds just as refreshing."

Stereogum: "Diamond Jubilee is two hours of unrushed wandering through a lo-fi escape, catchy to the point of sticky, tarnishing in its abrasiveness yet sun-baked to perfection."

8) Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood

On her sixth album as Waxahatchee, singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield tackles everything from anxiety and self-doubt, to her ongoing struggle with sobriety, with piercing insight and a laid-back country-rock feel.

Pitchfork: "Her mind is alive and humming, and her language leaps out at you with its hunger."

Consequence of Sound: "Crutchfield is still growing, both personally and artistically, and we're just glad she's invited us along for the ride."

9) Kendrick Lamar - GNX

After landing the decisive blow in his rap beef with Drake, Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar took a victory lap on his surprise sixth album, GNX. Razor sharp and rhythmically complex, it's both a poison pen letter to his detractors, and a love letter to Los Angeles' hip-hop culture.

LA Times: "Lamar is worked up about liars, about folks doling out backhanded compliments, about other rappers with "old-ass flows" wasting space with empty rhymes. Indeed, what seems to make him angriest is the idea that a person could triumph in hip-hop by taking hip-hop less seriously than he does."

Complex: "Even cooler is how much space Kendrick gives to underground rappers from the LA scene—figures who are talented but raw, and would likely struggle to gain national recognition without a boost."

10) Sabrina Carpenter - Short N' Sweet

Six albums into her career, former Disney star Sabrina Carpenter landed on a winning formula - one that puts aside the cookie-cutter pop of her teen years, and zeroes in on her sly humour as a USP.

Fleet of foot and packed with memorable one-liners, it produced three number one singles in the UK, including song of the year contender Espresso.

New York Times: "A smart, funny, cheerfully merciless catalogue of bad boyfriend behaviour."

Esquire: "The range, humour, and sophistication of these 12 songs were a revelation."

The next 15

11) Tyler, The Creator - Chromokopia

12) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Wild God

13) Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown

=14) Mk.Gee - Two Star & The Dream People

=14) Jessica Pratt - Here In The Pitch

16) Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us

17) Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future

18) Doechii - Alligator Bites Never Heal

19) Clairo - Charm

=20) Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Department

=20) Nala Sinephro - Endlessness

22) English Teacher - This Could Be Texas

23) The Last Dinner Party - Prelude To Ecstasy

24) Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk

25) Nilufer Yanya - My Method Actor

The chart was compiled from 30 "best of" lists in the following publications: Billboard, Complex, Consequence Of Sound, Daily Mail, Dazed Magazine, Double J, Esquire, Entertainment Weekly, The Forty Five, Gorilla Vs Bear, The Guardian, The Independent, LA Times, Les Inrocks, Line Of Best Fit, Mojo, Mondo Sonoro, NME, New York Times, Paste, People, Pitchfork, Pop Matters, The Skinny, Rolling Stone, Stereogum, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, Time Magazine and Uncut.

Gone are the days when children would circle their favourite toy in the catalogue in the hope of getting what they want from Santa.

Instead, social media hauls - where influencers display items they have bought - are the now go-to catalogue, with some parents saying it heaps added pressure on an already stressful time.

Parenting blogger Charlotte Harding said she found the cost of Christmas presents this year "quite stressful".

"As the boys have got older, the presents have become more expensive," she added.

Charlotte said game consoles and concert tickets were the main items on the wish list, but it is not just presents on the big day that add up.

"The boys have asked for advent calendars that are about £25 plus, which to be honest would be a Christmas present in itself. But this is for the run up to Christmas."

She said she had also heard of young girls asking for beauty advent calendars costing hundreds of pounds.

Charlotte said social media played a big role when children make their Christmas lists, in particular "younger and younger" influencers who advertise products.

"But children don't know the amount of money these things cost... and the parents are really starting to feel the pressure of it."

But it is not just Christmas presents and gifts that are costly.

