Oasis blew off the cobwebs and swept away the doubters as they kicked off their reunion tour in Cardiff.

Taking to the stage after a 16-year break, the band sounded refreshed and rejuvenated, tearing into classics like Cigarettes and Alcohol, Live Forever and Slide Away - as 70,000 fans clasped each other and spilled beer all over themselves.

They opened with Hello, with its chorus of "it's good to be back", following up with Acquiesce - one of the few songs that features vocals from both Noel and Liam Gallagher.

The lyric "we need each other" felt like a reconciliation - or a sigh of relief - as the brothers buried the hatchet of a decades-long feud and reconnected with their fans.

Liam, in particular, attacked the gig with wild-eyed passion - stalking the stage and biting into the lyrics like a lion tearing apart its prey.

The audience responded in kind. A communal fervour greeted songs like Wonderwall and Don't Look Back In Anger, both pulled from Oasis's 1995 masterpiece, (What's The Story Morning Glory) - one of the biggest selling British albums of all time.

All night, it was one singalong after another: Some Might Say, Supersonic, Whatever, Half The World Away, Rock 'n' Roll Star.

During Live Forever - which they dedicated to Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota - the audience even sang Noel's guitar solo.

"You sound like a load of Charlotte Churches," said Liam, impressed, after Stand By Me.

The frontman sounded fresh and powerful himself, putting to rest the vocal issues that had plagued him on previous tours - a result of Hashimoto's disease, an auto-immune condition that can affect the voice.

As fans will know, Oasis were never the most dynamic act on stage. Noel, in particular, wears the studious look of a man trying to remember his National Insurance number - but somehow, it's impossible to take your eyes off them.

Although they came out hand in hand, there were few other signs of chemistry between the brothers, who never addressed one another during the two-and-a-quarter hour show.

But just hearing them harmonise again, after all the animosity, and the turbulent waters under the bridge, was hugely emotional.

"Nice one for putting up with us over the years," said Liam, introducing the night's last song, Champagne Supernova. "We are hard work, I get it."

As they left the stage, the Gallaghers shared a brief hug.

But the band's volatility was always part of the appeal.

Their off-stage antics made the headlines as often as their music: They missed their first European gig after getting arrested on a cross-channel ferry, Liam lost two front teeth in a fight with German police, and later abandoned a pivotal US tour go house-hunting.

Half the fun was working out which act of the Shakespearean drama was being enacted in front of you.

Still, Liam’s antics often frustrated his brother.

"Noel is the guy who's chained to the Tasmanian devil," Danny Eccleston, consultant editor of Mojo, once said. "A lifetime of that would wear you down."

It all came to a head at a gig in Paris in 2009. Oasis split up after a backstage altercation that began with Liam throwing a plum at his older brother's head.

In the intervening years, they engaged in a long war of words in the press, on stage and social media.

Liam repeatedly called Noel a "massive potato" on Twitter and, more seriously, accused him of skipping the One Love concert for victims of the Manchester Arena bombing.

Noel responded by saying Liam was a "village idiot" who "needs to see a psychiatrist".

But relations thawed last year, with Liam dedicating Half The World Away to his brother at the Reading Festival last August.

Two days later, the reunion was announced, with the band declaring: "The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised."

A scramble for tickets ensued, with more than 10 million people applying to see the 19 UK dates alone.

Those who succeeded were shocked by the high prices - especially when standing tickets advertised at £155 were re-labelled "in demand" and changed on Ticketmaster to £355 plus fees.

On stage, Liam made light of the scandal, asking the audience: "Is it worth the £4,000 you paid for a ticket?"

For many, the answer was yes. Cardiff was awash with Oasis fanatics from all over the world - including Peru, Japan, Argentina, Spain and South Korea.

An Italian couple had "live forever" inscribed in their wedding rings. A British woman, expecting her first child, had scrawled "our kid" - Noel's nickname for Liam - across her baby bump.

The city was awash in bucket hats and branded tracksuit tops. Outside the stadium, an enterprising busker drew a massive crowd by playing a set of Oasis songs. Everyone joined in.

Inside, the band stuck to the classics, with a setlist that only strayed out of the 1990s once, for 2002's Little By Little.

The songs held up remarkably well.

The youthful hunger of tracks like Live Forever and Supersonic crackled with energy. And Cigarettes and Alcohol, written by Noel in 1991, about the discontent of Manchester's working classes after 15 years of Conservative rule, sounded as relevant in 2025 as it did then.

