Anyone who wants to vote in May's local elections must register before midnight on Friday.

Voters in some parts of England will elect councillors and mayors on Thursday 1 May.

These are the first local elections since the general election was held in July 2024.

Which elections are taking place on 1 May?

Elections are taking place in 23 councils across England.

All seats will be contested in:

• 14 county councils: Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Devon, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire
• 8 unitary authorities: Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, County Durham, North Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Shropshire, West Northamptonshire and Wiltshire
• 1 metropolitan district: Doncaster

Six mayoral elections are also happening: in the West of England, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, North Tyneside, Doncaster and – for the first time – in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire.

In addition, council elections are taking place in the Isles of Scilly.

On 5 February, the government announced that some local elections would not take place as planned.

Elections in East Sussex, West Sussex, Essex, Thurrock, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Norfolk, Suffolk and Surrey will be delayed until 2026 as part of a wider shake-up of local government.

Voters in the Runcorn and Helsby constituency will also elect their new MP on 1 May.

The former Labour MP Mike Amesbury announced he was standing down after his conviction for assaulting a constituent.

No routine elections are taking place in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

How can I vote in the May elections?

There are three ways to vote:

• in person at your local polling station on election day between 0700 BST and 2200 BST
• by postal vote
• by nominating a proxy - someone to vote on your behalf

To vote in local elections you must be:

• aged 18 or over
• registered at an address in the area where you want to vote
• a British or Irish citizen
• an eligible Commonwealth citizen
• a qualifying EU citizen - the rules vary according to which country you are from

Voters in some areas may have several ballot papers for the different elections taking place.

In council elections, voters generally have one vote for each available seat in an election area - known as a ward or division. However, some large wards have several seats.

As in general elections, whoever receives the most votes wins. If, for example, there are three seats available, then the top three candidates win.

Mayors are also elected under this system, known as first-past-the-post.

EU citizens cannot vote in the Runcorn and Helsby parliamentary by-election.

• Matt Chorley: Local elections might lack glamour - but they matter

What is the deadline for registering to vote?

To vote in person in England and Wales, you must be on the electoral register by 23:59 BST on Friday 11 April 2025.

You can register online with your National Insurance number, or by writing to your council's electoral registration office.

If you are already registered, the deadline to request a postal vote is 17:00 BST on Monday 14 April.

If you are already registered, the deadline to apply for a proxy vote is 17:00 BST on Wednesday 23 April.

The rules about postal voting have changed, and you now need to reapply every three years. Any postal vote which was set up before 31 October 2023 will expire on 31 January 2026.

The proxy rules have also changed. Proxy votes in place before 31 October 2023 have already expired, and you must apply for a new one.

• Electoral Commission: Register to vote
• Find your polling station

What ID do I need to vote?

You must show photo ID in order to vote in person. You do not need your polling card.

There are more than 20 acceptable forms of ID, including passports, driving licences and - from 1 May - Armed Forces Veteran Cards.

You can use out-of-date ID as long as you are still recognisable.

Anyone who is already registered to vote but doesn't have the correct ID - or who no longer looks like their photo - can apply for a free document known as a Voter Authority Certificate.

The deadline to apply for a certificate to use in the May elections is 17:00 BST on Wednesday 23 April.

• What photo ID will be accepted at the local elections?

What can and can't I do in the polling station?

You must not take selfies or any other photographs inside a polling station.

With the exception of assistance dogs, animals are not usually allowed in polling stations, but can be admitted at the discretion of the local authority.

You are welcome to bring your children but they must not mark your vote on the ballot paper.

Writing implements are provided but you can bring your own pen or pencil.

You can wear political clothing but you must not discuss any of the candidates inside the polling station.

• What are the rules about polling stations?

What happened in the 2024 local elections?

In the May 2024 local elections, when different councils were up for election, Labour won more than 1,000 of the 2,660 seats being contested.

The Conservatives lost almost as many councillors as they held and ended up in third place behind the Liberal Democrats.

In total, 20 councils changed hands, with Labour gaining 10 and losing two.

Labour also won nine out of the 10 mayoral contests, with the Conservatives winning the other.

• May 2024 local election results in maps and charts

What do local councils do and why do local elections matter?