Social media trends such as Elf on the Shelf and Christmas Eve Boxes, as well as attending events, are also driving prices up around the festive period.

"The latest trend I've seen is a plane and you go see Santa, and apparently it's amazing," said parent blogger Stephanie Handwell.

Stephanie is behind the blog Welsh Mummy Steph and she's felt the pressure of social trends in the past.

"You've got the Polar Express, the Santa experiences and afternoon tea with Santa. I sometimes have to check myself and think when I was a child, I saw Santa once and it was still magical," she said.

"It was probably the things we did as a family that I really remember."

She admitted she has felt the pressure of social trends in the past.

"I've decided to keep my PR calendar minimised because it creates this expectation, and I don't like that because I feel that myself as a parent," she said.

Caitlin Acreman, who is behind the Haul at 4 Instagram page, has also scaled back her Christmas-related content because of the cost of living crisis.

"You can still have an amazing Christmas and make loads of memories in a budget-friendly way," she said.

Caitlin said she loves to see people celebrating Christmas events online, but she believes "comparison is the thief of joy".

"I like to go on my stories a show there is a person there, I'm a mum of two and I'm constantly finding ways to be budget friendly and save those pennies.

"I like to come on there because people can relate to it a little bit better," she said.

Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, a professor of consumer psychology at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, said Christmas can be a complicated period for many and with the added pressure "to be happy".

"If you don't have the ability to do that - such as having this massive Christmas meal with your family - then it often leaves people feeling inadequate or lonely," she said.

She added that financial pressures can sometimes change people's perceptions of the festive period.

'Bring it back to basics'

Fiona Barnard, who runs the Life of a Crazy Mum blog agrees that Christmas "can be a tough time for people with mental health and financial issues".

"More often than not, all children want to do at Christmas is spend time with their family and their loved ones.

"Most of us work full time, some of us are single parents or only see our children at weekend.

"So when it comes to Christmas it's not about running around piling them full of presents or slaving away in the kitchen for half the day, where they don't see us."

She added we should "bring it back to basics" of what Christmas is about.

"It's about family. It's about sharing time and sharing love, as opposed to sharing pits full of money that we don't have."

Vulnerable people with care needs are living in "beyond disgraceful" homes because the government has so far failed to enforce a new law, MPs and charities claim.

The Supported Housing Act was passed in June last year to create standards in the sector, after a select committee found the lack of regulation meant some landlords were "profiting" from "unacceptably poor housing".

But there has still been no consultation on how it should work and an advisory panel on the sector has not yet been set up. The government blamed the delay on the election said it was committed to the consultation and the panel.

Rhys Matthews, 26, told the BBC supported housing was "the worst place I've ever lived".

Councils decide whether someone with care needs, such as a mental or physical health problem, qualifies for supported housing and who can provide it, but otherwise there is almost no regulation.

The council pays the rent for people who are vulnerable due to factors such as disabilities or experience of homelessness, abuse and addiction.

The new law gives the department for housing and local councils powers to set standards for supported housing providers for the first time, but no exact start date has been set for a consultation into how the law will work.

A housing spokesperson said it had "made a clear commitment...to consulting on further measures early next year".

Meanwhile, the supported housing advisory panel, which is meant to be made up of people from the sector who can provide information to the government, has also not been set up.

The law required it to have been set up in June. The government said it is "committed to establishing" the panel.

'The worst place I've ever lived'

Rhys grew up in foster care and moved into supported housing due to health problems.

He told the BBC the only furniture in his room was a bed and a small cabinet and he piled his possessions on the floor.

He said he was evicted with just an hour's notice after one of the other residents threw a knife at him and he spent the next two years living on the streets.

"It almost felt like I was the issue, I was the problem, and they wanted to get rid of me," he said. "I had no idea what my rights were."

Rhys now lives in supported housing provided by charity Emmaus, where he is paid to work.

Charities and other non-profit groups historically provided supported housing, but private firms have entered the sector over the last decade, with charities and MPs arguing many have exploited the lack of regulation to make millions while providing low-quality housing.