"Is it worth the aggravation to find yourself a job when there's nothing worth working for?" snarled Liam. Fans, young and old, roared along in recognition and approval.

I have seen Oasis many, many times and this was the best they've been since 1995, when I caught them supporting REM at Ireland's Slane Castle, as they limbered up for the release of (What's The Story) Morning Glory.

The Manchester band blew the headliners away - instantly making them seem dated and irrelevant - in a show that threatened to devolve into chaos after Liam threatened a fan who'd thrown a projectile on stage.

They might not have that sense of danger in 2025, but there was a hunger and a passion that was missing from their last shows in 2009.

Fans, and some parts of the British press, are already speculating over whether Liam and Noel's rapprochement will hold – but from the evidence on stage in Cardiff, the Gallaghers are finally, belatedly mad fer it once more.

Oasis setlist - 4 July 2025

• Hello
• Acquiesce
• Morning Glory
• Some Might Say
• Bring it on down
• Cigarettes & Alcohol
• Fade Away
• Supersonic
• Roll With It
• Talk Tonight (Noel sings)
• Half the World Away (Noel sings)
• Little by Little (Noel sings)
• D'You Know What I Mean
• Stand By Me
• Cast No Shadow
• Slide Away
• Whatever
• Live Forever
• Rock and Roll Star

Encore

• The Masterplan (Noel sings)
• Don't Look Back in Anger (Noel sings)
• Wonderwall
• Champagne Supernova

Palestine Action will be banned from midnight after a judge refused its request to temporarily block the government from proscribing it as a terror group.

On Friday, a High Court judge refused the group more time to pursue legal action against the government's decision.

The proposed ban, which amends the Terrorism Act 2000, will come into force after being approved by both the House of Commons and House of Lords earlier this week.

It means supporting Palestine Action will become a criminal offence, with membership or expressing support for the direct action group punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

The move was taken to ban the group after an estimated £7m of damage was caused to planes at RAF Brize Norton last month, in action claimed by Palestine Action.

At a hearing earlier on Friday, Raza Husain KC, barrister for Palestine Action's co-founder Huda Ammori, told the court banning the group would be "ill-considered" and an "authoritarian abuse" of power.

"This is the first time in our history that a direct action civil disobedience group, which does not advocate for violence, has been sought to be proscribed as terrorists," he said.

Pictures of a weepy Rachel Reeves dominated the newspaper front pages and TV news after her tearful appearance at Prime Minister's Questions earlier this week.

The markets were spooked so much by her emotional appearance that the cost of government borrowing immediately jumped and the pound took a dive.

The sight of most of us crying in the workplace is unlikely to move financial markets, but does it matter if you do?

Does it show weakness, or strength, or simply that you're in touch with your emotions?

Anecdotally, it's not unusual to have a bit of a sniffle at work. Several people got in touch with the BBC to say they had let it all out.

Clara, 48, from Lancaster, said she had become emotional when she was a young graduate getting a "blasting", and years later "in frustration".

"I've also cried after receiving bad news from home and left work immediately."

Emma, meanwhile, felt she had to keep her emotions under wraps because she worked in "a tough male-dominated environment" and would give herself a hard time for "showing emotion or 'weakness'."

Although some research has suggested women are more likely than men to cry, plenty of men told us they had also shed tears in front of colleagues.

Guy Clayton, a doctor, said he had often cried "with patients, colleagues and families over the years, when I've shared their sadness".

A 38-year-old from London who works in finance said he had become emotional at work when dealing with personal issues and felt it showed "a professional dedication" to still turn up.

'Strength, not a liability'

So is crying a strength or a weakness? Executive coach and success mentor Shereen Hoban says it's old-fashioned to think weeping at work is unacceptable.

"We've moved beyond the old-school idea that professionalism means leaving emotion at the door," she says. "In today's world, emotional intelligence is a strength, not a liability."

Career coach Georgia Blackburn says it's not unusual for people at work to be upset, so firms need to know how to handle and support staff who are feeling a bit fragile.

Ultimately, she says it will mean workers get more done.

"An employer that truly listens, shows compassion and understanding, is so much more likely to keep their staff motivated and happier in the long run," she says.

That's been the case for Amanda in Stockport who contacted the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2.

She cried at a job interview at the University of Manchester 17 years ago, just after her father had been diagnosed with cancer.

She got the job and is still there.

"I cried every day for about nine months until my dad sadly passed away. It just made me realise what an amazing person I work for, and what an amazing place I work at, where that was OK."

