It's the bilateral summit every European leader wants to be at.

And for good reason. On Friday, Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Vladimir Putin in Alaska to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

Territorial concessions will likely be discussed, and Europe (not least Ukraine) doesn't want its borders to be redrawn through force.

But, as things stand, there are no invites for the country being invaded, nor the continent it sits in.

"Brace ourselves for some pretty outrageous Russian demands," warns Lord Simon McDonald, a former head of the UK Foreign Office.

"It will be theatrical," he adds. "Putin is going to ask for things that nobody else would concede - with the possible exception of Donald Trump."

• Trump says he will try to get back territory for Ukraine in talks with Putin

President Zelensky has said he won't agree to the giving up of any land, or even freezing the conflict along the current front lines.

His argument is that it won't slow a Russian war machine that has waged a full-scale war for more than three and a half years. Concessions, he claims, would only speed it up.

"It's clear Putin wants a photo with the most influential people on Earth, which is President Trump, and he wants sanctions to be postponed, which he'll probably get," the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, tells me.

"The question is, what is success for the US in the meeting?" she asks. "If President Zelensky is there, it would be a clear success."

But if Ukraine's leader isn't at the Alaskan table, how might the Kremlin's proposals be challenged?

"He could go," said the US president on that possibility. But Kyiv and Europe want it to go from a "maybe" to a "yes".

Adding to their anxiety is the one-on-one format being a Kremlin idea the White House agreed to.

A European scramble

Brussels' European Quarter isn't its usual flurry of political activity during August, but these US-Russia talks have changed that.

On Monday, Kallas hosted a virtual meeting of foreign ministers where they called for an unconditional ceasefire before any deal. New sanctions for Moscow were announced as well.

I asked Kallas what she thought Donald Trump meant by suggesting some land could be swapped.

"We have to ask President Trump," she says. "But it is clear an aggressor can't be awarded for aggression. Otherwise, we will just see more aggression around the world because it pays off."

Europe is trying to do two things: rally around Ukraine, as well as muscle in on this American-led peace process.

Whether or not Zelensky does make the trip, the door for Europe has firmly remained shut since Trump retook office at the start of the year.

At the time his envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said the bloc wouldn't be involved in any peace talks. It's a position the Europeans have been unable to change through diplomacy.

Their relationship with the US has still improved, not least with significant increases in their defence spending. But Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland's foreign minister, believes they need a more central role.

"This is a matter of existential European security interest," he explains.

"We appreciate Trump's efforts but we'll be taking our own decision in Europe too.

"A simple ceasefire would not resolve the problem."

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has secured a remote sit down between European leaders, as well as Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump, this Wednesday.

They hope to be consulted on America's plan to end Russia's invasion, but ex-UK Foreign Office head Lord McDonald would be surprised to see a last-minute European invite for Friday.

"The end will be as protracted as the war has been long," he warned.

"The meeting is a milestone, but it doesn't actually mean it will lead anywhere."

President Donald Trump has deployed the National Guard to Washington DC and taken control of the city's police force as he pledges to crack down on crime and homelessness in the nation's capital.

Trump declared a "public safety emergency" on Monday, deploying 800 National Guard troops who will bolster hundreds of federal law enforcement officers who were deployed over the weekend.

"It's becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness," he told reporters at the White House.

The city's Mayor Muriel Bowser has rejected the president's claims about crime and while there was a spike in 2023, statistics show it has fallen since then. Violent crime in the city is also at a 30-year low.

"I'm announcing a historic action to rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse," Trump said during a news conference in which he was flanked by US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who will lead the city's police force while it is under federal control.

"This is liberation day in DC, and we're going to take our capital back," he said.

Trump said Washington DC had been "taken over by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals" as well as "drugged out maniacs and homeless people".

According to data from the city's Metropolitan Police Department, homicides dropped by 32 percent between 2023 and 2024 and reached their lowest level since 2019.

There has been another substantial drop this year of 12 percent, the data shows.

Mayor Bowser, a Democrat, acknowledged there had been a "terrible" spike in crime in 2023, which mirrored a national trend, but she pushed back against any claims of a crimewave in the city.

"We are not experiencing a crime spike," she told MSNBC on Sunday. "The president is very aware of our efforts."

When asked about White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller's comment that Washington is more violent than Baghdad, Bowser said "any comparison to a war-torn country is hyperbolic and false".

Of the 800 National Guard troops who will be activated, between 100-200 will be deployed and supporting law enforcement at any given time, the army said in a statement.

As well as that deployment, Trump said he would place the city's police department under direct federal control using the District of Columbia Home Rule Act.