Rhys, like the charities we have spoken to, wants the new supported housing law to enforce minimum standards - bigger rooms, safe shared spaces and qualified support staff.

He wants landlords that do not meet those standards to face criminal convictions in the worst cases. "It needs to have bite," he said.

'Unsafe and unregulated'

Jasmine Basran, head of policy and campaigns at homeless charity Crisis, said: "People who have already experienced significant disadvantage are being forced to live without adequate support in unsafe, unsanitary and frankly unliveable conditions."

She said it was promising the government will be consulting on how to improve supported housing "but we do need to see progress on this – urgently".

Charlotte Talbott, chief executive of Emmaus UK, said there were "far too many cases where individuals are let down by unscrupulous providers, with substandard support and accommodation having devastating consequences for those who depend on their services".

The London Assembly described the sector as "unsafe and unregulated".

Meanwhile, a 2022 BBC investigation found supported housing schemes across the West Midlands were riddled with crime, drugs, and a death in one case.

Yet despite years of concerns, action has been slow, something which does not surprise Rhys.

"It's so typical from the government," he said.

"Unfortunately, with supported accommodation and homelessness, it always seems to take a back [seat] in any government, Labour or Conservative."

Bob Blackman MP, who drafted the Act, criticised the "snail's pace" in enforcing it, adding action was needed urgently as the sector is a "ticking time bomb".

The housing department said "it was right that decisions on the consultation were paused during the general election".

They added that members of the panel "will be appointed in due course" after interviews closed this month.

'Pressure cooker'

Even if the law is enforced, the National Housing Federation (NHF) said it would not solve "extreme financial challenges caused by severe cuts to funding, combined with rocketing inflation and increasing operating costs".

It calculates over a third of supported housing providers shut down schemes last year and 60% intend on closing sites in future.

At the same time supported housing supply is falling, many charities say demand has soared due to NHS cuts and rising homelessness.

Sophie Boobis, head of policy and research at Homeless Link, said the consultation was needed so that good providers could set a standard for what good looks like and remove the uncertainty created by the lack of regulation.

"This is a sector at risk...It feels like a pressure cooker at the moment."

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Pascual Andreu points proudly to a black-and-white photograph stuck to the wall of the premises of his chocolate-making business. Staring out from it is his grandfather, who started the company in 1914.

But, as he looks around him and remembers the destruction caused by the flash floods which struck the eastern Spanish region of Valencia on 29 October, tears well up in Andreu's eyes.

"The water came in and water and mud covered everything," he says. "And when it had gone, it left a terrible sight. All the stock we had was ruined, the machinery was useless."

He adds: "All my life working. And for what?"

The floodwater left a six-feet-high (1.8m) mark on the wall, and although the water has now gone, mud still clings to the machines. Miraculously, the photo of his grandfather was not washed away.

But, now in his sixties, and still waiting to see how much insurance money he might receive, Andreu is too disheartened to start over.

The flash flood killed more than 220 people in the Valencia region, many of them caught in their cars, or on the ground floors of buildings when the tsunami-like waters hit. But as well as claiming lives, the disaster also devastated livelihoods. Valencia's chamber of commerce estimated that 48,000 companies have been affected.

The towns and industrial belt surrounding the Mediterranean city of Valencia, which itself avoided the impact of the floods, were the worst hit. In total, the province of Valencia represents 5% of Spain's GDP, according to CaixaBank Research, which estimates that the disaster could reduce national economic output by one to two percentage points in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Much of the damage has been caused on industrial estates. Diego Romá, executive president of the federation of industrial estates in the Valencia region (Feteval), says that "thousands and thousands of jobs are in the air" and that a total of 58 industrial estates were affected by the flood water.

"Most companies are working hard to resume production, but unfortunately there are maybe 10 to 20% of companies which are going to close," he said.