'Bring back crying'

Fashion designer Amy Powney was having a bit of a rough time at the end of last year.

She was having an "intense" time leaving a job, and it coincided with traumatic things happening in her life.

Amy, who founded sustainable fashion brand Akyn earlier this year, also felt pressure to be a "poster child" for ethical fashion.

"My to-do list at that time was: feed the kids, pick them up from school, sort that nursery thing out, design the next collection, make sure the staff are OK, sort out that VAT return... and then save the world," she told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.

"I went through this period of time where I just could not stop crying and I was doing it in public places, I was doing it on stage."

She thinks that showing emotion at work has been "demonised" and is unapologetic about breaking down.

"I just think bring back the crying, bring back the emotions," she says.

"Women in leadership should be able to show their emotion. I think it's a superpower. I think it's a strength."

Men v women, staff v bosses

But not everybody thinks that way. Some people are still a teensy bit judgemental, says Ann Francke, chief executive at the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).

Women who weep are seen as "too emotional" while men who mope can be shamed for being soft and vulnerable, she says.

Junior staff can get away with it more than their bosses, but this shouldn't necessarily be the case, she adds.

"When a senior leader cries, it can be seen as shocking or even inappropriate. But when handled with authenticity, it can also be powerful. It shows that leaders are human and care deeply about what they do," she says.

But if you want to climb the greasy pole, it could be best to keep a stiff upper lip, at least in some organisations, says executive coach Shereen Hoban.

Crying could affect your promotion prospects, she says. "Let's be honest. There's still a bias in some workplaces that sees composure as strength and emotion as instability."

But she says some organisations see things differently, and value leaders who are "real, self-aware, and able to navigate complexity, including their own emotions".

She adds that if you break down once at work it "won't ruin your career", and that what matters more is the bigger picture:

"Your performance, your presence, and how you bounce back or move forward with intention," she says.

What to do if you become tearful at work

• Give yourself permission to step back and take a moment

• You don't need to hide your emotions, it often shows you care deeply about your job – that's not a bad thing

• But you should feel supported, so maybe talk to a trusted colleague, take a short break or ask for support from your manager or HR

• Managers and colleagues need to acknowledge when their staff are crying – offer a tissue to them, don't pretend it's not happening

Provided by the CMI

Abbie was 16 years old when she started using ketamine. It was the first time she had felt in control.

The negative thoughts that had swamped her mind since a young age began to dissipate.

Twelve years later and fresh out of rehab she's still battling with the addiction that almost took her life.

She wants to speak out to explain why ketamine has become such a popular drug - especially among young people with mental health problems - and to talk about the damage it can do long term.

Abbie's warning comes as the first NHS clinic in the UK - dedicated to helping children struggling with ketamine use - opens on Merseyside, with patients as young as 12 needing help.

Ketamine is unlike many other street drugs due to the way it interacts with the brain.

Small amounts of the Class B drug can give a sense of euphoria and excitement, while large amounts can lead to a state known as the "K-hole," where users feel detached from reality - an out-of-body-type experience.

The number of under 16s reporting a problem with the drug has nearly doubled over the past two years, overtaking cocaine in popularity with children and young people.

Nearly half those (49%) who started treatment for drug misuse in 2023-24 said they had a mental health problem, with more than a quarter not receiving any treatment for the latter.

Details of help and support with addiction are available in the UK at BBC Action Line

Experts are warning that some young people are taking dangerous amounts of ketamine not only due to it's low price and ease of availability, but also because of the dissociative feelings it brings.

"What we are seeing is a perfect storm," David Gill, the founder of Risk and Reliance, a company which trains front-line workers on emerging drug trends.

"We have more young people struggling with depression, trauma, anxiety, a lack of services - and we have a very cheap street drug that helps them disconnect."

Abbie's first line of ketamine did exactly that. She says it "felt like such a powerful place to be".

"My thoughts no longer had a negative effect on me - life was passing me by, but I didn't have to engage with it."

Abbie's childhood had been hard. Struggling with mental health problems and undiagnosed ADHD, she had left school at 14 and found herself in a whirlwind of drink, drugs and unhealthy relationships.

Although addiction cast a long shadow throughout her 20s, Abbie managed to secure a place at university, staying clean throughout, and obtained a healthcare degree.

She is smart, articulate and wants to do well, but after two abusive and controlling relationships ketamine became the only means she had to block out the trauma.

