Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky has accused Russia of "doing everything it can" to prevent a meeting with Vladimir Putin to try to end the war.

US President Donald Trump has sought to bring the two leaders together, but he said on Friday "that's like oil and vinegar... they don't get along too well".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Putin was ready to meet Ukraine's leader "when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all", accusing Zelensky of saying "no to everything".

After an intensive week of diplomacy, in which Trump first met Putin in Alaska and then Zelensky with European leaders in Washington, the US president said the war was turning out to be the most difficult he had tried to stop.

Trump said after a call with the Russian leader on Monday that he had begun arrangements for a Putin-Zelensky summit that he would join afterwards.

Ukraine's president has backed the move, but he has sought security guarantees from Western allies to prevent any future Russian attack in the event of a peace deal: "Ukraine, unlike Russia, is not afraid of any meetings between leaders."

On a visit to Kyiv, Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said Trump was aiming to "break the deadlock" and the alliance was working on robust security guarantees with the US and Europe to ensure Putin "will never ever try to attack Ukraine again".

• Proposed Ukraine land concessions are Putin trap, warns EU top diplomat
• If a Putin-Zelensky summit takes place, where could it be?

Speaking alongside Rutte, Zelensky said he wanted Ukraine's security guarantees to reflect Nato's Article 5, which considers an attack on one member of the alliance an attack against all Nato members.

"This is the beginning of a big undertaking, and it is not easy, because guarantees consist of what our partners can give Ukraine, as well as what the Ukrainian army should be like, and where we can find opportunities for the army to maintain its strength," Zelensky said.

Rutte said the alliance was working with Ukraine to define the guarantees, explaining that they would focus on making Ukraine's military as strong as possible and involve Western security commitments. It was "too early to exactly say what will be the outcome", he added.

Russia's foreign minister appeared to dent hopes of any potential summit, telling NBC News that "there is no meeting planned".

Sergei Lavrov said Russia had agreed to show flexibility on a number of issues raised by Trump at the US-Russia summit in Alaska last week.

He went on to accuse Ukraine of not showing the same flexibility in subsequent talks in Washington, blaming Ukraine for hindering progress toward a peace deal.

Lavrov said it was "very clear to everybody that there are several principles which Washington believes must be accepted".

He said this included no Nato membership for Ukraine and discussions of territorial issues: "Zelensky said no to everything," Lavrov said.

He was speaking after EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told the BBC that Putin was seeking territorial concessions from Ukraine that were a "trap that Putin wants us to walk into".

"We are forgetting that Russia has not made one single concession and they are the ones who are the aggressor here," Kallas said.

Despite latest efforts to broker a peace deal, Russia launched one of its heaviest attacks on Ukraine in weeks on Thursday, launching 574 drone and 40 missiles in one night.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone blew up an oil pumping station in the Russian region of Bryansk, halting oil deliveries along the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia - the third attack on the pipeline in nine days.

Hungary and Slovakia are largely dependent on the Druzbha pipeline for their oil supplies, and Budapest says it could take at least five days before operations resume. The two EU member states have complained to the European Commission.

The European Union sought to cut Russia's energy supplies after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and aims to phase out Russian oil and gas by the end of 2027.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote to President Trump to complain about the attack on the pipeline, and his officials posted Trump's handwritten response.

"Viktor - I do not like hearing this - I am very angry about it. Tell Slovakia."

"You are my great friend," he added.

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday that his country will drop some of its billions of dollars in retaliatory tariffs on US goods, though it will keep levies on autos, steel and aluminium.

It comes a day after he and President Donald Trump spoke over the phone for the first time since the two countries missed a self-imposed deadline to reach a trade agreement.

Canada had placed a 25% levy on about C$30bn (£16bn; $21.7bn) worth of US goods on an array of products, including orange juice and washing machines.

The tax hike was in retaliation to the US tariffs on Canada, which as of August are valued at 35% on all goods not compliant with the countries' existing free trade deal.

Carney said Canada will now match the US by ending its tariffs on goods compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement (USMCA). He said that would "re-establish free trade for the vast majority" of goods that move between the two countries.

The decision will go into effect on 1 September, Carney said.

In a statement to the BBC's US news partner CBS, the White House said it welcomes Canada's move, adding that it is "long overdue" and the US looks forward to continuing discussions with its northern neighbour about trade and national security.

Canada is one of many countries tariffed by the US as part of Trump's global trade strategy, but it is one of only two countries - along with China - that have placed retaliatory levies on American goods in response.

Polling shows the majority of Canadians support retaliatory tariffs on the US.

Carney, who was elected in an April general election, campaigned on an aggressive "elbows up" approach to negotiating with Trump, referencing a popular ice hockey term.

Asked by reporters about whether Canada was softening its approach, Carney argued it has a better tariff deal with the US than many other countries because of the free trade carve-out.

That puts the actual tariff rate on Canadian goods at about 5.6%, much lower than the average of around 16% for other countries, he said.

"As we work to address outstanding trade issues with the US, it's important we do everything we can to preserve this unique advantage for Canadian workers and businesses," he said.

The focus for Canada, Carney said, will now be on accelerating negotiations autos, steel, aluminium and lumber, and other significant sectors ahead of a scheduled review of the USMCA free trade agreement next year.

The US has placed a 50% tariff on all steel and aluminium imports, except for those from the UK, as well as copper imports. It has also imposed a 25% on aluminium imports.

Canada, for its part, has placed 25% tariffs on American steel, aluminium and autos. Those will remain in place for now, Carney said.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has launched a global trade war, imposing tariffs or raising them on goods from around the world, and threatening to go higher as he works to negotiate trade deals he sees as favourable to the US.

Famine is taking place in Gaza - just a short drive away from hundreds of trucks of aid sitting idly outside its borders.

How did we get here?

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), backed by the United Nations, is the world's leading hunger monitor.