Different types of councils are responsible for a variety of local services. These include:

• care for the elderly and disabled
• fixing potholes on some roads
• collecting rubbish and recycling
• housing
• education

Many councils are facing a funding crisis, and have cut services.

Voters in the May elections will have seen their council tax increase in April.

• What is council tax and how much is it going up?

What do mayors do?

Six mayors will be elected on 1 May:

• two single authority mayors in Doncaster and North Tyneside
• four metro mayors in the West of England, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Greater Lincolnshire, and Hull and East Yorkshire

A single authority mayor is the political leader of the council. They are responsible for delivering local council services.

Metro mayors are regional leaders who chair combined authorities, which are groups of several local councils.

They set out plans to boost their local economy, and have some powers over housing and transport.

• Institute for Government: What is a metro mayor?
• How mayors became the fashionable new thing in England

When will the May election results be known?

Some local election results will be announced overnight into Friday 2 May, including three of the mayoral results.

Most of the council seats will be counted on Friday, and no results are expected over the weekend.

It is not clear when the result of the Runcorn and Helsby by-election will be announced. At the general election in July 2024, the outcome was known fairly early - at around 02:25.

How does the BBC report polling day?

Detailed BBC election guidelines are written and published for each election, setting out the approach it has to take on polling day.

The BBC, like other broadcasters, is not allowed to report details of campaigning or local election issues on TV, radio or online on polling day between 06:00 and 22:00, when voting closes.

While polls are open, it is a criminal offence to report any exit polls, which aim to predict election results on the basis of surveys of how people say they have voted.

References to the local elections on the day are normally restricted to uncontroversial factual accounts, such as the appearance of politicians at polling stations, the weather, or practical information about how to vote.

Once the polls have closed at 22:00, the election guidelines no longer apply.

However, the BBC must still report the results with the impartiality required both by Ofcom and the BBC's own Editorial Guidelines.

• GET IN TOUCH: Tell us the election issues that matter to you
• FULL COVERAGE: Catch up on all our election stories

US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz is leaving his post with the Trump adminstration, according to media reports.

Waltz, who was the president's principal adviser on national security issues, has had a difficult tenure amid accusations that senior officials used insecure methods of communication to conduct government business.

Last month, he took responsibility for a group chat on the Signal messaging app in which high-ranking officials planned military strikes in Yemen in the company of a journalist who was inadvertently added.

Waltz's deputy Alex Nelson Wong has also reportedly been removed from his post in what appears to be a shakeup of the US' security establishment.

In March, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine Jeffrey Goldberg revealed he had been mistakenly added to a group chat on Signal, in which senior officials - including Waltz, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - discussed confidential information about a planned military strike on Yemen.

Mr Goldberg revealed he was added to the chat by Mike Waltz, who later took responsibility for the fiasco.

At the time, Trump and US intelligence chiefs downplayed the security risks and said no classified material was shared.

President Trump had defended Waltz, saying he was "doing his best" with "equipment and technology that's not perfect".

But Democrats and some Republicans had called for an investigation into what several lawmakers described as a major breach.

Tariffs on goods coming into the US will add nearly a billion dollars to Apple's costs this quarter, the tech giant has said, despite President Donald Trump's decision to spare key electronics from the new import taxes.

The estimate from the iPhone maker comes as firms are scrambling to respond to Trump's tariff strategy, which is disrupting supply chains and raising uncertainty about consumer demand.

Apple said it was shifting production of iPhones bound for the American market away from China, which is facing the highest duties.

The majority of iPhones sold in the US in coming months will be made in India, Apple said.

For now, the turmoil has left Apple's sales unscathed.

The company said revenues for the first three months of the year rose 5% from the same period last year, to $95.4bn.

Amazon, another tech giant whose results were being closely watched for signs of tariff damage, likewise said sales were holding up, rising 8% year-on-year in its North America e-commerce business in the most recent quarter.

It forecast similar growth in the months ahead.

"Obviously no one of us knows exactly where tariffs will settle or when," said Amazon boss Andy Jassy, while noting that the firm has emerged from periods of disruption – like the pandemic – stronger than before.