Yet when she went to her GP to seek help she was prescribed sleeping tablets and told to "come off the ket".

"The withdrawals were so bad I would be shaking and vomiting," she says, "it wasn't that easy to just come off it."

Then a deeper level of addiction took hold.

"I always prided myself in the early stages of addiction of keeping my morals and my values and not lying to people," Abbie says, "but I couldn't stop the drugs and I found myself hiding my use to my friends."

Things escalated. Eventually Abbie was taking ketamine every day - incessantly. The only time she would take a shower, she says, would be when she went out to meet her dealer on the street.

The physical effects of overuse began to kick in - horrific abdominal pains, known as K-cramps, would leave her screaming in agony. She would place boiling hot water bottles on her abdomen - burning her skin. And then she would take even more ketamine to numb the pain.

What is ketamine?

• Often referred to as ket, Special K or just K, ketamine is a powerful horse tranquilliser and anaesthetic. It is a licensed drug and can be prescribed medically
• When misused, it can cause serious and sometimes permanent damage to the bladder
• It is currently a Class B drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
• The penalty for possession is up to five years in prison, an unlimited fine - or both

This cycle of drug abuse is something public health consultant Professor Rachel Isba also sees in her new clinic for under 16s experiencing the physical side effects of ketamine use.

Chronic use of the drug can cause ketamine-induced uropathy, a relatively new condition, which affects the bladder, kidneys and liver. The bladder lining becomes so inflamed it can result in permanent damage and it has to be removed.

Prof Isba says the first signs of ketamine bladder are severe abdominal pains, urinating blood and jelly from the damaged bladder lining.

"Patients referred to the clinic will receive a holistic approach," she says, "care from the specialist urology team to treat the physical effects of the drug, and then they will be supported - and referred if necessary - to community services who can help with the often complex reasons behind their drug use."

'Completely helpless'

Sarah Norman, from St Helens, says she felt like a "silent watcher" as her daughter began to "fade in front" of her eyes.

Last September she discovered that Maisie, 25, was addicted to ketamine, which had caused potentially irreversible damage to her kidneys.

"We are just an average family," Sarah says. "I never thought Maisie would have ended up addicted to any drugs - she doesn't even drink alcohol."

Maisie had kept it quiet - ashamed of the stigma attached to her ketamine use. But what had started as a party drug she'd take at festivals had become a substance she couldn't function without.

In the end her partner moved out with their three-year-old son.

"I had nothing left to live for," Maisie says. "It got to the point I was doing bump after bump [snorting small amounts of it].

"For a short time I would be knocked out of reality - then I would take more."

Eventually, Maisie's mum and sister carried her into hospital - she weighed just five stone (32kg).

"The doctors said her body was failing her," Sarah says. "We thought we might lose her."

As a parent, she says, she felt completely helpless.

"It's hell on earth, there is nothing you can do. You ask yourself what you should have done."

Maisie's kidneys were fitted with nephrostomy tubes, which drain the urine out into two bags - which she now carries around with her.

Yet even this major operation didn't end Maisie's addiction. But finally, after fighting for a place in rehab she has now been clean for five months.

Sarah posts about her daughter's drug journey on Tik Tok where many parents reach out to her for help and advice with their own children.

"This drug is just horrific, so many other young people are struggling with it," Sarah says. "I am so proud of Maisie though, she's going to Narcotics Anonymous meetings every night.

"The pain she must have been through - and still goes through - I'm not sure if I'd have been as resilient and strong as she is."

Abbie was rejected from NHS rehabilitation services twice, and reached a point where she considered taking her own life.

"There was so much chaos around me and the services weren't going to help me, I just wanted to end it all," she says.

But after sending a five-page letter to the panel that decides on eligibility she finally managed to access a detox and rehabilitation service.

"I had three choices," Abbie says, "rehab, section - or in a coffin."

Abbie was treated in the same rehabilitation unit as Maisie. She is now out, clean and proud of herself but says the treatment she received failed to deal with her trauma.

"I can look after myself on a daily basis and I'm doing OK. The real work starts now I'm out of rehab," she says, " and now I am clean, hopefully I can get the mental health support I so desperately needed when I was using."

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said that as part of its 10 Year Health Plan to reform the NHS, it was going to be much "bolder in moving from sickness to prevention".

"This government is driving down the use of drugs like ketamine, ensuring more people receive timely treatment and support, and making our streets and communities safer."

A tiny, obscure animal often sold as aquarium food has been quietly protecting our planet from global warming by undertaking an epic migration, according to new research.