Its assessment that half a million people – a quarter of Palestinians in Gaza – are suffering from famine is shocking for many reasons.

Primary among them is the report's acknowledgement that this situation is "entirely man-made", with aid organisations today accusing Israel of the "systematic obstruction" of food entering the Gaza Strip.

• 'My youngest child doesn't know what fruit tastes like': Gaza residents on famine

The IPC report says that it has found that people living in the Gaza City area are experiencing famine conditions of "starvation, destitution, and death".

It also finds that starvation is spreading rapidly – with famine expected to be in much of the rest of Gaza in September, on current trends.

The report has reached its conclusion via three key indicators:

• Starvation: At least 1 in 5 households face an extreme shortage in their consumption of food
• Malnutrition: Roughly 1 in 3 children or more are acutely malnourished
• Mortality: At least 2 in every 10,000 people are dying daily because of outright starvation or the combination of malnutrition and disease

When two of these three "thresholds" are met, the IPC recognises that famine is taking place.

The IPC says the "mortality" indicator is not showing in the available data because of a breakdown of monitoring systems. It believes most non-traumatic deaths are not being recorded.

Based on the evidence that does exist, and expert judgement, the IPC has concluded that the "mortality" threshold for famine has been met.

The report was published as Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry recorded two new deaths from malnutrition, bringing the total number to 273 deaths, including 112 children.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly denied starvation is taking place in Gaza and has said that where there is hunger, it is the fault of aid agencies and Hamas.

Israel has accused international aid agencies like the UN of not picking up aid waiting at Gaza's border, pointing to the hundreds of trucks sitting idle.

'Entirely man-made'

After weeks of the world seeing images of starving children, with distended stomachs and protruding bones, many will feel like the signs that a famine was imminent were a long time coming.

The ability of Palestinians to access food has been complicated throughout the nearly two-year war in Gaza.

Israel has long placed restrictions on goods entering Gaza, those restrictions increased after the beginning of the war on 7 October 2023, triggered by the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel.

However, since March 2025, the situation has deteriorated rapidly after Israel introduced a nearly three-month total blockade on goods entering Gaza.

Under significant international pressure, Israel began allowing a limited amount of goods back into Gaza in late-May.

It also introduced a new system of food distribution operated by a controversial American group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to replace the previous UN-led system of food distribution.

The GHF has four food distribution sites in militarised zones that Palestinians must walk long distances at risk, replacing the 400 distribution points in the community under the UN's system.

Finding food has become a deadly endeavour for Palestinians and they have regularly told us that they have to choose between starvation and death, referring to the near-daily shootings of people trying to get aid at GHF distribution sites.

The United Nations has recorded the killing of at least 994 Palestinians in the vicinity of GHF sites, since late May, some of the 1,760 killed trying to access aid.

The UN says the majority killed were shot by Israeli troops, something corroborated by eye-witnesses we have spoken to and medics in Gaza. Israel has repeatedly rejected the allegations.

Under this system, overseen by Israel, starvation in Gaza has expanded.

As pressure continued to grow on Israel to allow more food in, in late July it began allowing more trucks of aid into Gaza each day and introducing "tactical pauses" in fighting to allow more aid convoys to move through the territory.

More aid has entered in recent weeks and the astronomical prices of some goods in the markets reduced somewhat – though for many Palestinians, prohibitively expensive. At times the price of flour reached above $85 for a kilo, though that figure began to reduce.

The UN and aid organisations say that despite Israel loosening some of its restrictions on food getting into the Gaza Strip, it still places significant impediments and obstructions in being able to collect and distribute aid.

The organisations say what's needed is 600 trucks a day bringing goods into Gaza for people to meet their basic needs – currently no more than half of that is being allowed in.

Israel also began allowing airdrops of aid, something criticised as inefficient, dangerous, and ultimately a distraction by humanitarian organisations.

Israel's accusation that Hamas is responsible for the hunger crisis has also been criticised. Multiple reports, including an internal US government report, found there is no evidence of systematic diversion of aid by Hamas.

There is indeed widespread looting of trucks entering Gaza – but aid agencies say most of the looting is by crowds of desperate Palestinians and some organised groups trying to make a resale profit.

Ultimately, aid agencies have been repeating for months that in order to avert starvation and famine, Gaza needs to be flooded with aid entering by road and currently Israel still imposes restrictions.

Israel's response

A number of Israeli government officials have today rejected the IPC's report.

Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has accused the IPC of publishing a "tailor-made fabricated report to fit Hamas's fake campaign".

The Israeli army body called Cogat (the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories), which is responsible for managing crossing into Gaza, called the IPC report a "False and Biased Report, Based on Partial Data Originating From the Hamas Terrorist Organization".

Among other criticisms, Israel says that the IPC "changed its own global standard", halving a threshold of those facing famine from 30% to 15% as well as "totally ignoring its second criterion of death rate".

The IPC rejected the accusations and said that it has used long-established standards that have been used previously in similar situations.

Israel's accusation that the IPC has used "Hamas data" appears to reference that some of the reporting about malnutrition in Gaza comes from the Hamas-run Ministry of Health there.

However, the ministry's data on deaths and injuries has widely been seen as reliable throughout the war.

Responses to the report from UN agencies and international leaders has been strong.

The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that Israel, as the occupying power, "has unequivocal obligations under international law – including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population. We cannot allow this situation to continue with impunity".

The UN's humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, said the famine was the direct result of Israel's "systematic obstruction" of aid entering Gaza.

Meanwhile the UK's Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: "The Israeli government's refusal to allow sufficient aid into Gaza has caused this man-made catastrophe. This is a moral outrage."

On Friday, the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said it was "a war crime to use starvation as a method of warfare, and the resulting deaths may also amount to the war crime of wilful killing".