"We're often able to weather challenging conditions better than others," he said. "I'm optimistic this could happen again."

Made in India

Apple shares had plummeted after Trump announced his administration would levy "reciprocal tariffs" on products imported to the United States, with the aim of persuading companies to manufacture more in the US.

Trump has said he hopes Apple products in particular will be made in the country.

But the administration has faced significant pressure to moderate its plans. Shortly after the tariffs went into effect, it announced that certain electronics, including phones and computers, would be exempted.

On a call with investors to discuss the firm's quarterly performance, Apple boss Tim Cook seemed keen to draw attention to Apple's investments in the US, opening with a reminder of its plans to invest $500bn across multiple states over the next four years.

But though Apple is already shifting its supply chain for US-bound products away from China, it is India and Vietnam that are poised to be the largest beneficiaries, not the US.

Mr Cook said the company expected to make the majority of iPhones destined for the US in India by the end of June, and move production of almost all iPads, Macs, Apple Watches and Airpods to Vietnam.

"We do expect the majority of iPhones sold in US will have India as their country of origin," Mr Cook said, referring to the next three months of trading.

He said Vietnam would be the country of origin "for almost all iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and AirPods product sold in the US".

China will remain the country of origin for the vast majority of total products sold outside the US, he added.

New positioning

Nevertheless, the shift of the iPhone supply chain to India was "impressive" according to Patrick Moorhead, chief executive of Moor Insights & Strategy.

"This is a marked change from what [Cook] said a few years back when he said that only China can build iPhones," Mr Moorhead said.

"There is lots of progress that Apple must show here but it's a pretty good start," he said.

Amazon is also repositioning itself to increase resilience in the face of the tariffs.

The company said it working to make sure it had a diversity of sellers and Mr Jassy said he felt the firm was well-positioned for the months ahead, pointing to the firm's scale and its role supplying everyday essentials.

For now, it said sales had not been hurt by the tariff turmoil. If anything, executives said the business may have benefited from some customers starting to stockpile.

Overall sales jumped 9% to $155.7bn in the first three months of 2025, compared with the same period last year, while profits surged more than 60% year-on-year to roughly $17bn.

Two Palestinian girls with serious health conditions have been brought to the UK for private medical treatment.

The Gazan children are the first to be granted temporary UK visas since the war between Hamas and Israel broke out in October 2023.

Ghena, five, and Rama, 12 arrived in the UK from Egypt on Saturday to be treated for conditions which cannot be dealt with in war torn Gaza, Project Pure Hope (PPH) said.

Ghena's mother said she hoped other children "would get the chance" to benefit from the chance to receive medical care overseas.

Both suffer from pre-existing conditions which require specialist treatment not available in Gaza, where the healthcare system has come under huge pressure during the war between Hamas and Israel.

Rama - who has a lifelong bowel condition - described her life in Khan Younis, where her family home was destroyed, and spoke about her hopes for the future.

She told BBC News: "We were so scared. We were living in tents and shrapnel from airstrikes used to fall on us.

"Mum used to suffer so much going to hospitals while bombs were falling and would stand in long queues just to get me a strip of pills.

"Here I'll get treatment and get better and be just like any other girl."

Her mother Rana said: "I'm very happy for Rama because she'll get treatment here.

"As a mother, I felt so sorry in Gaza because I couldn't do anything to help her. 

"To see your daughter dying in front of your eyes, day by day, watching her weaken and get sicker – it pained me."

Ghena has fluid pressing against her optic nerve, which could lead to her losing the sight in her left eye if she does not have an operation.

Her mother Haneen told the BBC: "Before the war, Ghena was having medical treatment in Gaza, in a specialised hospital.

"She was getting tests done every six months there and treatment was available."

But the hospital was destroyed a week after the war began, she said, and Ghena was no longer able to get the care she needed.

"She began complaining about the pain," Haneen continued. "She would wake up screaming in pain at night."

"I hope she gets better here," Haneen added.

"In Gaza there are thousands of injured and sick children who need medical treatment. I hope they get a chance like Ghena."

PHP and PCRF worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) to secure their temporary stay in the UK and private funding for their healthcare.