These "unsung heroes" called zooplankton gorge themselves and grow fat in spring before sinking hundreds of metres into the deep ocean in Antarctica where they burn the fat.

This locks away as much planet-warming carbon as the annual emissions of roughly 55 million petrol cars, stopping it from further warming our atmosphere, according to researchers.

This is much more than scientists expected. But just as researchers uncover this service to our planet, threats to the zooplankton are growing.

Scientists have spent years probing the animal's annual migration in Antarctic waters, or the Southern Ocean, and what it means for climate change.

The findings are "remarkable", says lead author Dr Guang Yang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, adding that it forces a re-think about how much carbon the Southern Ocean stores.

"The animals are an unsung hero because they have such a cool way of life," says co-author Dr Jennifer Freer from British Antarctic Survey.

But compared to the most popular Antarctic animals like the whale or penguin, the small but mighty zooplankton are overlooked and under-appreciated.

If anyone has heard of them, it's probably as a type of fish food available to buy online.

But their life cycle is odd and fascinating. Take the copepod, a type of zooplankton that is a distant relative of crabs and lobsters.

Just 1-10mm in size, they spend most of their lives asleep between 500m to 2km deep in the ocean.

In pictures taken under a microscope, you can see long sausages of fat inside their bodies, and fat bubbles in their heads, explains Prof Daniel Mayor who photographed them in Antarctica.

Without them, our planet's atmosphere would be significantly warmer.

Globally the oceans have absorbed 90% of the excess heat humans have created by burning fossil fuels. Of that figure, the Southern Ocean is responsible for about 40%, and a lot of that is down to zooplankton.

Millions of pounds is being spent globally to understand how exactly they store carbon.

Scientists were already aware that the zooplankton contributed to carbon storage in a daily process when the animals carbon-rich waste sinks to the deep ocean.

But what happened when the animals migrate in the Southern Ocean had not been quantified.

The latest research focussed on copepods, as well as other types of zooplankton called krill, and salps.

The creatures eat phytoplankton on the ocean surface which grow by transforming carbon dioxide into living matter through photosynthesis. This turns into fat in the zooplankton.

"Their fat is like a battery pack. When they spend the winter deep in the ocean, they just sit and slowly burn off this fat or carbon," explains Prof Daniel Mayor at University of Exeter, who was not part of the study.

"This releases carbon dioxide. Because of the way the oceans work, if you put carbon really deep down, it takes decades or even centuries for that CO2 to come out and contribute to atmospheric warming," he says.

The research team calculated that this process - called the seasonal vertical migration pump - transports 65 million tonnes of carbon annually to at least 500m below the ocean surface.

Of that, it found that copepods contribute the most, followed by krill and salps.

That is roughly equivalent to the emissions from driving 55 million diesel cars for a year, according to a greenhouse gas emissions calculator by the US EPA.

The latest research looked at data stretching back to the 1920s to quantify this carbon storage, also called carbon sequestration.

But the scientific discovery is ongoing as researchers seek to understand more details about the migration cycle.

Earlier this year, Dr Freer and Prof Mayor spent two months on the Sir David Attenborough polar research ship near the South Orkney island and South Georgia.

Using large nets the scientists caught zooplankton and brought the animals onboard.

"We worked in complete darkness under red light so we didn't disturb them," says Dr Freer.

"Others worked in rooms kept at 3-4C. You wear a lot of protection to stay there for hours at a time looking down the microscope," she adds.

But warming waters as well as commercial harvesting of krill could threaten the future of zooplankton.

"Climate change, disturbance to ocean layers and extreme weather are all threats," explains Prof Atkinson.

This could reduce the amount of zooplankton in Antarctica and limit the carbon stored in the deep ocean.

Krill fishing companies harvested almost half a million tonnes of krill in 2020, according to the UN.

It is permitted under international law, but has been criticised by environmental campaigners including in the recent David Attenborough Ocean documentary.

The scientists say their new findings should be incorporated into climate models that forecast how much our planet will warm.

"If this biological pump didn't exist, atmospheric CO2 levels would be roughly twice those as they are at the moment. So the oceans are doing a pretty good job of mopping up CO2 and getting rid of it," explains co-author Prof Angus Atkinson.

The research is published in the journal Limnology and Oceanography.

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The Western Indian town of Kolhapur has found itself in an unlikely global spotlight, as thousands of local artisans who hand-craft traditional leather footwear are mounting a collective attack on luxury fashion label Prada for plagiarising their designs without credit.