That act was instituted by former President Richard Nixon to allow residents of Washington DC - which is the only US city that is not in any of the 50 states - to elect a city council and a mayor.

But it also has a caveat that allows the president to take control of the city's police force if "special conditions of an emergency nature exist".

If the president intends to take control for longer than 48 hours, they need to provide a written notice to Congress. And even if that notice is provided, they cannot keep control of the police for longer than 30 days.

On Sunday, when asked about the possibility of the president taking control of the city's police department, Mayor Bowser said: "There are very specific things in our law that would allow [that]. None of those conditions exist in our city right now."

She said she was "concerned" about the National Guard enforcing local laws.

The mayor's office has not yet responded to a request for comment from the BBC on Trump's Monday announcement.

As well as crime, Trump also spoke at length about homelessness in Washington DC.

"We're getting rid of the slums," he said, without giving further details. He said homeless people would be sent elsewhere but did not say where.

Trump added that "everything should be perfect" when dignitaries and foreign leaders visit the city.

"It's a very strong reflection of our country," he said. "If our capital is dirty, our whole country is dirty and they don't respect us."

Local groups working with homeless people in the capital told the BBC they had actually seen progress in recent years.

Homelessness is down almost 20% for individuals in Washington DC in 2025 compared to five years ago, said Ralph Boyd, the president and chief executive of So Others Might Eat (SOME) - a group that provides people in the city with housing, clothing and other social services.

He also said Trump's proposal to move people out of the city was not a long-term solution.

"All it will do is transfer the problem somewhere else into communities that are perhaps less equipped to deal with it than we are," Boyd said.

Meanwhile, outside the White House, protesters concerned about Trump's actions gathered and chanted "hands off DC" and "protect home rule".

"Trump does not care about DC's safety, he cares about control," a speaker at the event said.

The president's actions follow a series of social media posts in recent days in which he has criticised the running of Washington DC. Trump has long complained about the city's Democratic leadership for their handling of crime and homelessness.

He has also responded angrily to a former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) who was attacked recently in in the city.

During Monday's press conference, Trump said the employee was "savagely beaten by a band of roaming thugs" and was "left dripping in blood".

He also mentioned other federal government employees and elected officials who have been attacked, including a Democratic lawmaker and an intern.

"This is a threat to America," Trump said.

The first time Trump deployed the National Guard was in June, when he ordered 2,000 National Guardsmen to Los Angeles to deal with unrest over raids on undocumented migrants.

The last time the National Guard was deployed to Washington DC was in response to the Capitol riot in 2021.

An explosion was reported at the US Steel Clairton plant outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Monday, causing multiple injuries and trapping several people, officials say.

Allegheny County Emergency Services spokesperson Kasey Reigner confirmed there were "dozens" of injuries but could not confirm fatalities or a cause, CBS News reported.

Another spokesperson confirmed a rescue operation was underway for people trapped.

Governor Josh Shapiro posted on social media that the state's emergency management services and police had been deployed to the plant.

US Senator John Fetterman wrote on X that he was also at the scene and witnessed "an active search and rescue underway."

KDKA News, a local broadcaster, reported at least one person was unaccounted for.

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

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

Five Al Jazeera journalists were killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza City on Sunday - among them 28-year-old correspondent Anas al-Sharif, who had reported prominently on the war since its outset.

The other four Al Jazeera journalists killed were correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa, Al Jazeera said.

Two others were also killed, the broadcaster said. Hospital officials named Mohammed al-Khaldi, a local freelance journalist, as one of them.

The targeted attack on a tent used by journalists has drawn strong international condemnation including from the UN, Qatar where Al Jazeera is based, and media freedom groups.

Israel says Sharif was "the head of a Hamas terrorist cell" but has produced little evidence to support that. Sharif previously denied it, and Al Jazeera and media rights groups have rejected the allegation.

The BBC understands Sharif worked for a Hamas media team in Gaza before the current conflict.

In some of his social media posts before his death, the journalist can be heard criticising Hamas.

Committee for the Protection of Journalists CEO Jodie Ginsberg told the BBC there was no justification for Sharif's killing.

"International law is very clear on this point that the only individuals who are legitimate targets during a war are active combatants. Having worked as a media advisor for Hamas, or indeed for Hamas currently, does not make you an active combatant", she said.

"And nothing that the Israeli forces has produced so far in terms of evidence gives us any kind of assurance that he was even an active member of Hamas."

The 'only voice' left in Gaza City

Anas al-Sharif became one of Al Jazeera's most prominent reporters in Gaza during the war.

