Parliament will be recalled on Saturday for an emergency debate on the future of British Steel's plant in Scunthorpe.

A government source says it is looking "to take control"' of the company, after its Chinese owner said its blast furnaces are "no longer financially sustainable".

Talks have been taking place this week talks to keep production going at the firm, which employs 2,700 people.

Politicians left Westminster for their Easter break on Tuesday, and were not due to return until 22 April.

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The UK government is poised to take control of a major British Steel plant in Scunthorpe, which is at risk of imminent closure.

MPs have been called back from their Easter break to pass an emergency law which would keep the Chinese-owned site operating.

What is British Steel and how many people work there?

British Steel's plant in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, employs 2,700 people, about three-quarters of the company's entire workforce.

It is the last plant in the UK capable of producing virgin steel, which is used in major construction projects like new buildings and railways.

Two huge blast furnaces are used to produce the steel, which has fewer imperfections than the recycled steel made elsewhere in the country.

Were the plant to cease producing virgin steel, then the UK would become the only member of the G7 group of leading economies without the ability to make it - a prospect the government views as a risk to the country's long-term economic security.

Who owns British Steel and why is it losing money?

Following a period of financial instability, British Steel was taken over by the government's insolvency service in 2019 and then acquired by Chinese steel-making firm Jingye the following year.

The company says the plant continues to lose £700,000 a day despite £1.2bn of investment. It has begun a 45-day consultation on job cuts.

Jingye says the blast furnaces are no longer sustainable, blaming "highly challenging" market conditions, tariffs and costs associated with transitioning to lower-carbon production techniques.

The blast furnaces generate the extreme heat needed to produce virgin steel and are fuelled by coking coal and iron pellets - but supplies of those raw materials at the Scunthorpe plant are running low.

That adds a time pressure to the British Steel talks because once a blast furnace shuts down, it is a costly and complex process to restart it again.

Last month, the company was accused by one of its customers of failing to order the raw materials needed to keep the site going, a claim which Jingye rejected.

UK steel production has been falling for several decades and the financial pressures facing the industry were heightened in March when the US imposed a 25% tariff on any steel it imports.

Global over-production of steel has created "a glut of steel on the international market", according to a UK government briefing on the industry, which has pushed prices down. British manufacturers also face higher costs, particularly on electricity, than elsewhere.

Could the UK government take control?

The government has ordered MPs to return from their Easter breaks for an unusual weekend sitting in the Commons, as it weighs up options to protect the site.

On Friday, Sir Keir Starmer announced plans to fast-track a law through Parliament which would give the government the power to assume control of some of the site's operations.

That would include the ability to order raw materials to keep the furnaces running and to direct the company's workforce and board.

The government has told the company's UK management to keep the site operational, and the emergency law will ensure that any employees who are sacked by the Chinese owners can be reinstated.

This intervention stops short of nationalisation - when a government takes ownership and control of a company - but Sir Keir said the government would do "everything possible" to "protect" the UK's steel industry.

The prime minister's decision to announce emergency legislation follows tense talks between the government and Jingye earlier this week, which appear to have largely broken down.

The government offered to buy the raw materials needed to keep the furnaces going but Jingye did not agree to that proposal.

Unions have said the situation is on a "cliff-edge", while the Community Union described the lack of supplies needed to keep the furnaces operational as an "extreme emergency".

Linda McCulloch from the Unite union said they would like the government to nationalise the site "to keep steelmaking alive in the UK".

The GMB trade union has raised concerns to the BBC about the way Jingye is operating the plant.

Who else produces steel in the UK?

There are 1,160 businesses in the UK steel industry, directly supporting 40,000 other firms across the country, according to government figures.

Tata Steel at Port Talbot in Wales was once the UK's largest virgin steel producer but it turned off its blast furnace in September 2024, saying it was losing £1.7m a day.

An agreement with the UK government was reached which saw it commit £500m to help the company move to greener forms of steelmaking.

Other steelmakers in the UK include Liberty Steel, Celsa, Marcegaglia and Outokumpu.

Liberty Steel also has a plant in Scunthorpe which is facing closure. More than 120 jobs are at risk, with bosses blaming high energy costs.

In 2023 the UK steel industry contributed £2.3 billion to the UK economy - equivalent to 0.1% of total UK economic output and 1.0% of manufacturing output.

In the same year, the UK produced 5.6 million tonnes of crude steel, or 0.3% of the world's total. In comparison, China produced more than 1,000 million tonnes, 54% of global production.

The EU produced 126 million tonnes of steel in 2023, 7% of the world's total. Compared with EU countries, the UK ranked as the eighth largest steel producer, after Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Austria, Poland and Belgium.