The rhythmic pounding of the hammer in 58-year-old Sadashiv Sanake's dimly lit workshop bears witness to the hard grind behind handcrafting the iconic Kolhapuri leather sandals.

"I learnt the craft as a child," he tells the BBC. A day's toil goes into making just "eight to 10 pairs" of these sandals he says, that retail at a modest $8-10

Barely 5,000 artisans in Kolhapur are still in the profession – a cottage industry that struggles to compete in a mechanised world, caught in the funk of dismal working conditions and low wages.

It's no surprise then that when Italian luxury brand Prada released a new line of footwear that bore a striking resemblance to the Kolhapuri sandals - but didn't mention the design origins - local artisans were up in arms.

The backlash was swift. Social media was flooded with accusations of cultural appropriation, prompting Prada to issue a statement acknowledging the sandals' roots.

Now local politicians and industry associations have thrown their weight behind the artisans who want better recognition of the craft and its cultural legacy.

Mr Sanake was not aware of Prada's show until the BBC showed him a video of it. When told that that the sandals could retail for hundreds of pounds in luxury markets, he scoffed. "Do they have gold in them?" he asked.

Prada hasn't revealed the price tag but its other sandals retail at between £600 to £1,000 in the UK as per its website.

The earliest records of Kolhapur sandals date back to the 12th Century.

"These sandals were originally crafted by members of the marginalised Charmakar (cobbler) community, also known as chamars," said Kavita Gagrani, a history professor at the New College in Kolhapur.

Chamar is a pejorative caste term used to describe Dalits (formerly known as untouchables) who work with animal hides.

"But in the early 20th Century, the craft flourished when the then ruler of Kolhapur, Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj granted royal patronage to this community," Ms Gagrani said.

Today, nearly 100,000 artisans across India are engaged in the trade with an industry worth over $200m, according to the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture (MACCIA), a prominent industry trade group.

Yet, most of them continue to work in unorganised setups under dismal conditions.

"I was never educated. This is all I know, and I earn about $4-5 a day, depending on the number of orders," said 60-year-old Sunita Satpute.

Women like her play a critical role, particularly in engraving fine patterns by hand, but are not compensated fairly for their long hours of labour, she said.

That's why Sunita's children don't want to continue the craft.

A short distance away from her workshop lies Kolhapur's famous chappal gully, or sandal lane, a cluster of storefronts - many of them struggling to stay afloat.

"Leather has become very expensive and has pushed up our costs," said Anil Doipode, one of the first sellers to open a shop here.

Traditionally, artisans would use cow and buffalo hide to make these sandals. But since 2014, when the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power, there have been several reports of vigilantes - self-appointed protesters or activists - cracking down on alleged cow slaughter, sometimes with physical violence. The cow is considered sacred by Hindus.

In 2015, Maharashtra state banned the slaughter of cows and the sale and consumption of beef, forcing artisans to rely on buffalo leather sourced from neighbouring states, pushing up their production costs.

Traditional sellers are also struggling to compete with synthetic copies flooding the market.

"Customers want cheaper sandals and can't always tell the difference," said Rohit Balkrishna Gavali, a second-generation Kolhapuri sandal seller.

Industry experts say the controversy highlights the need for a better institutional framework to protect the rights of artisans.

In 2019, the Indian government had awarded Kolhapuri sandals the Geographical Indication (GI) - a mark of authenticity which protects its name and design within India, preventing unauthorised use by outsiders.

Globally, however, there is no binding law that stops other countries or brands from aesthetic imitation.

Aishwarya Sandeep, a Mumbai-based advocate, says that India could raise the issue at the World Trade Organization under its TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) agreement, of which it is a signatory.

But the system is cumbersome, expensive and often lacks enforceability, both in India and abroad, she adds.

Lalit Gandhi, the president of MCCIA, says his organisation is planning to patent the Kolhapuri sandal design, hoping to create a legal precedent for future cases.

But some say real change can only happen when India starts seeing its traditional heritage in a different light.

"It's about ethical recognition. India must push for royalty-sharing and co-branding," says Ritu Beri, a renowned designer. "The more we take pride in our culture, the less we will be exploited."

Of course, this isn't the first time a global fashion brand has been accused of appropriating Indian handicrafts.

Many big labels have featured Indian fabrics and embroidery work with little to no artist collaboration. "Take Chikankari (a delicate hand-embroidery style from the northern Indian city of Lucknow), Ikat (a cloth-dyeing technique), mirror work; they've all been used repeatedly. The artisans remain invisible while brands profit from their inspiration," Ms Beri says.