Born in the densely populated Jabalia area in the north of the Strip, he worked for Al Jazeera for about two years, the broadcaster said.

"He worked for the whole length of the war inside Gaza reporting daily on the situation of people and the attacks which are committed in Gaza," Salah Negm, director of news at Al Jazeera English, told the BBC.

Married with a four-year-old daughter, Sham, and a one-year-old son, Salah, he was separated from them for long stretches during the war while he continued to report from the north of the territory after refusing to follow Israeli evacuation orders.

A joint Instagram post on his official account along with his wife's in January this year showed a picture of Sharif smiling with his two children. The caption said it was the first time he was meeting Salah, after 15 months of war.

Sharif appeared frequently in live broadcasts, reporting extensively on the situation in Gaza.

He reported on the targeting of his colleagues, including prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi, who were killed in 2024 in an air strike in Gaza City.

His father had already been killed in December 2023 when the family home was targeted in an Israeli strike. Hours before he himself was killed, he posted about an intense Israeli bombardment of Gaza City.

Mohamed Moawad, Al Jazeera's managing editor, described him as the "only voice left in Gaza City" - which Israel now plans to militarily occupy.

Raed Fakih, input manager at Al Jazeera's Arabic-language channel, told the BBC Sharif was "courageous, dedicated, and honest - that's what made him successful as a journalist with hundreds of thousands of social media followers from all over the world".

Fakih, who is in charge of the channel's bureaux and correspondents, added: "His dedication took him to areas where no other reporter ventured to go, especially those that witnessed the worst massacres. His integrity kept him true to his message as a journalist."

Fakih said he spoke to Sharif many times on the phone throughout the war.

"In our last conversations, he told me about the famine and starvation he was enduring, about how hard it is to survive with so little food," he said.

"He felt he had no choice but to amplify the voice of the Gazans. He was living the same hardships they are living now, suffering from famine, mourning loved ones.

"His father was killed in an Israeli bombing. In that way, he was like all Gazans: carrying loss, pain, and resilience. And even in the face of death, he persisted, because this is a story that must be told."

Mohammed Qreieh, 33, was a father of two from Gaza City, the Associated Press news agency reported. Like Sharif, he was separated from his family for months during the war as he reported from the front lines in northern Gaza, AP added.

Qreieh's last live broadcast was on Sunday evening, minutes before he was targeted, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

Israel alleges Sharif led 'terrorist cell', with little evidence

The Israeli military accused Sharif of posing as a journalist, saying he had "served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas" and was responsible for launching rocket attacks at Israelis - but it has produced little evidence to support these claims.

In a statement, the IDF said it had documents which "unequivocally prove" his "military affiliation" with Hamas, including "personnel rosters, lists of terrorist training courses, phone directories, and salary documents".

It has publicly released some screenshots of spreadsheets apparently listing Hamas operatives from the northern Gaza Strip, noting injuries to Hamas operatives and a section of what is said to be a phone directory for the armed group's East Jabalia battalion.

Israel had previously accused Sharif of being a member of Hamas's military wing - something he and his employer strongly denied.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a media freedom group, said the allegations against him were "baseless" and called on the international community to intervene.

"Without strong action from the international community to stop the Israeli army... we're likely to witness more such extrajudicial murders of media professionals," RSF said.

Nearly 200 journalists have been killed in the war Israel launched in response to Hamas's October 7, 2023 assault, according to RSF.

Fakih from Al Jazeera accused the Israeli military of fabricating stories about journalists before killing them, to "hide what [it] is committing in Gaza". Israel has previously denied targeting journalists.

He described this as a "longstanding pattern" and referred to the Israeli military's killing of veteran Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqla, who was shot in the head during an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank in 2022.

The Israeli military concluded that one of its soldiers probably killed her, but called her death unintentional. Al Jazeera said its evidence showed it was a "deliberate killing".

"Here is a crucial fact: had Israel been held accountable for Shireen's assassination, it would not have dared to kill 200 journalists in Gaza," said Fakih.

Sharif knew he risked being targeted by Israel after its Arabic-language spokesman posted a video of him in July and accused him of being a member of Hamas' military wing.

In a post published on his X account, which was prewritten in the event of his death, Sharif said he "gave every effort and all my strength to be a support and a voice for my people... Do not forget Gaza."

A US judge has ruled grand jury materials in Ghislaine Maxwell's sex-trafficking case will remain sealed, saying that making them public "would not reveal new information of any consequence".