Gaza City Invasion

Israel has this week authorised the call-up of tens of thousands of reservist troops to conduct its controversial invasion and occupation of Gaza City, the area where the IPC has declared famine is taking place.

Netanyahu says a takeover is the best option to defeat Hamas, end the war and to return the Israeli hostages from Gaza.

The invasion would forcibly displace an estimated one million Palestinians living in Gaza City and the areas around it. Israel has already told medics and aid agencies to make preparations to make plans to evacuate the area.

A joint statement from a number of UN organisations including Unicef, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization expressed alarm about the planned offensive, saying "it would have further devastating consequences for civilians where famine conditions already exist.

"Many people – especially sick and malnourished children, older people and people with disabilities – may be unable to evacuate."

Serena Williams, one of the most successful athletes of all time, has spoken out about using weight loss drugs - she says, to lift the "stigma" around using such medication.

Will her outspoken comments instil a new sense of confidence in those using the drugs? And could her honesty quieten the critics?

The 43-year-old tennis star, who broke records and won 23 grand slam titles through her career, was the embodiment of fitness and athletic prowess. But, after having kids, even she, like so many of us, has admitted to struggling to shift those extra pounds.

In the end, Williams told the Today Show in the US, that she had to look at her extra weight as "an opponent". Despite "training five hours a day" and "running, walking, biking, stair climbing," she couldn't pulverise this adversary like she did to her opponents on the tennis court - so in the end, she says, she had no other choice but to "try something different".

Many of her friends were using GLP-1 - the group of medications which help with weight loss, so she decided to try it.

Williams is adamant that the medication route - she won't say which brand she is taking - wasn't easy, and certainly not a shortcut to her losing 31lb (14kg) over the past eight months.

There is scepticism about the timing of the tennis star's recent transparency - she has just become a spokesperson for Ro, a company which sells GLP-1 brands like Wegovy and Zepbound (known as Mounjaro in the UK) through its weight-loss programme, and her husband is also an investor.

Despite this and the potential side effects of taking the medication, her honesty will hit a nerve for many - she says she is speaking out to take away the shame that so many women feel when it comes to using drugs to help them lose weight.

Caleb Luna, assistant professor of feminist studies at the University of California, says having someone like Serena Williams speaking out is "a breakthrough".

They say it helps silence the critics of how "weight loss is achieved" who say that "people are taking the easy way out" by using weight loss drugs.

"It gets rid of the stereotype that these drugs are for fat people who are being lazy and incompetent.

"In that respect it's maybe a good thing."

But Caleb also says the revelation about her need to resort to using GLP-1 medication is slightly "terrifying" and makes them feel "a little bit sad". They worry that all it does is belittle hard work and dedication, instead, focussing on appearance and the pressure to look a certain way.

"She has achieved things that so few people, in our time and throughout history have achieved.

"But now it just shows how all those accomplishments can be undermined by body size.

"Scarily, weight loss seems to outshine all those record-breaking achievements."

'Healthy weight'

Williams' weight and her looks have been scrutinised throughout her life. The burden, the pressure to fit in with society's expectations does not diminish no matter how much sporting success an athlete has in their career.

And while she may be the most high profile sports star who openly uses weight loss medication, there are many others in the public eye who have spoken out.

Oprah Winfrey says she uses GLP-1 as a tool, along with exercise and healthy eating, to stop herself "yo-yoing" with her weight.

Actress Whoopi Goldberg says she lost the weight of "two people" after taking the drug, and singer Kelly Clarkson, who says she was "chased" by her "doctor for two years" before she agreed to take it, are among the dozens of stars who have been open about taking the medication.

Williams left the world of tennis behind back in 2022, when she played the final match of her career in the US Open, but she is still a powerhouse of strength and has wanted to reach what she describes as her "healthy weight" since the birth of her second child, Adina.

In her interview with the Today Show, says she felt like her "body was missing something" and she wasn't able to get down to what she felt comfortable with - despite intense training.

Dr Claire Madigan, a senior research associate in behavioural medicine at the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University, says elite athletes can find it hard to lose weight.

"They are used to consuming a lot of calories and when they leave the sport they can find it difficult - it needs a change in behaviour."

Dr Madigan said it was good to see that Williams mentioned her weight loss was not just down to the drug - "she did have to focus on the diet and physical activity".

She added: "It's great she is talking about how difficult it is to lose weight after having a baby."

But she wonders if Williams's message might be lost and even demotivate some women. "The drugs are quite expensive and the average person may think here is an elite athlete, she's got access to the gym, she's got time, she has a nutritionist… and she's had to use GLP-1s".

Dr Madigan also expressed concern that the potential side effects of taking the drugs - which can include gastrointestinal problems like vomiting and diarrhoea, and in rare cases, gallbladder and kidney problems - may not have been widely discussed in the publicity surrounding Williams' announcement.

Williams says she did not experience any side effects, and told Women's Health magazine that she is finally seeing the benefits of all her hard work at the gym.

"My joints are a lot better," she says, "I just had my check-up, and the doctor said everything - including my blood sugar levels - looked great."

And, even though, she's no longer breaking new ground on the tennis courts, she is still smashing her own records, with the help, she says of weight loss drugs. She's currently training for a half marathon.

"I am running farther than I ever have," she says proudly.

Additional reporting by Alex Kleiderman

FBI agents searched the home and office of Donald Trump's ex-national security adviser John Bolton on Friday, as part of an apparent investigation into the handling of classified information.

The high-profile Republican aide has been a vocal critic of Trump since quitting his first administration in 2019, and was previously accused by the White House of misusing classified information in his 2020 account of working with the president.

The FBI has not commented in detail but sources familiar with the search told CBS News it was related in part to classified documents.

Bolton - who is yet to comment on the investigation - has not been detained and no criminal charges have been filed.