The legacy of 29 October is still visible on the industrial estates. Abandoned cars sit on the side of the road covered in mud, debris has been pushed up against walls and the shutters of many businesses remain closed.

Electro Fernández, an electricity installation company, is one of the few which has reopened, having lost €40,000 ($42,000; £33,000) worth of tools in the floods.

"We were immediately affected 100% because we lost our tools and vehicles," said Patricia Muñoz, who co-owns the company with her husband. She says that they are currently working at 10% of their capacity.

"We've cleaned the place, we've got all our employees here, and we've taken action to get going again," she says. "But a lot of the companies on this industrial estate, and on others are nowhere near that, they are still cleaning up.

"This has been an absolute disaster. You only realise the scale of it when you see it for yourself."

Not far away is a car storage area, where hundreds of the 120,000 or so vehicles damaged or destroyed by the flooding have been removed from roads and piled one on top of the other. As part of a €17bn relief plan announced by the government in the first month after the tragedy, it promised to provide up to 10,000 euros to car owners to replace their vehicles.

Businesses and self-employed workers are also due to benefit, with compensation for damage caused to homes and corporate premises. A furlough scheme is also in place.

The Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, told congress in late November that his government was "making a titanic effort" to ensure that the promised funds reach those in need as soon as possible. However, not everyone is convinced.

"I think that official financial aid is badly managed," says Toni Milla, president of a local business association in the town of Alfafar, which was heavily affected. He says that a lot of the relief for businesses promised during the Covid pandemic did not reach its destination.

"I think this time the same thing is going to happen," he says.

Valencians' faith in their authorities has already been severely shaken by the immediate response to the disaster. Protesters have been demanding the resignation of regional president Carlos Mazón, who, it emerged, was absent from his office for several hours on the day the floods struck because he was having lunch with a journalist. Many believe his administration's delay in issuing an alert to the phones of people in the region cost lives.

Mazón has rejected such claims. "We did the best we could with the information available," he says.

Others criticise the central government for failing to deploy the military and other resources more forcefully. Sánchez, however, has insisted that his administration "fulfilled its duties and did so from the very beginning" of the crisis.

Meanwhile, help has been provided by the private sector. Alcem-se, a charity platform set up by local supermarket entrepreneur Juan Roig, says it has distributed €35m euros in non-refundable aid to 4,600 businesses.

However, for many, including Mr Milla, the relief may not be enough. He owned a local TV channel, an estate agency and a bar and he has only managed to reopen the latter – partially – in the wake of the October floods.

He lists several nearby businesses - including a petrol station, a gym, a beautician and an optician – which he says will not reopen.

But it is not just urban areas which were hit on 29 October. The Valencia region is part of an agricultural heartland in south-eastern Spain, which exports large quantities of fruit and vegetables to the rest of Europe.

Twenty-five miles (40km) south of Valencia city, José España visits his orange trees. Beneath them, oranges which were washed off their branches by the floodwater lie rotting on the ground.

"Farmers always say 'next year things will get better', but right now, the mood among farmers is very pessimistic," he said. The agricultural association he is a member of, AVA-ASAJA, estimates that well over €1bn euros worth of damage was caused on 29 October to crops alone.

"Farmers have had a few years now in which we've been abandoned, and the floods might end up causing a few more farmers than usual to leave the industry," he says. "In order to get things back to how they were before the flooding, it's going to take two or three years."

Albania's prime minister has announced the government intends to block access to TikTok for one year after the killing of a schoolboy last month raised fears about the influence of social media on children.

Speaking on Saturday Edi Rama declared the proposed ban would start in January.

TikTok said it is seeking urgent clarifications from the Albanian government about the proposed ban.

The social media platform told the BBC it had found no evidence the person who allegedly stabbed the 14-year-old boy, or the victim himself, had TikTok accounts.

During a meeting in Albania's capital Tirana with teachers, parents and psychologists Rama branded TikTok as "the thug of the neighbourhood".