The justice department had asked Judge Paul Engelmayer to unseal the documents, in an effort to assauge anger among President Donald Trump's supporters over the decision not to release all federal files on Maxwell's associate, deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Maxwell, currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for crimes tied to Epstein, opposed unsealing the materials.

The judge wrote it was important to protect the secrecy of grand juries, who decide whether to indict people accused of crimes.

There are special circumstances where that secrecy is broken, Judge Engelmayer wrote in his 31-page decision.

But he wrote that "applying the exception casually or promiscuously, as the government's motion to unseal the summary-witness grand jury testimony here invites" would hurt the grand jury system. It could, he wrote, set a precedent where people do not believe the proceedings will be kept secret, which may discourage witnesses from testifying and jurors from focusing solely on the merits of the case.

He dismissed the government's argument that much of the information given to the grand jury was made public during her trial, although he agreed that "a member of the public familiar with the Maxwell trial record who reviewed the grand jury materials...would thus learn next to nothing new".

The materials "do not identify any person other than Epstein and Maxwell as having had sexual contact with a minor" and "do not discuss or identify any client of Epstein's or Maxwell's," he wrote.

Maxwell, 63, was convicted in December 2019 and was recently moved from a Florida prison to a new minimum-security facility in Texas.

Last week, one of her accusers said outside the court in New York that she should stay in prison for the rest of her life.

The BBC has reached out to Maxwell's lawyers for comment.

Last month, she was interviewed by justice department officials under the Trump administration's directive to gather and release credible evidence relating to the Epstein case.

On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to release what are known as "The Epstein Files". But this summer the justice department and FBI said they had concluded that Epstein did not keep a "client list" and that the justice department would not be making additional files public.

In response to the backlash, Trump said Bondi should release "whatever she thinks is credible". Meanwhile, a congressional committee has sent a subpoena to the justice department related to federal investigations into the allegations against Epstein and Maxwell, which go back 20 years.

The president, who was friends with Epstein, has denied prior knowledge of Epstein's crimes and has said that he and the financier, who died in federal custody while awaiting trial, fell out in the early 2000s.

President Donald Trump has deployed the National Guard to Washington DC and taken control of the city's police force as he pledges to crack down on crime and homelessness in the nation's capital.

Trump declared a "public safety emergency" on Monday, deploying 800 National Guard troops who will bolster hundreds of federal law enforcement officers who were deployed over the weekend.

"It's becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness," he told reporters at the White House.

The city's Mayor Muriel Bowser has rejected the president's claims about crime and while there was a spike in 2023, statistics show it has fallen since then. Violent crime in the city is also at a 30-year low.

"I'm announcing a historic action to rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse," Trump said during a news conference in which he was flanked by US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who will lead the city's police force while it is under federal control.

"This is liberation day in DC, and we're going to take our capital back," he said.

Trump said Washington DC had been "taken over by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals" as well as "drugged out maniacs and homeless people".

According to data from the city's Metropolitan Police Department, homicides dropped by 32 percent between 2023 and 2024 and reached their lowest level since 2019.

There has been another substantial drop this year of 12 percent, the data shows.

Mayor Bowser, a Democrat, acknowledged there had been a "terrible" spike in crime in 2023, which mirrored a national trend, but she pushed back against any claims of a crimewave in the city.

"We are not experiencing a crime spike," she told MSNBC on Sunday. "The president is very aware of our efforts."

When asked about White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller's comment that Washington is more violent than Baghdad, Bowser said "any comparison to a war-torn country is hyperbolic and false".

Of the 800 National Guard troops who will be activated, between 100-200 will be deployed and supporting law enforcement at any given time, the army said in a statement.

As well as that deployment, Trump said he would place the city's police department under direct federal control using the District of Columbia Home Rule Act.

That act was instituted by former President Richard Nixon to allow residents of Washington DC - which is the only US city that is not in any of the 50 states - to elect a city council and a mayor.

But it also has a caveat that allows the president to take control of the city's police force if "special conditions of an emergency nature exist".

If the president intends to take control for longer than 48 hours, they need to provide a written notice to Congress. And even if that notice is provided, they cannot keep control of the police for longer than 30 days.

On Sunday, when asked about the possibility of the president taking control of the city's police department, Mayor Bowser said: "There are very specific things in our law that would allow [that]. None of those conditions exist in our city right now."

She said she was "concerned" about the National Guard enforcing local laws.

The mayor's office has not yet responded to a request for comment from the BBC on Trump's Monday announcement.

As well as crime, Trump also spoke at length about homelessness in Washington DC.

"We're getting rid of the slums," he said, without giving further details. He said homeless people would be sent elsewhere but did not say where.