Asked by reporters what the investigation was about, Trump said he did not "want to get involved" in the matter, but referred to Bolton as a "sleazebag". The president said he had not directly ordered the searches.

In an interview with NBC News, Vice President JD Vance said classified documents are "certainly part of [the investigation]" and also alluded to "broad concern" about Bolton, without offering further detail.

He said the FBI would only bring a case against Bolton if "they determine that he has broken the law" and said the investigation was not politically motivated, as Democratic politicians have claimed.

Police vehicles and FBI personnel were seen at Bolton's home in the Washington DC suburb of Bethesda, Maryland on Friday morning, some of whom were seen taking boxes inside the property.

In a statement sent to CBS, the FBI said it was conducting "authorised activity in the area".

FBI agents were also seen at Bolton's office in Washington DC.

Bolton returned to his Maryland home on Friday afternoon but did not speak to reporters outside.

In 2020, Bolton authored The Room Where it Happened, a memoir recounting his time working in the first Trump administration between 2018 and 2019, which was fiercely critical of the president.

In it, he wrote that "a mountain of facts demonstrates that Trump is unfit to be president".

The justice department accused Bolton of a "flagrant breach" of an agreement to not disclose classified matters, but the lawsuit was dropped in June 2021, by which time Joe Biden was president.

Around the time the searches began, FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X "no one is above the law". The post did not refer to Bolton specifically.

Attorney General Pam Bondi shared the post and added: "America's safety isn't negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always."

Bolton - who served as George W Bush's UN ambassador - had his Secret Service protection stripped by the Trump administration in January, along with several other former officials who have clashed with the president.

Bolton has also publicly questioned the administration's handling of the war between Ukraine and Russia.

Trump has been highly critical of Bolton in public, accusing him of pushing for US military intervention overseas during his time as national security adviser.

Other Trump adversaries - including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Democratic California Senator Adam Schiff - have also been subjected to investigations since he returned to office.

Gaza City and its surrounding area is now experiencing famine, a UN-backed body of food security experts has confirmed.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which is used by governments and international bodies to identify hunger levels around the world, has raised its classification to Phase 5 - the highest and most severe.

It says that over half a million people across the Gaza Strip are facing "catastrophic" conditions characterised by "starvation, destitution and death".

Israel said the IPC report was based on "Hamas lies". It continues to restrict the amount of aid entering Gaza and has previously denied there is starvation in the territory.

This denial is in direct contradiction to what more than 100 humanitarian groups, witnesses on the ground, and multiple UN bodies have said.

The IPC report describes the famine as "entirely man-made" and says that an "immediate, at-scale response" is needed or there will be an "unacceptable escalation" in famine-related deaths.

It predicts that between mid-August and the end of September, famine will expand across the strip to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.

During this period, almost a third of the population - nearly 641,000 people - are expected to face "catastrophic conditions" in IPC Phase 5, while the number of people to face "emergency" conditions in IPC Phase 4 will likely increase to 1.14 million - or 58% of the population.

The report also projects that up to June 2026, malnutrition will "threaten" the lives of 132,000 children aged under five.

Since the start of the war, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry has reported that 271 people have died of "famine and malnutrition" - including 112 children.

The IPC cannot officially declare famine - that is usually done by governments or the United Nations.

In response to the report, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said the famine was entirely preventable, saying food could not get through to the Palestinian territory "because of systematic obstruction by Israel".

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said: "Just when it seems there are no words left to describe the living hell in Gaza, a new one has been added: 'famine'."

He described it as "not a mystery," but rather "a man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself".

He added that Israel has "unequivocal obligations under international law - including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population".

Phillipe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), said: "This is starvation by design & man-made by the Government of Israel".

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk described the famine as "the direct result of actions taken by the Israeli Government", which has "unlawfully restricted" the entry of aid.

In recent months, Israel has come under widespread international condemnation for the aid situation in the Gaza Strip.

Last month, after weeks of mounting pressure, the Israeli military said it had airdropped humanitarian aid into Gaza - a move that was criticised at the time by aid agencies as a "grotesque distraction".

Other aid drops have since taken place - but warnings have been issued about their safety, with reports that civilians were hit and killed by the falling pallets.

Earlier this week, BBC Verify found 10 separate occasions where aid was dropped into an area that the Israeli military has explicitly warned people not to enter.

In addition to airdrops, Israel said it would designate humanitarian corridors for UN convoys. However, on Tuesday the UN warned that the "trickle of aid" entering Gaza was insufficient to "avert widespread starvation".

Cogat, the Israeli military body in charge of aid, says roughly 300 aid trucks are entering daily, but the UN says 600 trucks of supplies a day are needed.

The IPC report comes as Israel prepares to launch a new military offensive aimed at occupying Gaza City.

Israel's military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 62,122 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza's population has also been displaced multiple times; more than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; and the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed.

Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky has accused Russia of "doing everything it can" to prevent a meeting with Vladimir Putin to try to end the war.

US President Donald Trump has sought to bring the two leaders together, but he said on Friday "that's like oil and vinegar... they don't get along too well".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Putin was ready to meet Ukraine's leader "when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all", accusing Zelensky of saying "no to everything".

After an intensive week of diplomacy, in which Trump first met Putin in Alaska and then Zelensky with European leaders in Washington, the US president said the war was turning out to be the most difficult he had tried to stop.

Trump said after a call with the Russian leader on Monday that he had begun arrangements for a Putin-Zelensky summit that he would join afterwards.

Ukraine's president has backed the move, but he has sought security guarantees from Western allies to prevent any future Russian attack in the event of a peace deal: "Ukraine, unlike Russia, is not afraid of any meetings between leaders."

On a visit to Kyiv, Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said Trump was aiming to "break the deadlock" and the alliance was working on robust security guarantees with the US and Europe to ensure Putin "will never ever try to attack Ukraine again".