"We are going to close it for a year and we are going to start rolling out programs that will serve the education of students and help parents follow their children's journey," Rama said.

The blocking of TikTok comes less than a month after the 14-year-old student was killed and another injured in a fight near a school in southern Tirana which had its roots in a confrontation on social media.

The killing sparked a debate in Albania among parents, psychologists and educational institutions about the impact of social networks on young people.

"In China, TikTok promotes how students can take courses, how to protect nature, how to keep traditions, but on the TikTok outside China we see only scum and mud. Why do we need this?", Rama said.

TikTok is already banned in India, which was one of the app's largest markets before it was outlawed in June 2020. It is also blocked in Iran, Nepal, Afghanistan and Somalia.

TikTok is also fighting against a law passed by the US Congress which would ban the app from 19 January unless it is sold by ByteDance - its Chinese parent company.

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear last-minute legal arguments from TikTok as to why it should not be banned or sold with a hearing scheduled for 10 January - just days before the 19 January deadline imposed by Congress.

The US government is taking action against the app because of what it says are its links to the Chinese state - links which TikTok and ByteDance have denied.

• Trump meets TikTok CEO as ban deadline looms
• US TikTok ban: When and why could the app be outlawed?

Several European countries including France, Germany and Belgium have enforced restrictions on social media use for children.

In November Australia passed the world's strictest measures by voting to ban children under the age of 16 from using social media.

That particular ban will take at least a year to implement.

UK Technology Secretary Peter Kyle told the BBC that a similar ban for under-16s is "on the table" but added that he wanted to see more evidence first.

A car has crashed into a crowd at a Christmas market in east Germany, local media report.

Reports say multiple people have been injured in the incident in Magdeburg.

Video on social media shows a number of people laying on the ground and emergency services in attendance.

An "extensive police operation" is underway and the market was closed, according to local authorities.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

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Talks to reach a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas are 90% complete, but key issues remain that need to be bridged, a senior Palestinian official involved in the talks told the BBC.

One of the main sticking points is the continued Israeli military presence in the Philadelphi corridor, a strategically important strip of land in southern Gaza along the border with Egypt.

The Palestinian official shared details of the discussions being held in Doha which include the potential creation of a buffer zone several kilometres wide along the length of Israel's border with Gaza.

Israel would retain a military presence within this area, the official said.

With these issues resolved, a three-stage ceasefire could be agreed within days, they added.

The deal would include an exchange of 20 Palestinian prisoners for every female soldier released in the first of three stages of the ceasefire.

The names of the prisoners are yet to be agreed but would be chosen from around 400 names who are serving prison sentences of 25 years or more in Israel.

These are not thought to include the senior Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, whose release Israel is expected to veto.

Israeli hostages would be released in stages, as it is believed that Hamas still need to locate some of the missing hostages.

Of 96 hostages still held in Gaza, 62 are assumed by Israel to still be alive.

Gazan civilians would be able to return to the north, under a system with Egyptian/Qatari oversight, and there would be around 500 trucks per day bringing aid into the strip, the official said.

In the final stage of the three-phase plan, which would see the end of the 14-month war, Gaza would be overseen by a committee of technocrats from the enclave, who would not have previous political affiliations but would have the backing of all Palestinian factions.

In recent weeks, the US, Qatar and Egypt have resumed their mediation efforts and reported greater willingness by both sides to conclude a deal.

A round of talks in mid-October failed to produce a deal, with Hamas rejecting a short-term ceasefire proposal.

Hamas and two other Palestinian militant groups said that reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza "has become closer than ever before" only if Israel "stops imposing new conditions".

In a Telegram statement on Saturday, the group said it held a meeting in Cairo on Friday on the ongoing negotiation efforts with representatives from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The Palestinian Islamist armed group Hamas, which governed Gaza, carried out an unprecedented cross-border attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 others abducted.

More than 100 hostages have been freed through negotiations or Israeli military rescue operations.