Trump added that "everything should be perfect" when dignitaries and foreign leaders visit the city.

"It's a very strong reflection of our country," he said. "If our capital is dirty, our whole country is dirty and they don't respect us."

Local groups working with homeless people in the capital told the BBC they had actually seen progress in recent years.

Homelessness is down almost 20% for individuals in Washington DC in 2025 compared to five years ago, said Ralph Boyd, the president and chief executive of So Others Might Eat (SOME) - a group that provides people in the city with housing, clothing and other social services.

He also said Trump's proposal to move people out of the city was not a long-term solution.

"All it will do is transfer the problem somewhere else into communities that are perhaps less equipped to deal with it than we are," Boyd said.

Meanwhile, outside the White House, protesters concerned about Trump's actions gathered and chanted "hands off DC" and "protect home rule".

"Trump does not care about DC's safety, he cares about control," a speaker at the event said.

The president's actions follow a series of social media posts in recent days in which he has criticised the running of Washington DC. Trump has long complained about the city's Democratic leadership for their handling of crime and homelessness.

He has also responded angrily to a former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) who was attacked recently in in the city.

During Monday's press conference, Trump said the employee was "savagely beaten by a band of roaming thugs" and was "left dripping in blood".

He also mentioned other federal government employees and elected officials who have been attacked, including a Democratic lawmaker and an intern.

"This is a threat to America," Trump said.

The first time Trump deployed the National Guard was in June, when he ordered 2,000 National Guardsmen to Los Angeles to deal with unrest over raids on undocumented migrants.

The last time the National Guard was deployed to Washington DC was in response to the Capitol riot in 2021.

US President Donald Trump has said he will try to get some territory back for Ukraine during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

"Russia's occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They occupied prime territory. We're going to try to get some of that territory back for Ukraine," he told a news conference.

Trump said the talks in Alaska would be a "feel-out meeting" aimed at urging Putin to end the war, and that there would be "some swapping, changes in land".

It is not the first time he has used the phrase "land-swapping", though it is unclear what land Russia could cede to Ukraine. Kyiv has never lay claim to any Russian territories.

Trump said he will update European leaders if Putin proposes a "fair deal" during the talks, adding that he would speak to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky first "out of respect".

"I'll call him first... I'll call him after, and I may say, 'lots of luck, keep fighting,' or I may say, 'we can make a deal'", he said.

Trump also said that while he and Zelensky "get along", he "very severely disagrees with what he has done". Trump has previously blamed Zelensky for the war in Ukraine, which was sparked by Russia's full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.

The US president announced the meeting with Putin last Friday - the day of his self-imposed deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire or face more US sanctions.

In response to news of the Alaska summit, Zelensky said any agreements without input from Kyiv would amount to "dead decisions".

Five Al Jazeera journalists were killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza City on Sunday - among them 28-year-old correspondent Anas al-Sharif, who had reported prominently on the war since its outset.

The other four Al Jazeera journalists killed were correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa, Al Jazeera said.

Two others were also killed, the broadcaster said. Hospital officials named Mohammed al-Khaldi, a local freelance journalist, as one of them.

The targeted attack on a tent used by journalists has drawn strong international condemnation including from the UN, Qatar where Al Jazeera is based, and media freedom groups.

Israel says Sharif was "the head of a Hamas terrorist cell" but has produced little evidence to support that. Sharif previously denied it, and Al Jazeera and media rights groups have rejected the allegation.

The BBC understands Sharif worked for a Hamas media team in Gaza before the current conflict.

In some of his social media posts before his death, the journalist can be heard criticising Hamas.

Committee for the Protection of Journalists CEO Jodie Ginsberg told the BBC there was no justification for Sharif's killing.

"International law is very clear on this point that the only individuals who are legitimate targets during a war are active combatants. Having worked as a media advisor for Hamas, or indeed for Hamas currently, does not make you an active combatant", she said.

"And nothing that the Israeli forces has produced so far in terms of evidence gives us any kind of assurance that he was even an active member of Hamas."

The 'only voice' left in Gaza City

Anas al-Sharif became one of Al Jazeera's most prominent reporters in Gaza during the war.

Born in the densely populated Jabalia area in the north of the Strip, he worked for Al Jazeera for about two years, the broadcaster said.

"He worked for the whole length of the war inside Gaza reporting daily on the situation of people and the attacks which are committed in Gaza," Salah Negm, director of news at Al Jazeera English, told the BBC.