• Proposed Ukraine land concessions are Putin trap, warns EU top diplomat
• If a Putin-Zelensky summit takes place, where could it be?

Speaking alongside Rutte, Zelensky said he wanted Ukraine's security guarantees to reflect Nato's Article 5, which considers an attack on one member of the alliance an attack against all Nato members.

"This is the beginning of a big undertaking, and it is not easy, because guarantees consist of what our partners can give Ukraine, as well as what the Ukrainian army should be like, and where we can find opportunities for the army to maintain its strength," Zelensky said.

Rutte said the alliance was working with Ukraine to define the guarantees, explaining that they would focus on making Ukraine's military as strong as possible and involve Western security commitments. It was "too early to exactly say what will be the outcome", he added.

Russia's foreign minister appeared to dent hopes of any potential summit, telling NBC News that "there is no meeting planned".

Sergei Lavrov said Russia had agreed to show flexibility on a number of issues raised by Trump at the US-Russia summit in Alaska last week.

He went on to accuse Ukraine of not showing the same flexibility in subsequent talks in Washington, blaming Ukraine for hindering progress toward a peace deal.

Lavrov said it was "very clear to everybody that there are several principles which Washington believes must be accepted".

He said this included no Nato membership for Ukraine and discussions of territorial issues: "Zelensky said no to everything," Lavrov said.

He was speaking after EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told the BBC that Putin was seeking territorial concessions from Ukraine that were a "trap that Putin wants us to walk into".

"We are forgetting that Russia has not made one single concession and they are the ones who are the aggressor here," Kallas said.

Despite latest efforts to broker a peace deal, Russia launched one of its heaviest attacks on Ukraine in weeks on Thursday, launching 574 drone and 40 missiles in one night.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone blew up an oil pumping station in the Russian region of Bryansk, halting oil deliveries along the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia - the third attack on the pipeline in nine days.

Hungary and Slovakia are largely dependent on the Druzbha pipeline for their oil supplies, and Budapest says it could take at least five days before operations resume. The two EU member states have complained to the European Commission.

The European Union sought to cut Russia's energy supplies after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and aims to phase out Russian oil and gas by the end of 2027.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote to President Trump to complain about the attack on the pipeline, and his officials posted Trump's handwritten response.

"Viktor - I do not like hearing this - I am very angry about it. Tell Slovakia."

"You are my great friend," he added.

Postal services around the world are pausing deliveries to the US over confusion around new import taxes that must be paid on parcels from the end of the month.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month ending the global import tax exemption on low-value parcels, which takes effect from 29 August.

While gifts worth less than $100 will remain duty-free, the changes mean all other packages will face the same tariff rate as other goods from their country of origin.

Postal services, including Royal Mail and Germany's DHL, said they would suspend deliveries until they had proper systems in place to deal with the new rules.

Royal Mail said it was withdrawing its current US export services, but added it hoped to have a new system up and running within two days to allow it to comply with the new rules before the new rules kick in.

"Royal Mail is working closely with the US authorities and international partners to manage the impact of these changes which will affect everyone who sends goods to the USA," the company said.

The US had a so-called de minimis exemption on packages worth up to $800, which allowed consumers to buy cheap clothing and household goods from sites such as Shein and Temu without paying import duties.

But the duty-free rule ended on Chinese goods ended on 2 May, and is now being extended to the rest of the word.

The White House said ending the duty-free exemption would combat "escalating deceptive shipping practices, illegal material, and duty circumvention", claiming some shippers had "abused" the exemption to send illicit drugs into the US.

The Trump administration said de minimis shipments had skyrocketed from 115 million in the 2023/24 financial year, to 309 million by 30 June this year.

Deutsche Post and DHL Parcel Germany said it was temporarily suspending parcel delivery for business customers to the US from Saturday, as "key questions remain unresolved" about how duties would be paid, and by whom.

DHL sad it was "closely monitoring the further developments" and remained in contact with US authorities, and said shipping via its DHL Express services "remains possible".

"The company's goal is to resume postal goods shipping to the US as quickly as possible," it said.

Earlier this week PostNord announced it was also suspending services as the US authorities only provided details about the required changes on 15 August.

"This decision is unfortunate but necessary to ensure full compliance of the newly implemented rules," said Bjorn Bergman, PostNord's head of group brand and communication.

In Trump's "big beautiful bill", passed by Congress on 3 July, the change to de minimis was due to come into effect on 1 July 2027, but a recent executive order sped up the process by two years.

The new rule does not affect personal items Americans carry with them from foreign travel valued at $200 or less and it does not affect gifts valued at $100 or less.

Girls are more likely to pass their GCSEs than boys.

This year, like every year, that remained the case - with 70.5% of girls' grades across England, Wales and Northern Ireland at 4/C or above, compared to 64.3% of boys'.

But this year the girls' pass rate dropped, while boys' rose very slightly.

The result? The gap between the two was its narrowest on record.

Meanwhile, boys have taken the lead in getting top marks at A-level.

It's prompted warnings that there's something odd happening with girls, which needs to be addressed before their grades slip further and it's "too late".

There has been a lot of focus on boys' attainment recently. The Netflix series Adolescence sparked renewed interest in their academic struggles and fears they are "being left behind".

MPs have honed it on it, and the Department for Education (DfE) in England says it wants to ensure that "white working-class pupils - especially boys - are supported to thrive".

Natalie Perera, chief executive of the Education Policy Institute (EPI) think tank, said: "It doesn't need to be an either or with girls and boys, we should be looking at what's driving low attainment for both."

But she added: "But we do need to start looking at what's driving the decline in girls attainment before it gets too late."

EPI analysis suggests girls' performance has been "declining in absolute terms" since the Covid pandemic, and is linked to "worrying trends around girls' wellbeing" such as worsening mental health, a lack of sleep and social media use.