A US judge has ruled the government can deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate arrested last month by immigration officers.

Mr Khalil has been held at a Louisiana detention centre since 8 March, when US immigration officers told him he was being deported for taking part in campus protests against the war in Gaza.

The pro-Palestinian activist is a permanent legal US resident, and has not been charged with a crime. The government is seeking to remove him under a Cold War-era immigration law.

In a letter written from the facility, Mr Khalil has said his "arrest was a direct consequence" of speaking out for Palestine.

The judge said the Trump administration was allowed to move forward with its effort to deport Mr Khalil because the argument that he poses "adverse foreign policy consequences" for the US is "facially reasonable".

The judge gave Khalil's lawyers until 23 April to appeal against his deportation to Algeria or Syria.

"I would like to quote what you said last time that there's nothing that's more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness," Mr Khalil said in court.

"Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process," he said. "This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, 1,000 miles away from my family."

US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Friday as Donald Trump urged the Russian president to "get moving" on a ceasefire in Ukraine.

It will be Witkoff's third meeting with Putin this year, during which the US has failed to get Russia to agree to a full ceasefire with Ukraine.

Trump has previously expressed frustration with Putin over the state of talks. On Friday, he wrote on social media: "Russia has to get moving. Too many people ere [sic] DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war."

The meeting comes as the UK and Germany chaired a gathering of Ukraine's allies in Brussels, where 50 nations agreed €21bn (£18.2bn) in military aid for Kyiv.

Before the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was "no need to expect breakthroughs" as the "process of normalising relations is ongoing".

Before his talks with Putin, Witkoff first met Kirill Dmitriev at the Grand Hotel Europe in St Petersburg where a conference was being held on stainless steel and the Russian market.

Dmitriev, the 49-year-old head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, visited Washington DC last week and was the most senior Russian official to go to the US since the full scale invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Washington and Moscow went ahead with a prisoner swap.

Ksenia Karelina, a Russian-American, was sentenced to 12 years in jail in Russia for donating $51 to a Ukrainian charity when the war began in February 2022.

The Los Angeles resident was freed on Thursday morning and exchanged for Arthur Petrov, a dual German-Russian citizen arrested in Cyprus in 2023.

He was accused of illegally exporting microelectronics to Russia for manufacturers working with the military.

A US judge has ruled the government can deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate arrested last month by immigration officers.

Mr Khalil has been held at a Louisiana detention centre since 8 March, when US immigration officers told him he was being deported for taking part in campus protests against the war in Gaza.

The pro-Palestinian activist is a permanent legal US resident, and has not been charged with a crime. The government is seeking to remove him under a Cold War-era immigration law.

In a letter written from the facility, Mr Khalil has said his "arrest was a direct consequence" of speaking out for Palestine.

The judge said the Trump administration was allowed to move forward with its effort to deport Mr Khalil because the argument that he poses "adverse foreign policy consequences" for the US is "facially reasonable".

The judge gave Khalil's lawyers until 23 April to appeal against his deportation to Algeria or Syria.

"I would like to quote what you said last time that there's nothing that's more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness," Mr Khalil said in court.

"Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process," he said. "This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, 1,000 miles away from my family."

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has told the BBC that Gaza has become "hell on earth", as Israel's military assault there continues.

Mirjana Spoljaric's comments come on the same day the UN human rights office warned that Israel's tactics were threatening the viability of Palestinians continuing to live in Gaza at all.

The ICRC is the guardian of the Geneva Conventions - internationally agreed rules of conduct in war - and normally only speaks confidentially to warring parties when it thinks violations are taking place.

But today Ms Spoljaric said publicly that what was happening in Gaza was an "extreme hollowing out" of international law.

Israeli bombardment has killed 1,542 people since it renewed the war on 18 March, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has also issued evacuation orders that have forced nearly 400,000 people to move. Israel has also imposed a complete blockade on the entry of food, medical supplies and all other goods since 2 March.

Israel insists it always follows international law in Gaza, and has also argued that the particular nature of this conflict, with Hamas fighters hidden among the civilian population, mean collateral damage can sometimes happen.

Israeli ministers insist there is enough food in Gaza and say the bombardment and seizure of territory aims to pressure Hamas into releasing the hostages it is still holding, whom it kidnapped during the 7 October 2023 attack.

Under the fourth Geneva Convention, occupying powers, as Israel is in Gaza, must ensure civilians have food and medicine, and protect hospitals and health workers. The convention also prohibits the forcible transfer of entire populations from occupied territories.

"No state, no party to a conflict... can be exempt from the obligation not to commit war crimes, not to commit genocide, not to commit ethnic cleansing," Ms Spoljaric said.