Married with a four-year-old daughter, Sham, and a one-year-old son, Salah, he was separated from them for long stretches during the war while he continued to report from the north of the territory after refusing to follow Israeli evacuation orders.

A joint Instagram post on his official account along with his wife's in January this year showed a picture of Sharif smiling with his two children. The caption said it was the first time he was meeting Salah, after 15 months of war.

Sharif appeared frequently in live broadcasts, reporting extensively on the situation in Gaza.

He reported on the targeting of his colleagues, including prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi, who were killed in 2024 in an air strike in Gaza City.

His father had already been killed in December 2023 when the family home was targeted in an Israeli strike. Hours before he himself was killed, he posted about an intense Israeli bombardment of Gaza City.

Mohamed Moawad, Al Jazeera's managing editor, described him as the "only voice left in Gaza City" - which Israel now plans to militarily occupy.

Raed Fakih, input manager at Al Jazeera's Arabic-language channel, told the BBC Sharif was "courageous, dedicated, and honest - that's what made him successful as a journalist with hundreds of thousands of social media followers from all over the world".

Fakih, who is in charge of the channel's bureaux and correspondents, added: "His dedication took him to areas where no other reporter ventured to go, especially those that witnessed the worst massacres. His integrity kept him true to his message as a journalist."

Fakih said he spoke to Sharif many times on the phone throughout the war.

"In our last conversations, he told me about the famine and starvation he was enduring, about how hard it is to survive with so little food," he said.

"He felt he had no choice but to amplify the voice of the Gazans. He was living the same hardships they are living now, suffering from famine, mourning loved ones.

"His father was killed in an Israeli bombing. In that way, he was like all Gazans: carrying loss, pain, and resilience. And even in the face of death, he persisted, because this is a story that must be told."

Mohammed Qreieh, 33, was a father of two from Gaza City, the Associated Press news agency reported. Like Sharif, he was separated from his family for months during the war as he reported from the front lines in northern Gaza, AP added.

Qreieh's last live broadcast was on Sunday evening, minutes before he was targeted, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

Israel alleges Sharif led 'terrorist cell', with little evidence

The Israeli military accused Sharif of posing as a journalist, saying he had "served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas" and was responsible for launching rocket attacks at Israelis - but it has produced little evidence to support these claims.

In a statement, the IDF said it had documents which "unequivocally prove" his "military affiliation" with Hamas, including "personnel rosters, lists of terrorist training courses, phone directories, and salary documents".

It has publicly released some screenshots of spreadsheets apparently listing Hamas operatives from the northern Gaza Strip, noting injuries to Hamas operatives and a section of what is said to be a phone directory for the armed group's East Jabalia battalion.

Israel had previously accused Sharif of being a member of Hamas's military wing - something he and his employer strongly denied.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a media freedom group, said the allegations against him were "baseless" and called on the international community to intervene.

"Without strong action from the international community to stop the Israeli army... we're likely to witness more such extrajudicial murders of media professionals," RSF said.

Nearly 200 journalists have been killed in the war Israel launched in response to Hamas's October 7, 2023 assault, according to RSF.

Fakih from Al Jazeera accused the Israeli military of fabricating stories about journalists before killing them, to "hide what [it] is committing in Gaza". Israel has previously denied targeting journalists.

He described this as a "longstanding pattern" and referred to the Israeli military's killing of veteran Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqla, who was shot in the head during an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank in 2022.

The Israeli military concluded that one of its soldiers probably killed her, but called her death unintentional. Al Jazeera said its evidence showed it was a "deliberate killing".

"Here is a crucial fact: had Israel been held accountable for Shireen's assassination, it would not have dared to kill 200 journalists in Gaza," said Fakih.

Sharif knew he risked being targeted by Israel after its Arabic-language spokesman posted a video of him in July and accused him of being a member of Hamas' military wing.

In a post published on his X account, which was prewritten in the event of his death, Sharif said he "gave every effort and all my strength to be a support and a voice for my people... Do not forget Gaza."

Gladiators star and Olympic sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeetey is the first celebrity contestant to be announced for the Strictly Come Dancing 2025 line-up.

Aikines-Aryeetey, known as Nitro to Gladiators fans, appeared on the BBC's Newsround on Monday to announce he will be joining the dancing show.

"I'm so excited to be part of the Strictly family this series and I'm ready to give it all I've got," he said.

Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One and iPlayer from September through to December.

Aikines-Aryeetey is a former Team GB sprinter and was the first athlete to win gold medals at both 100 and 200 metres at the World Youth Championships.

In 2005, aged 17, he was won the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award.

He has competed at two Olympic Games and is a three-time European champion and two-time Commonwealth champion.