EPI points to NHS data from 2023, which suggests a higher percentage of girls and women aged between 17 and 19 in England had a "probable" mental health disorder, compared to boys and men.

"You can draw a reasonable hypothesis, which suggests that if girls aren't getting enough sleep, if they're experiencing that their anxiety or even things like eating disorders, that is likely to affect their attendance, how well they're able to concentrate in school and how well they're able to concentrate and perform on exam day," said Ms Perera.

"If their attainment continues to decline and that follows through to A-levels and participation in university, then that could have an effect on both labour market participation and pay disparity as well, or pay equality."

The proportion of pupils who are persistently absent from school in England (missing 10% or more) has grown for both boys and girls since the pandemic - but there's been a greater rise among girls.

Girls are now more likely to be persistently absent. According to DfE figures 21.9% of girls were persistently absent from secondary schools last year, compared to 20.3% of boys.

An international study in March suggested that girls lagged further behind boys in maths and science than they had in 2020.

Dr Jennie Golding, UCL professor and co-author of the report, said the improvement in boys' GCSE results this year could be seen as a "good news story", particularly as these students were "significantly impacted by Covid, and had a rubbish experience of transfer to secondary school".

But she said challenges that many students face, such as social media use, disproportionately affected girls.

"We know that all sorts of aspects of emotional wellbeing impact academic performance - they are all interrelated," she said.

She called for greater emphasis on "belonging and emotional security" to help girls in schools.

"Start measuring those in your Ofsted inspections, and you very quickly turn around priorities in schools," she said.

Girlguiding, which works with more than 300,000 girls between the ages of four and 18, is especially worried about the impact of misogyny on girls.

"Mounting societal pressures and misogyny are having a devastating impact on girls, their mental wellbeing and confidence," said acting chief executive Amanda Azeez.

"Girls as young as seven say they feel lonely with no one to talk to which is also adversely impacting their confidence. Girlguiding is urging schools to listen to girls about their experiences of misogyny and how it impacts their learning and wellbeing."

Girls are also more likely to get top grades (7/A and above) at GCSE than boys. That gap reached its widest in 2021, the second year that exams were cancelled and grades were based on teachers' assessments. It has shrunk since.

In 2021, England's exams regulator Ofqual looked into whether there was evidence of "systematic divergence between teacher-based results and test-based results". It found gender bias was "mixed" but there was "a slightly bias in favour of girls".

Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College leaders and former head teachers, said more research was needed into why girls were falling behind.

He hoped the curriculum review, due this autumn, would "look at how best we can move assessment methods forward so that every student has the ability and the opportunity to be assessed in a way that enables them to best show all their greatest attributes".

The UK government has agreed to pay compensation to thousands of Kenyans who were affected by a fire caused by a British military training exercise four years ago.

The out-of-court settlement follows a lengthy legal battle in which 7,723 claimants said they had lost property and suffered health complications because of the 2021 fire in the Lolldaiga conservancy in Kenya's Rift Valley.

A spokesperson from the British High Commission in Nairobi said the fire was "extremely regrettable" and that the UK had devoted "considerable time, effort and resource" to resolve claims.

The British government has not confirmed how much was paid out, but the lawyer in the case told the BBC it was £2.9 million.

Kevin Kubai called it the "best possible outcome" despite complaints from his clients that the sums they received were much too small to compensate their losses.

He said the alternative "would have been to continue litigation for another period of nearly seven years to be able to prove these cases on a case-by-case analysis", which would be difficult because much of the evidence had been lost after four years.

Mr Kubai acknowledged that his clients did not have medical records backing up their claims of health damage due to smoke inhalation from the Lolldaiga fire, and that they were also exposed to smoke because they used firewood for cooking.

The UK Ministry of Defence said in 2022 that the fire was likely caused by a camp stove knocked over during the training exercise in the conservancy. It found that around 7,000 acres of private land were damaged, but no community land was directly affected.

The legal action argued there had been environmental damage in surrounding communities because of the smoke, and the destruction of property because of stampeding wild animals.

The British government has helped the conservancy with restoration of the burnt area and the military exercises still take place there.

The Lolldaiga conservancy - about 49,000 acres of hilly bushland with a backdrop of the ice-capped Mount Kenya - is part of the Laikipia plateau, where hundreds of thousands of acres were seized by the British during the colonial era, leading to land disputes which continue to this day.

It is just 70km (45 miles) from the Lewa conservancy, where the Prince of Wales proposed to Kate Middleton in November 2010.

A few kilometres to the south are the newly-refurbished Nyati Barracks, a £70 million facility which is part of the British Army Training Unit Kenya (Batuk).

It hosts thousands of British troops every year for massive exercises in locations such as Lolldaiga, which offers ideal conditions for harsh environment training.

BATUK contributes tens of millions of pounds to the Kenyan economy annually.

But over the years controversy surrounding the behaviour of some of the soldiers has attracted media attention, including allegations of fatal hit-and-runs, murder and sexual exploitation of Kenyan women.

Pathrycia Mendonça never has to worry about jet lag.

The 26-year-old has just jetted into London, where she's about to play 10 nights at Wembley Stadium with Coldplay as part of Venezuela's Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra.

The flight took 12 hours and meant leaving her beloved 10-month-old daughter at home with her mother – but the violinist is bursting with energy as she arrives for rehearsals at the iconic Air Studios in north London.

That's probably because, as a 12-year-old student in Venezuela, she endured long, overnight bus journeys just to attend her lessons in Caracas.

"I am from Barquisimeto, which is a small town, and it is eight hours on the bus, because it's so slow," she explains.

"So when I started my classes, I would leave Barquisimeto at midnight to arrive in Caracas at dawn.

"I'd go to my classes then, at midday, I'd go back to my city with my mum. She was always with me, because I was a child. And I'd do it every week.

"For me, that was the key to being part of the orchestra here, now."

In other words, sleep deprivation means nothing to her.