"These rules apply. They are universal."

Civilians were bearing the brunt of a relentless pursuit of military objectives, she added, being displaced multiple times, and their homes reduced to rubble.

Of 36 recent airstrikes verified by the UN human rights office, all those killed were women and children.

Israel has strenuously denied accusations it is committing genocide or genocidal acts in Gaza.

Israel's military said it was looking into an attack that killed members of one family in the city of Khan Younis and said it had struck 40 "terror targets" across the territory over the past day.

The ICRC's comments are the latest in a chorus of concern coming from the UN and other agencies.

On Friday the UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the "cumulative impact" of the IDF's conduct meant "the office is seriously concerned that Israel appears to be inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence as a group in Gaza".

Israel was continuing to bomb tents in the al-Mawasi area it had told people to go to for their own safety, she added.

On Tuesday the UN secretary general warned that Israel's blockade of Gaza was violating the Geneva Conventions and the territory was becoming a "killing field". On Monday the heads of six UN aid agencies appealed to the world to act to save the people of Gaza, and to uphold basic international law.

The Geneva Conventions are founded on the following principles:

• Medical staff and hospitals in warzones must be protected and allowed to work freely
• Those wounded in battle and no longer fighting are entitled to medical treatment
• Prisoners of war must be treated humanely
• Warring parties are obliged to protect civilians (this includes a prohibition on the targeting of civilian infrastructure such as power and water supplies).

Twenty years ago, in what it called its war on terror, the US suggested that the Geneva Conventions might be outdated in modern warfare, but the ICRC insists they apply in all circumstances.

"It's not transactional," said Ms Spoljaric. "You have to comply with these rules no matter what the other side does."

She appealed for a renewal of the ceasefire, pointing out that during previous pauses in fighting, the ICRC had successfully been able to take Israeli hostages out of Gaza and reunite them with their families.

But she also warned of a growing "dehumanisation" during war, in which the international community was turning away even though it was clear war crimes were being committed.

The Geneva Conventions protecting civilians were created after World War Two, she pointed out, to make sure such dehumanisation never happened again. Diluting or abandoning them sends a dangerous signal that "everything is allowed".

The ICRC believes that sticking with the rules of war can help, eventually, to build a more sustainable peace. Once the fighting stops, the thinking goes, both soldiers and civilians will remember whether those on the other side obeyed international law, or whether they committed atrocities.

But Gaza, Ms Spoljaric believes "will haunt us. It will haunt us for a long time because you cannot undo the suffering… that will last for generations".

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 50,912 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

An American pastor has been kidnapped by armed men after they stormed his church service in South Africa, local authorities say.

Josh Sullivan had been conducting a service at Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell, a township in Gqeberra in the Eastern Cape, on Thursday evening when "four armed and masked male suspects entered", police spokesman Captain Andre Beetge told the BBC.

The men stole two phones before fleeing the church in the 45-year-old pastor's silver Toyota Fortuner. Police later found the vehicle abandoned, but there was no trace of Mr Sullivan.

A spokesperson from the US State Department told the BBC that they were aware of the kidnapping of a US citizen in South Africa.

They said there was no "greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens abroad".

Capt Beetge told the BBC the case had been handed to South Africa's elite police unit, known as the Hawks, which investigates serious organised and commercial crimes and high-level corruption.

"The police is currently following all possible leads to locate the victim and apprehend the perpetrators," said Hawks spokesman Lt Col Avele Fumba.

Jeremy Hall, the Sullivan family's spokesman, told local newspaper TimesLive that he was at the church with his wife and their children when the incident took place.

"They knew his name," he said.

Mr Sullivan's mother, Tonya Morton Rinker, wrote on Facebook that she was heartbroken over the news.

She added: "Our congressman and American embassy are working on finding him."

No ransom has been requested, according to the privately-owned News24.

Mr Sullivan describes himself as "a church planting missionary" on his personal website.

On it, he says he moved to South Africa with his wife and children in 2018 to establish a church for Xhosa-speaking people.

Over the past decade, there has been 264% increase in kidnappings in South Africa, according to police statistics.

Just a few days ago, a Chinese national was kidnapped in Gqberra.

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The US Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a Maryland man, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador's notorious mega-jail.

The Trump administration had conceded that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported by accident, but appealed against a lower court's order to return him to the US.

On Thursday, in a 9-0 ruling, the Supreme Court declined to block the lower court's order.

The judge's order "requires the Government to 'facilitate' Abrego Garcia's release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent", the justices ruled.