PCRF chairwoman Vivian Khalaf told the BBC: "We came across these cases through an ongoing list that is getting longer and longer of children who need urgent medical treatment outside of Gaza.

"The current physicians and hospitals that continue to be operating to whatever extent have determined that the treatment isn't available within Gaza."

Khalaf said 200 children had been relocated for medical treatment via the initiative, including to the US, Jordan and Qatar, as well as several European countries.

She was unable to say how many children in total had been identified as needing to be moved to the care of international health services in the future.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier this month that conditions at Gaza's hospitals - several of which have been damaged during the fighting - are "beyond description".

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

More than 50,980 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

The husband of a British-South African woman found dead at her house in France has said he cannot imagine "the terror and the fear she must have gone through".

Karen Carter, 65, was found by her friend lying near her car with stab wounds in the village of Trémolat in the Dordogne on Tuesday evening, the state prosecutor said.

Mrs Carter's husband, Alan, who is in South Africa, said she was "such a decent, lovely person", and spoke of the family's shock.

A 69-year-old local woman has been arrested as part of an investigation into the mother-of-four's death.

A friend who discovered Mrs Carter's body was questioned by police and later released without charge, the state prosecutor, Sylvie Martins-Guedes, said.

"At this stage, no hypothesis is being favored," she added.

Mrs Carter had lived in Trémolat for more than a decade, where she ran two holiday rental homes.

"Particularly since Covid, my wife has spent more time there running the gîtes (holiday homes). It's been very busy, it's been very successful," Mr Carter said.

"She was very good at her job and marketing it and getting bookings throughout the year."

Mr Carter said his cousin, who lives in Trémolat, called him after seeing a post about Mrs Carter's death on a local community Facebook page.

"She phoned me...to say she's sorry to tell me and that she thinks Karen has died. That was the first I heard about it," he said.

"No one had got in touch with me at all to let me know what had happened. I found out through my cousin who happened to see it on a Facebook page."

He said he got confirmation of Mrs Carter's death after his assistant phoned local police.

"She managed to get through to the right person. I don't know how she managed that, but she did.

"He confirmed it, but he didn't give any details of what happened," he said, adding that he has relied on news reports for information.

Mr Carter said the village is in shock over her death, adding: "It's terrible. Such a small village where nothing like this ever happens."

He described Mrs Carter as an outgoing, friendly person who "wouldn't hurt a fly", and said her death has been "traumatic" for his family.

"I'm an introvert, and she's the exact opposite. She's an extrovert, she loves people, she loves to have fun. People love her, she has a good heart," he said.

"She's the one who would bring home the lost dog, or cat, or whatever. She's that sort of person. Everyone liked her. That's why I married her. She's just lovely."

A key Westminster by-election is set to be held in Runcorn and Helsby.

Voters will head to the polls in the Cheshire constituency on 1 May, the same day as local elections in much of England.

The by-election has been triggered by the resignation of Mike Amesbury, who was convicted earlier this year of assaulting a constituent.

What is the make-up of Runcorn and Helsby?

Runcorn and Helsby includes the towns of Runcorn, Frodsham and Helsby, as well as various villages and a significant rural area.

In total, 22% of the constituency is classed as a built-up area, 60% rural and 14% as water or wetland.

It has a population of 93,520, with 21% of residents under 18, 57% aged 18-64 and 21% over 65.

Runcorn and Helsby is a new constituency that was only created in time for the general election in July 2024.

More than half of it (51.2%) came from the former constituency of Weaver Vale, with 37.1% from Halton and the remainder from three other former constituencies - Ellesmere Port and Neston, Eddisbury, and City of Chester.

Who are the candidates?

A total of 15 candidates are standing in the by-election.

Listed alphabetically, they are as follows:

• Catherine Anne Blaiklock (English Democrats)
• Dan Clarke (Liberal Party)
• Chris Copeman (Green Party)
• Paul Duffy (Liberal Democrats)
• Peter Ford (Workers Party)
• Howling Laud Hope (Monster Raving Loony Party)
• Sean Houlston (Conservatives)
• Jason Philip Hughes (Volt UK)
• Alan McKie (independent)
• Graham Harry Moore (English Constitution Party)
• Paul Andrew Murphy (Social Democratic Party)
• Sarah Pochin (Reform)
• Karen Shore (Labour)
• John Stevens (Rejoin EU)
• Michael Williams (independent)

What rules are in place?