Speaking to Mendonça, you'd be forgiven for feeling inadequate. As well as her position in the world-famous orchestra, she is also a violin teacher, a mother and a chef, and recently completed a Master's degree in music.

But she wouldn't be anywhere else in the world for the next three weeks.

"I don't know if I can say this, but I'm a crazy fan of Coldplay, so when they said, 'Do you want to come and play?' I was like, 'No way!'" she laughs, sheepishly.

"When I listen to the band in my house, I always dreamt about playing Viva La Vida. It's so iconic, and it has strings all the way through. So this is a dream that came true. Totally a dream."

Like her fellow players in the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Mendonça is a beneficiary of Venezuela's El Sistema programme, which offers free music education throughout the country.

It was established in 1975 by visionary musician José Antonio Abreu, who saw it as an antidote to the crime and poverty that gripped the nation.

Those problems persist despite the country's vast oil wealth – but El Sistema ("the system") has earned Venezuela's musicians a place on the world stage.

To the players, it's about more than learning an instrument.

"El Sistema teaches you about the discipline of the community," says Humberto Jiminez, a violinist who also made weekly six-hour journeys to Caracas for his studies.

"You have to learn when to be part of the team, and when to be a leader – and how to integrate all those differences into one intention."

"It gave me everything," adds Mendonça. "My whole life, I think. It gives me motivation."

El Sistema's most famous graduate is Gustavo Dudamel, a seven-time Grammy winner who has been called "the happiest conductor in America" and "the closest thing to a rock star" in the world of classical music.

The 44-year-old is currently musical director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and artistic director of the Simón Bolívar Orchestra. Next year, he will become the first Latin American to lead the New York Philharmonic, the oldest symphony orchestra in the US.

But for the next three weeks, he's in London too – summoned by Chris Martin to open every night of Coldplay's record-breaking residency at Wembley Stadium.

"Chris is very into social action through music," says Dudamel. "When he plays music, his will is to help, to heal and to transform - and that connects with our values.

"I think he wanted to give something to the orchestra. A gift, a very generous gift, of having all of us together, celebrating the power of music."

Martin first met Dudamel in 2007, after the Simón Bolívar Orchestra made their BBC Proms debut playing Mambo from Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story.

Their appearance was a sensation – combining sheer technical skill with a thrilling joie de vivre, as they span their double basses, twirled their trumpets and clattered their cowbells, all while clad in Venezuelan-flag jackets.

Not long afterwards, Martin invited the conductor to be part of Coldplay's 2016 Super Bowl half-time show, and their friendship was sealed. (Martin's mum, also a fan, frequently attends the conductor's rehearsals).

Breaking borders

Their partnership fits perfectly with Dudamel's urge to push the boundaries of classical music.

Earlier this year, he took the LA Philharmonic to the Coachella Music Festival, playing Wagner and Beethoven in a 50-minute set that also included guest stars such as Dave Grohl, Cynthia Erivo and LL Cool J.

"You think, 'Maybe this is something crazy', but it was the most natural thing," he says, recalling the way the audience chanted the opening "da-da-da-dum" of Beethoven's 5th like it was the riff from Seven Nation Army.

"We live in a world of walls and borders - and that happens with music, too," says Dudamel. "But it's been one of my goals to break that down.

"I think young people are hungry for culture and for us, in the orchestra, [Coachella] was a historical moment of embracing another audience and that audience connecting with what we do."

He's hopeful the Wembley shows – where the orchestra will again play Beethoven's 5th, alongside John Williams' Star Wars theme and Vivaldi's Spring – will have the same effect.

"I want the audience to walk away embraced by love," he says.

"It's not naïve to say we're living in a crisis of empathy. Music is not about that. Music is about making harmony together. It's the best example of how to behave as a community."

The conductor's optimism is infectious. As he leads the orchestra in rehearsals at London's Air Studios, they whoop and cheer, enjoying themselves in a way that orchestras rarely do.

It's proof of El Sistema's importance, as it turns 50 – an anniversary that's being marked with a mini-residency at London's Barbican, and a new album, called Odyssey, that mixes Latin American traditions with orchestral music.

But the organisation has come in for criticism. Some have accused it of being a political organisation, pointing out that it sits under the office of president Nicolás Maduro – who has repeatedly been accused of repressing opposition groups and silencing dissent, including with the use of violence.

Dudamel has criticised Maduro, calling for an end to "bloodshed" after an 18-year-old musician was killed at a protest in Caracas. But some have called for him to go further, saying his continued involvement with El Sistema makes him the president's "puppet and henchman".

But the conductor says his priority will always be the children whose lives are transformed by the programme.

"In the super-politicised world that we live in right now, you have to say, you have to do, you have be against.

"It's difficult because everybody is screaming – but we need more of these programmes that motivate you to find the best of people.

"For me, the most important thing is that this new generation has the opportunities that I had."

More than three million children have passed through El Sistema over the last five decades, with the programme replicated in dozens of countries around the world.

Over the next three weeks, almost one million people will see the results on stage at Wembley.

"It's the biggest number of people that I ever played. It's a lot," marvels Mendonça.

"It's a way to represent my country and, in my particular case, it's a way to give hope to all the children I've had the opportunity to teach.

"Sometimes, when you're growing up, you don't know why you are doing the things you do... But when you see someone close to you doing something like this, you say, 'If she can, why can't I?'"

Gaza City and its surrounding area is now experiencing famine, a UN-backed body of food security experts has confirmed.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which is used by governments and international bodies to identify hunger levels around the world, has raised its classification to Phase 5 - the highest and most severe.

It says that over half a million people across the Gaza Strip are facing "catastrophic" conditions characterised by "starvation, destitution and death".

Israel said the IPC report was based on "Hamas lies". It continues to restrict the amount of aid entering Gaza and has previously denied there is starvation in the territory.