In 2023, he was unveiled as Nitro in Gladiators, and took part in last year's Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special partnered with Nancy Xu.

Aikines-Aryeetey said the Christmas Special "was so nice I just had to do it twice".

On Monday, he appeared live in the Newsround studio disguised as "world-famous choreographer Nicky Trott", there to talk about a scientific study into the benefits of dancing every day.

He then revealed his real identity and told viewers how excited he was to be joining the dancing competition.

"I'll be bringing tons of energy to light up the dance floor," he said. "Let's hope I'm as quick picking up the routines as I am on the track."

The next three celebrity contestants joining the new series of Strictly will be announced on The One Show on Monday evening.

Two new professional dancers are also joining the line-up this year - Alexis Warr, who won US dance series So You Think You Can Dance in 2022, and Australian-born Julian Caillon, who has appeared as a professional dancer on three seasons of Australia's Dancing With The Stars.

The show, which has been airing since 2004, has faced multiple controversies over the past year relating to the behaviour of some of its professional dancers and celebrity guests.

Professional dancers Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima left the show last year following allegations about their behaviour towards their dance partners.

The BBC announced new welfare measures for Strictly last July. These include having chaperones in all rehearsal rooms, adding two new welfare producers and providing additional training for the professional dancers, production team and crew.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have announced they are extending their deal for films and TV shows with Netflix.

This has been described as a "multi-year, first look deal", which would give Netflix a first option on proposals from Prince Harry and Meghan's Archewell production company.

It's a looser arrangement than their previous deal - but it disproves claims that the Sussexes and Netflix are going to completely part company.

Meghan said that she and Harry were inspired by the partnership with Netflix to "create thoughtful content across genres that resonates globally, and celebrates our shared vision".

It's not known how many years the deal is set to last or what financial arrangement is attached. The previous deal, launched in 2020, was believed to be worth about $100m (£75m).

The announcement comes ahead of the second series of the cookery show, With Love, Meghan, being screened later this month.

Audience figures from Netflix showed the first series was not even in the streaming service's top 300 most popular shows in the first half of 2025.

With Love, Meghan, a lifestyle series which showed Meghan cooking with celebrity friends, had 5.3 million views. In comparison, the most-watched programme on Netflix during that time was the drama Adolescence with 145 million views.

A previous Netflix documentary, Harry & Meghan, recounting the couple's departure from their lives as "working royals", had a bigger audience, with 23.4 million views following its launch in December 2022.

Archewell has also announced a special Christmas season edition of With Love, Meghan, which invites viewers to "join Meghan in Montecito for a magical holiday celebration".

With Love, Meghan has been accompanied by a food and drink range, called As Ever, which includes rosé wine and jams.

And there will be a show on Netflix later this year, with Harry and Meghan as producers, called Masaka Kids, A Rhythm Within, about an orphanage in Uganda being a beacon of hope in a situation "where the shadows of the HIV/Aids crisis linger".

Bela Bajaria, Netflix's chief content officer, said: "Harry and Meghan are influential voices whose stories resonate with audiences everywhere.

"The response to their work speaks for itself - Harry & Meghan gave viewers an intimate look into their lives and quickly became one of our most-watched documentary series."

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Stargazers will soon be treated to what could be one of the year's most dazzling displays, with the Perseid meteor shower reaching its peak on Tuesday night.

The shower lights up the skies each summer, and is known for its bright, fast-moving meteors - often dubbed "shooting stars".

However, visibility could be affected by bright moonlight from the recent Sturgeon Moon, making it harder to see the fainter streaks.

The Perseids are visible to the naked eye - but local weather will play a major role, so check your forecast before heading out.

What is the Perseid meteor shower?

Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through trails of dust and debris left behind by comets or asteroids.

The Perseids come from a comet called Swift–Tuttle, which orbits the Sun once every 133 years.

The comet's dust particles enter Earth's atmosphere at speeds of about 37 miles (59 kilometres) per second.

As they do so, they burn up, creating the bright flashes we call meteors.

The Perseids have been observed for nearly 2,000 years, with some of the earliest records from ancient China.

They are named after the constellation Perseus, from which the meteors appear to originate.

How and when can you watch the Perseids?

The peak night for the Perseids in 2025 falls on 12–13 August.

Meteors tend to increase after midnight, with the best viewing just before sunrise, though some may be visible as earlier in the night.

But this year the peak coincides with a bright Sturgeon Moon, which reached its full phase on 9 August and will still be quite luminous during the peak.