Mr Gandhi, however, says that Prada's endorsement of Kolhapuri sandals could also be beneficial for artisans.

"Under their label, the value [of Kolhapuri sandals] is going to increase manifold," he says. "But we want some share of that profit to be passed on to artisans for their betterment."

Rohit Balkrishna Gavali, a sandal-seller in Kolhapur, agrees - he has already begun to see the difference.

"The design Prada used wasn't even very popular, but now people are asking for it, with clients from Dubai, the US and Qatar" placing orders, he says.

"Sometimes, controversy can help," he adds. "But it would be nice if it also brought respect and better prices for those keeping this tradition alive."

The issue is unlikely to die down soon.

For now, a plea has been filed in a high court, demanding Prada pay damages and compensation to artisans, along with a court-supervised collaboration between the luxury label and artisan associations.

Prada has told BBC in a statement that it is in talks with the MCCIA on this matter.

Mr Gandhi, its chief, says a meeting between the two sides is going to take place next week.

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Two female tourists, including a British pensioner, have been killed by a charging elephant while on safari in Zambia, police have told the BBC.

The pair were attacked by a female elephant that was with a calf at the South Luangwa National Park, said local police chief Robertson Mweemba.

The two tourists were trampled to death by the nursing elephant after efforts by tour guides to stop it by firing shots failed. Both women died at the scene, he said.

The BBC has contacted the Foreign Office for comment.

Mr Mweemba said the two women were part of a guided safari group who were walking in the park when the elephant charged towards them at high speed.

The two tourists had stayed for four days at the Big Lagoon Camp, about 600 km (370 miles) from the capital, Lusaka, where the attack happened.

Female elephants are very protective of their calves and Zambian authorities have previously called on tourists to exercise extreme caution while observing wildlife around the country.

Last year, two American tourists were killed in separate attacks by elephants in the southern African country. Both cases involved elderly tourists who were in a safari vehicle when they were attacked.

You may also be interested in:

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• Zimbabwe's dilemma over deadly elephant attacks

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

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Hamas says it is consulting other Palestinian groups before giving a formal response to the latest proposal for a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal put forward by the US.

President Donald Trump said on Friday morning that expected to know within 24 hours whether Hamas has agreed to the plan.

On Tuesday, Trump said Israel had accepted the conditions necessary for a 60-day ceasefire, during which the parties would work to end the 20-month war.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military is continuing to bomb targets across the Gaza Strip.

Local journalists reported hearing explosions and gunfire as Israeli helicopter gunships and artillery struck the southern Khan Younis area on Friday morning.

Overnight, at least 15 Palestinians were killed in strikes on two tents housing displaced people in Khan Younis, the local Nasser hospital said.

The Israeli military has not yet commented on the strikes, but it did say its forces were "operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities".

In a statement issued early on Friday, Hamas said it was discussing with the leaders of other Palestinian factions the ceasefire proposal that it had received from regional mediators Qatar and Egypt.

Hamas said it would deliver a "final decision" to the mediators once the consultations had ended and then announce it officially.

The proposal is believed to include the staggered release of 10 living Israeli hostages and the bodies of 18 other hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Fifty hostages are still being held in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

One of Hamas's key demands is the resumption of unrestricted food and medical aid into Gaza, and the proposal reportedly says sufficient quantities would enter the territory immediately with the involvement of the United Nations and Red Cross.

It is said the plan would also include a phased Israeli military withdrawal from parts of Gaza.

Above all, Hamas wants a guarantee that Israeli air and ground operations will not resume after the end of the 60-day ceasefire.

The proposal is believed to say that negotiations on an end to the war and the release of the remaining hostages would begin on day one.

Donald Trump told reporters early on Friday that he expected to know "over the next 24 hours" whether the proposals would be accepted by Hamas.

The hope then would be the resumption of formal, indirect, talks ahead of a planned visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington next week.

"We sure hope it's a done deal, but I think it's all going to be what Hamas is willing to accept," US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Israel's Channel 12 TV on Thursday.

"One thing is clear: The president wants it to be over. The prime minister wants it to be over. The American people, the Israeli people, want it to be over."

Netanyahu meanwhile promised to secure the release of all the remaining hostages during a visit to Kibbutz Nir Oz, a community near the Israel-Gaza border where a total of 76 residents were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023 that triggered the war.