Since May 2023, voters have had to show a valid form of photo identification at polling stations to vote in person.

Anyone who does not have photo ID can apply for a free voter authority certificate, and the deadline to apply for this is 23 April.

The deadline to apply for someone to vote on your behalf if you cannot get to a polling station is also 23 April.

Read more stories from Cheshire on the BBC and follow BBC North West on X. For more local politics coverage, BBC Politics North West is on BBC One on Sunday at 10:00am and on BBC iPlayer.

On Thursday 1 May elections will be held for 23 councils and six mayors in England.

Around a third of electors in England are eligible to vote, and more than 1,600 councillors will be elected.

In some parts of England, local elections have been postponed because the government is planning to reorganise local councils.

Use our tool to find out whether there is an election near you.

Most of the councils up for election are county councils - large authorities like Lancashire and Kent that look after services including social care, education, road maintenance and libraries.

In parts of England with no district councils, like in Cornwall, Doncaster and Buckinghamshire, local authorities are responsible for the full range of services - these also include bin collections, public housing and planning.

• When and where are the local elections?

Mayors in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Doncaster, North Tyneside, and the West of England are up for election. While in two areas - Hull and East Yorkshire, and Greater Lincolnshire - voters will have the chance to elect a mayor for the first time.

The US and Ukraine have signed a deal that will give Washington access to some of the war-torn country's natural resources.

Months in the making, it sets up an investment fund that Ukraine hopes will cement US assistance as the country struggles to repel Russia three years after the invasion.

The BBC has seen a draft of the deal but not the final text. Based on that and the public statements from both sides, here are seven key takeaways.

No Ukrainian payback to US

Trump has previously demanded that Ukraine pay back the $350bn (£264bn) of aid that he claims has been provided by the US during the war - a condition that Zelensky rejected.

But Washington appears to have made a concession. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the agreement did not dictate that his country pay back any supposed "debt".

• Follow reaction to deal as it happens
• What minerals does Ukraine have?

Trump has styled the agreement as a win for his side as well, saying his country will get back "much more in theory" than the billions that were provided to Ukraine by his predecessor Joe Biden.

Tougher tone from US towards Putin

The language used by the US in announcing the deal is notably harsher towards Russia than is usually the case from the Trump administration.

A statement by the US Treasury Department refers to "Russia's full scale invasion" and adds that "no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine".

This will hearten Kyiv, which has demanded more pressure be placed on Russia in talks between Moscow and Washington discussing a possible ceasefire.

Oil and gas included alongside minerals

Despite the fact that much of the talk around the deal relates to Ukraine's mineral wealth, the agreement also includes provisions for new oil and gas projects, and related infrastructure.

In all cases, the resources stay in Ukrainian ownership, even though the US will get joint access.

This has been seen as a softening of the Ukrainian position, since it was not in earlier drafts of the deal.

No hindrance to Kyiv's EU ambitions

Ukraine has long aspired to join the European Union and accession talks formally began last June.

There were some concerns in Kyiv that the resources deal could hinder Ukraine's ability to join the EU, if it gave preferential treatment to US investors, as Kyiv and Brussels already have a strategic partnership on raw materials.

But the deal's text says that the US acknowledges Ukraine's intention to join the EU and the need for this agreement not to conflict with that.

It also says that if Ukraine needs to revisit the terms of the deal because of "additional obligations" as part of joining the EU, then the US agrees to negotiate in good faith.

Additionally, Kyiv says the US will support additional transfers of investment and technology in Ukraine, including from the EU and elsewhere.

Profits to be reinvested in Ukraine for 10 years

Another intriguing element of the deal is that, for the first decade of the reconstruction investment fund, profits will be "fully reinvested in Ukraine's economy".

This is potentially significant if there is no financial benefit for the US for 10 years. Ukraine says it expects that any money that comes into the fund will go towards rebuilding the country and new projects.