"This year's peak unfortunately lines up with a full moon meaning even in dark sky areas it will be impossible to see the full 100 meteors per hour," said Finn Burridge, science communicator at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

"However, [the Sturgeon Moon] is no reason not to go out and enjoy the shower - it is still likely that you will see at least 1 or 2 fireballs per hour, even with a full moon," he added.

For darker skies, consider viewing on nights between 16 and 26 August, though meteor activity will be lower.

"Dates nearer to the shower's peak offer the best chance, but this also coincides with the full moon," said Mr Burridge.

"After the full moon is more likely the better time to view, since the Moon will rise later in the night, so I would recommend the peak nights as well as weekend of 16 and 17 August," he added.

Mr Burridge gave a few tips to "maximise your chances of seeing a shooting star".

• Make sure you can see as much of the sky as possible, with no buildings, trees, or hills blocking your view.

• Lie on your back and look upwards, as meteors can appear anywhere in the sky.

• View from somewhere away from the bright lights of towns or cities - but make sure you have some water, a charged phone, and that you have told someone where you are going.

• Be patient. The more time you spend outside, the more likely you are to see one. It takes at least 20 minutes of dark conditions for your eyes to adapt to the dark.

Will the weather cooperate?

Tuesday will be hot during the day for much of the UK, and overnight temperatures into Wednesday are likely to be above average too.

The current forecast suggests there should be clear skies for large areas of the country, although clouds could build through the night in some places.

Check BBC Weather for the forecast in your area.

Motorists have been warned to be on the alert for scammers posing as car finance lenders offering fake compensation.

The warning from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) comes after the watchdog announced it would set up a compensation scheme for motorists who were sold car finance deals that were unlawful.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled that in many cases, commission paid by lenders to car dealers for organising loans was legal.

But the judgement left the possibility open for other motorists to claim, including those who had been charged overly large commission fees.

In some cases, car dealers were paid higher commissions by lenders for signing motorists up for higher interest loans, a practice that has been banned since 2021.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, the FCA announced it would start consulting on setting up a compensation scheme for eligible motorists, and it expects most eligible people to get less than £950.

The consultation process will take about six weeks, and if the scheme gets approved the FCA expects to start making payments next year.

Following the FCA's compensation announcement, the watchdog said it has received reports of scammers calling people and offering compensation that does not exist in exchange for personal details.

"We're aware of scammers calling people and posing as car finance lenders, offering fake compensation and asking for personal details," said Nisha Arora, director of special projects at the FCA.

"There is no compensation scheme in place yet. If anyone receives a call like this, hang up immediately and do not share any information."

The FCA said it would never ask people for bank account PINs or passwords, and it has urged people to report any scam calls or texts to Ofcom.

A spokesperson for the watchdog said that after receiving early reports from consumers about the targeted scams it issued the warning "to get ahead of it and alert consumers quickly".

The FCA has also previously warned motorists about signing up with claims management companies (CMCs) or firms ahead of any decision on a centralised claims scheme.

In a joint statement with the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the FCA pointed out that motorists could sacrifice up to 30% of any claims award in fees to the CMC or law firm.

The point of a centralised redress scheme would be to make it easy for consumers to get compensation, without the need for help from a CMC or law firm, the FCA said.

The final bill for the redress scheme could be as much as £18bn, with the watchdog estimating millions of people who bought new or used cars potentially dating back as far as 2007 could be eligible to make claims.

The FCA has said lenders, including major banks and specialised motor finance companies, would foot the cost.

US President Donald Trump has said he will try to get some territory back for Ukraine during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

"Russia's occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They occupied prime territory. We're going to try to get some of that territory back for Ukraine," he told a news conference.

Trump said the talks in Alaska would be a "feel-out meeting" aimed at urging Putin to end the war, and that there would be "some swapping, changes in land".

It is not the first time he has used the phrase "land-swapping", though it is unclear what land Russia could cede to Ukraine. Kyiv has never lay claim to any Russian territories.

Trump said he will update European leaders if Putin proposes a "fair deal" during the talks, adding that he would speak to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky first "out of respect".

"I'll call him first... I'll call him after, and I may say, 'lots of luck, keep fighting,' or I may say, 'we can make a deal'", he said.

Trump also said that while he and Zelensky "get along", he "very severely disagrees with what he has done". Trump has previously blamed Zelensky for the war in Ukraine, which was sparked by Russia's full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.

The US president announced the meeting with Putin last Friday - the day of his self-imposed deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire or face more US sanctions.

In response to news of the Alaska summit, Zelensky said any agreements without input from Kyiv would amount to "dead decisions".