Blake Lively has filed a legal complaint against It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni, alleging sexual harassment and a campaign to "destroy" her reputation.

According to the legal filing, she accuses Mr Baldoni and his team of attacking her public image following a meeting in which she brought along her actor husband, Ryan Reynolds, to address "repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior" by Baldoni and a producer on the movie.

Mr Baldoni's legal team told the BBC the allegations are "categorically false" and said they hired a crisis manager because Ms Lively had threatened to derail the film unless her demands were met.

In the romantic drama, Ms Lively plays a woman who finds herself in a relationship with a charming but abusive boyfriend, played by Mr Baldoni.

The meeting between Ms Lively and Mr Baldoni, together with others involved in the movie's production, took place on 4 January this year, and it aimed to address "the hostile work environment" on set, says the legal filing.

Ms Lively's husband, Deadpool star Mr Reynolds, who did not appear in It Ends With Us, joined her at the showdown, according to the legal complaint, which is one step before a lawsuit.

Mr Baldoni, 40, attended the meeting in his capacity as co-chairman and co-founder of the company that produced the film, Wayfarer Studios. He was also the film's director.

In the legal complaint, Ms Lively's lawyers allege that both Mr Baldoni and the Wayfarer chief executive officer, Jamey Heath, engaged in "inappropriate and unwelcome behavior towards Ms Lively and others on the set of It Ends With Us".

In the filing to the California Civil Rights Department, a list of 30 demands relating to the pair's alleged misconduct was made at the meeting to ensure they could continue to produce the film.

Among them, Ms Lively, 37, requested that there be no more mention of Mr Baldoni and Mr Heath's previous "pornography addiction" to Ms Lively or to other crew members, no more descriptions of their own genitalia to Ms Lively, and "no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex, or on camera climaxing by BL [Blake Lively] outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project", says the complaint.

Ms Lively also demanded that Mr Baldoni stop saying he could speak to her dead father.

Ms Lively's legal team further accuse Mr Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios of leading a "multi-tiered plan" to wreck her reputation.

She alleges this was "the intended result of a carefully crafted, coordinated, and resourced retaliatory scheme to silence her, and others from speaking out about the hostile environment that Mr Baldoni and Mr Heath created".

Responding to the legal complaint, Mr Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said on Saturday: "It is shameful that Ms Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives."

Mr Freedman accused Ms Lively of making numerous demands and threats, including "threatening to not show up to set, threatening to not promote the film", which would end up "ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met".

He alleged that Ms Lively's claims were "intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media".

In a statement via her attorneys to the BBC, Ms Lively said: "I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted."

She also denied that she or any of her representatives had planted or spread negative information about Mr Baldoni or Wayfarer.

The film was a box-office hit, although some critics said it romanticised domestic violence.

Soon after the release date in August, another co-star, Brandon Sklenar, hinted in an Instagram post at rumours of a rift between Ms Lively and Mr Baldoni.

Speculation of a falling out only grew when they did not appear together on the red carpet.

It Ends With Us tells the story of Boston florist Lily Bloom, played by Ms Lively, as she navigates a love triangle between her charming but abusive boyfriend, Ryle Kincaid, played by Mr Baldoni, and her compassionate first love, Atlas Corrigan, played by Mr Sklenar.

It is based on a best-selling novel by Colleen Hoover. The 45-year-old author has previously said her inspiration was domestic abuse her mother endured.

In an interview with the BBC at the film's premiere in August, Ms Lively said she had felt the "responsibility of servicing the people that care so much about the source material".

"I really feel like we delivered a story that's emotional and it's fun, but also funny, painful, scary, tragic and it's inspiring and that's what life is, it's every single colour," said the actress.

Ms Lively, who is also credited as a producer, told the BBC she felt the film had been made "with lots of empathy".

"Lily is a survivor and a victim and while they are huge labels, these are not her identity," said Ms Lively. "She defines herself and I think it's deeply empowering that no one else can define you."