This denial is in direct contradiction to what more than 100 humanitarian groups, witnesses on the ground, and multiple UN bodies have said.

The IPC report describes the famine as "entirely man-made" and says that an "immediate, at-scale response" is needed or there will be an "unacceptable escalation" in famine-related deaths.

It predicts that between mid-August and the end of September, famine will expand across the strip to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.

During this period, almost a third of the population - nearly 641,000 people - are expected to face "catastrophic conditions" in IPC Phase 5, while the number of people to face "emergency" conditions in IPC Phase 4 will likely increase to 1.14 million - or 58% of the population.

The report also projects that up to June 2026, malnutrition will "threaten" the lives of 132,000 children aged under five.

Since the start of the war, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry has reported that 271 people have died of "famine and malnutrition" - including 112 children.

The IPC cannot officially declare famine - that is usually done by governments or the United Nations.

In response to the report, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said the famine was entirely preventable, saying food could not get through to the Palestinian territory "because of systematic obstruction by Israel".

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said: "Just when it seems there are no words left to describe the living hell in Gaza, a new one has been added: 'famine'."

He described it as "not a mystery," but rather "a man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself".

He added that Israel has "unequivocal obligations under international law - including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population".

Phillipe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), said: "This is starvation by design & man-made by the Government of Israel".

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk described the famine as "the direct result of actions taken by the Israeli Government", which has "unlawfully restricted" the entry of aid.

In recent months, Israel has come under widespread international condemnation for the aid situation in the Gaza Strip.

Last month, after weeks of mounting pressure, the Israeli military said it had airdropped humanitarian aid into Gaza - a move that was criticised at the time by aid agencies as a "grotesque distraction".

Other aid drops have since taken place - but warnings have been issued about their safety, with reports that civilians were hit and killed by the falling pallets.

Earlier this week, BBC Verify found 10 separate occasions where aid was dropped into an area that the Israeli military has explicitly warned people not to enter.

In addition to airdrops, Israel said it would designate humanitarian corridors for UN convoys. However, on Tuesday the UN warned that the "trickle of aid" entering Gaza was insufficient to "avert widespread starvation".

Cogat, the Israeli military body in charge of aid, says roughly 300 aid trucks are entering daily, but the UN says 600 trucks of supplies a day are needed.

The IPC report comes as Israel prepares to launch a new military offensive aimed at occupying Gaza City.

Israel's military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 62,122 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza's population has also been displaced multiple times; more than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; and the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed.

Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky has accused Russia of "doing everything it can" to prevent a meeting with Vladimir Putin to try to end the war.

US President Donald Trump has sought to bring the two leaders together, but he said on Friday "that's like oil and vinegar... they don't get along too well".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Putin was ready to meet Ukraine's leader "when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all", accusing Zelensky of saying "no to everything".

After an intensive week of diplomacy, in which Trump first met Putin in Alaska and then Zelensky with European leaders in Washington, the US president said the war was turning out to be the most difficult he had tried to stop.

Trump said after a call with the Russian leader on Monday that he had begun arrangements for a Putin-Zelensky summit that he would join afterwards.

Ukraine's president has backed the move, but he has sought security guarantees from Western allies to prevent any future Russian attack in the event of a peace deal: "Ukraine, unlike Russia, is not afraid of any meetings between leaders."

On a visit to Kyiv, Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said Trump was aiming to "break the deadlock" and the alliance was working on robust security guarantees with the US and Europe to ensure Putin "will never ever try to attack Ukraine again".

• Proposed Ukraine land concessions are Putin trap, warns EU top diplomat
• If a Putin-Zelensky summit takes place, where could it be?

Speaking alongside Rutte, Zelensky said he wanted Ukraine's security guarantees to reflect Nato's Article 5, which considers an attack on one member of the alliance an attack against all Nato members.

"This is the beginning of a big undertaking, and it is not easy, because guarantees consist of what our partners can give Ukraine, as well as what the Ukrainian army should be like, and where we can find opportunities for the army to maintain its strength," Zelensky said.

Rutte said the alliance was working with Ukraine to define the guarantees, explaining that they would focus on making Ukraine's military as strong as possible and involve Western security commitments. It was "too early to exactly say what will be the outcome", he added.

Russia's foreign minister appeared to dent hopes of any potential summit, telling NBC News that "there is no meeting planned".

Sergei Lavrov said Russia had agreed to show flexibility on a number of issues raised by Trump at the US-Russia summit in Alaska last week.

He went on to accuse Ukraine of not showing the same flexibility in subsequent talks in Washington, blaming Ukraine for hindering progress toward a peace deal.

Lavrov said it was "very clear to everybody that there are several principles which Washington believes must be accepted".

He said this included no Nato membership for Ukraine and discussions of territorial issues: "Zelensky said no to everything," Lavrov said.

He was speaking after EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told the BBC that Putin was seeking territorial concessions from Ukraine that were a "trap that Putin wants us to walk into".

"We are forgetting that Russia has not made one single concession and they are the ones who are the aggressor here," Kallas said.

Despite latest efforts to broker a peace deal, Russia launched one of its heaviest attacks on Ukraine in weeks on Thursday, launching 574 drone and 40 missiles in one night.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone blew up an oil pumping station in the Russian region of Bryansk, halting oil deliveries along the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia - the third attack on the pipeline in nine days.

Hungary and Slovakia are largely dependent on the Druzbha pipeline for their oil supplies, and Budapest says it could take at least five days before operations resume. The two EU member states have complained to the European Commission.

The European Union sought to cut Russia's energy supplies after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and aims to phase out Russian oil and gas by the end of 2027.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote to President Trump to complain about the attack on the pipeline, and his officials posted Trump's handwritten response.

"Viktor - I do not like hearing this - I am very angry about it. Tell Slovakia."

"You are my great friend," he added.