"I feel a deep commitment, first of all, to ensure the return of all of our hostages, all of them," he said. "We will bring them all back."

He did not, however, commit to ending the war. He has insisted that will not happen until the hostages are freed and Hamas's military and governing capabilities are destroyed.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 57,130 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

US President Donald Trump is to sign his landmark policy bill into law, a day after it was narrowly passed by Congress.

The signing event at the White House on Friday afternoon, coinciding with 4 July celebrations, enacts key parts of the Trump agenda including tax cuts, spending boosts for defence and the immigration crackdown.

Trump began his victory lap at an Iowa rally on Thursday night, telling supporters it will unleash economic growth, but he must now convince sceptical Americans as polling suggests many disapprove.

Several members of his own Republican party were opposed because of the impact on rising US debt and Democrats warned the bill would reward the wealthy and punish the poor.

The 870-page package includes:

• extending 2017 tax cuts of Trump's first term
• steep cuts to Medicaid spending, the state-provided healthcare scheme for those on low incomes and the disabled
• new tax breaks on tipped income, overtime and Social Security
• a budget increase of $150bn for defence
• a reduction in Biden-era clean energy tax credits
• $100bn to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

The bill signing will precede 4 July American Independence Day fireworks and a military picnic attended by the pilots who recently flew into Iran to try to dismantle three nuclear sites.

The celebratory mood follows days of tense negotiations with Republican rebels in Congress and days of cajoling on Capitol Hill, sometimes by the president himself.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries delayed the final vote in the lower chamber of Congress on Thursday by speaking for nearly nine hours.

He called the bill an "extraordinary assault on the healthcare of the American people" and quoted testimony from individuals anxious about its impact.

But his marathon speech only postponed the inevitable. As soon as he sat down, the House moved to a vote.

Only two Republicans went against, joining all 212 Democrats united in opposition. The bill passed by 218 votes to 214.

Earlier this week, the Senate passed the bill but US Vice-President JD Vance was required to cast a tiebreaking vote after three Republicans held out.

• Major win now but political peril awaits
• Fact-checking three key claims about the bill

Hours after the House passed the bill, the president was in a triumphant mood as he took to the stage in Iowa to kick off a years long celebration of 250 years since American independence.

"There could be no better birthday present for America than the phenomenal victory we achieved just hours ago," he told supporters in Des Moines.

"Very simply the One Big, Beautiful Bill will deliver the strongest border on Earth, the strongest economy on Earth [and] the strongest military on Earth."

The White House believes the various tax cuts will help stimulate economic growth, but many experts fear that will not be sufficient to prevent the budget deficit - the difference between spending and tax revenue in any year - from ballooning, adding to the national debt.

Analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) suggests the tax cuts could produce a surplus in the first year but will then cause the deficit to rise sharply.

According to the Tax Policy Center, the tax changes in the bill would benefit wealthier Americans more than those on lower incomes, About 60% of the benefits would go to those making above $217,000 (£158,000), its analysis found.

The BBC spoke to Americans who may see a cut in the subsidies that help them pay for groceries.

Jordan, a father of two, is one of 42 million Americans who benefits from the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) scheme targeted by the bill.

• Americans brace for Trump's welfare cuts
• What is in the bill?

He and his wife get about $700 a month to feed their family of four and the 26-year-old said if this bill reduces what he can claim he would get a second job. "I'm going to make sure that I can do whatever I can to feed my family," he says.

Along with cuts to SNAP, the changes to Medicaid - a programme that covers healthcare for low-income, elderly and disabled Americans - would result in nearly 12 million losing coverage in the next decade, the CBO estimates.

Republicans defend their changes to Medicaid, saying that by toughening up work requirements they are tackling abuse and fraud.

Polling taken before the bill passed in Congress suggests public support is low and dwarfed by numbers opposed. A recent Quinnipiac University survey pointed to only 29% endorsing the legislation, which rose to two-thirds among Republicans.

But knowledge of the bill may be low too. Reuters reported there was little awareness of the legislation among Trump supporters they spoke to at the Iowa rally on Thursday night.

This week saw the UK and Europe swelter in the grip of a heatwave, Sir Keir Starmer's government encounter a major rebellion over its plans for welfare reform, and Beyoncé suffer car trouble during a concert.

But how much attention did you pay to what else happened in the world over the past seven days?

Quiz collated by Ben Fell.

Fancy testing your memory? Try last week's quiz, or have a go at something from the archives.