Mr Garcia, now 29, entered the US illegally as a teenager from El Salvador. In 2019 he was arrested with three other men in Maryland and detained by federal immigration authorities.

But an immigration judge granted him protection from deportation on the grounds that he might be at risk of persecution from local gangs in his home country.

He is being held at a maximum security prison in El Salvador known as the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), along with hundreds of other men the US has deported over the last few months over allegations of criminal and gang activity.

His wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, is a US citizen and has called for his release. He was reportedly working as a sheet metal worker when he was detained on 12 March.

On 4 April, Judge Paula Xinis of the Maryland district court had ordered the Trump administration to "facilitate and effectuate" the return of Mr Garcia.

The government has said Mr Garcia was deported on 15 March due to an "administrative error", although they also allege he is a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyer denies.

In its emergency appeal to America's highest court, the Trump administration argued the Maryland judge lacked authority to issue the order and that US officials cannot compel El Salvador to return Mr Garcia.

US Solicitor General D John Sauer wrote in his emergency court filing: "The United States does not control the sovereign nation of El Salvador, nor can it compel El Salvador to follow a federal judge's bidding."

He added: "The Constitution charges the president, not federal district courts, with the conduct of foreign diplomacy and protecting the nation against foreign terrorists, including by effectuating their removal."

On Monday, the Supreme Court put a temporary hold on the lower court's order while they considered the matter.

Teachers in England have said they would be willing to strike over the government's proposed 2.8% pay rise this year.

The offer was rejected by 93.7% of members of the National Education Union (NEU), England's largest teaching union, who took part in an informal ballot.

And 83.4% indicated they would be willing to strike in the vote, which aimed to gauge teachers' mood.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said "any move towards industrial action by teaching unions would be indefensible".

The vote does not mean teachers are about to strike.

They have to support industrial action in a formal ballot before that can happen, and enough of them have to vote.

A vote on the next steps will take place at the annual conference of the NEU in Harrogate next week.

Any formal ballot would be likely to take place in summer.

The government recommended a 2.8% pay rise for millions of public sector workers, including teachers, at the end of last year.

The NEU wants the government to fund the pay rise so that schools do not have to pay for it through existing budgets. At present, the government expects most schools will have to make "efficiencies" to afford the additional cost.

The NEU also says the pay rise needs to be higher to address a "crisis" in recruiting new teachers and keeping them in the profession.

Rachael Fidler, a school and college trust leader at Dixons Academies Trust, told the BBC that offering some flexible working made "life a little easier" for staff, but pay was an important part of attracting graduates.

"What other job can you say you make a massive difference to the world that you live in?" she asked.

"But we have to be realistic. We have to attract a new generation who can be offered flexible working in other sectors, who can be offered well-paid positions."

Rob Owens, a science teacher at Dixons Croxteth Academy, said the remit of his job had widened since he entered the profession 20 years ago.

"There's increasing demands on teachers now, more than there ever has been," he said.

"That is beyond planning and marking. There's now increasing demand on schools to support the most vulnerable students and families."

The results of the NEU's indicative ballot, which ran from 1 March until Friday, showed:

• 93.7% of members rejected the offer
• 83.4% of members would be willing to strike "to secure a fully funded, significantly higher pay award".

A total of 134,487 teachers voted, representing less than half (47.2%) of eligible members.

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said the government "must listen to our profession and change course on teacher pay".

"It must recognise the dire state of school funding and invest in education, to give the next generation the best chance possible in life," he said.

Ms Phillipson said: "With school staff, parents and young people working so hard to turn the tide on school attendance, any move towards industrial action by teaching unions would be indefensible.

"Following a 5.5% pay award in a hugely challenging fiscal context, I would urge NEU to put children first."

NEU members went on strike over pay in the first half of 2023, forcing many schools to close on eight days of action.

It caused disruption for parents who had to take days off work or juggle childcare with working from home.

The NEU called off action after the government revised its 2023 offer to 6.5%.

Teachers were then given a 5.5% rise in 2024.

Ms Phillipson said last summer that she wanted to "reset" her department's relationship with the education workforce.

And the Department for Education says school funding is increasing by £3.2bn in the 2025-26 financial year.

But the teaching unions expressed concern when the government offered a 2.8% pay rise in December.

In a letter to Ms Phillipson, Mr Kebede and the leaders of three other unions said they had been clear that the 5.5% rise "must be only the first in a series of fully funded, above-inflation pay increases".

Jack Worth, an education economist at the National Foundation for Educational Research, told the BBC the 2.8% offer seemed "too much for schools" to cover from their budgets, but also "too little" to make teacher pay competitive in the wider labour market.

Additional reporting by Branwen Jeffreys and Hope Rhodes.