After that initial period, profits may be distributed between the partners. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News that the deal was a signal to the American people that "we have a chance to participate, get some of the funding and the weapons, compensation for those and be partners with the success of the Ukraine people".

A US military commitment back on table...

The US has framed the deal as an essential one to sign if Ukraine is to continue to receive its military assistance.

Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko - who flew to Washington DC to sign the deal - said it envisaged the US contributing new assistance in the future, such as air defence systems.

• How much has US given to Ukraine?

This, too, would mark a change in strategy for Trump - who has sought to wind down military support for Ukraine since returning to the White House.

One outstanding question is what the accord will ultimately mean for the state of the war. The Kremlin has not yet responded to the agreement.

...but US can still walk away any time

It appears there are no concrete security guarantees from the US, which is something Ukraine and Europe have long been pushing the White House to provide.

Trump has long been reluctant to give the same military commitment that Biden had given.

Instead, his interest in staying the course with US support for Ukraine is more implicit, due to the economic commitments set out in this deal.

That means there would still be a fragility about the commitment of Ukraine's most important ally.

British vets could face price caps on medicines, prescriptions and other services like cremations, the regulator has indicated, as it outlined changes it is considering to the way the UK's £2bn veterinary sector operates.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been investigating the sector, looking at whether a lack of competition in the sector has contributed to soaring prices.

Prices for treatments grew by 60% between 2015 and 2023, compared with inflation of 35% for other general services, according to CMA research.

The regulator is also pushing for more transparency as part of the overhaul due to be finalised in the coming months.

In addition to the price caps, the CMA is looking into a ban on bonuses linked to offering specific treatments.

It said on Thursday that it would look into a ban on any policies that would curtail vets' "clinical freedom". Some vets had reported feeling under pressure to meet targets in relation to the treatments they sell.

It found that businesses were marking up medicine prices, sometimes by as much as four times the purchase cost.

The watchdog also found there was a lack of transparency around the cost of treatments and what choices were available.

In a list of potential remedies, the CMA said vets could be forced to create a clear online display of prices for medicines, surgeries, treatments and out-of-hours help. The working paper also suggested that the mark-up charged on pet cremations, sold to customers at a "vulnerable moment", might be capped.

The watchdog has also suggested a comparison website making it compulsory for clinics to inform owners if cheaper options are available.

The CMA expects to release a provisional report on what measures it will take in the summer months, with a final decision by November.

The CMA said basic local vet services are worth £2bn-£2.5bn a year, but when other aspects such as cremation, specialist treatments and medicines are taken into account, the overall value of the industry is estimated at £5.7bn a year.

The competition body highlighted how the sector was increasingly being dominated by larger firms and how this might be reducing consumer choice.

There are about 5,000 vet practices in the UK, it said, but since 2013, approximately 1,500 of these have been acquired by six large corporate groups.

They are CVS, Independent Vetcare Ltd, Linnaeus, Medivet, Pets at Home and VetPartners.

Four of these six tend to retain the name and branding of an independently-owned practice when they buy it, which the CMA said may create an "illusion of competition" for consumers if they are trying to shop around to find alternative practices.

A fourth round of Iran-US talks over Tehran's nuclear programme has been postponed.

The foreign minister of Oman, facilitating negotiations, said Saturday's talks in Rome were being rescheduled because of logistical reasons, adding that a new date would be set when agreed by all sides.

It comes after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday warned that Iran would "pay the consequence" for its support of Yemen's Houthi rebels. Washington has also this week targeted companies it says have links to Tehran with sanctions.

President Donald Trump pulled the US out of a previous nuclear agreement between Iran and five other world powers in 2018, and has long said he would make a "better" deal.

Trump has previously warned of military action if these new talks, which began in April, do not succeed. Both sides described the first round of talks in Oman's capital Muscat as "constructive".

Iran's foreign ministry confirmed that latest stage of talks had been postponed, but Washington is yet to officially comment.

However, an unnamed US source told the Reuters news agency that Washington "never confirmed" its participation in the fourth round of talks, nor had their timing been confirmed.

The delay is unlikely to mean that the talks have broken down, with both sides eager to avoid war.

But reports from Tehran have described growing doubt about the usefulness of the talks, pointing to the new sanctions and what Tehran calls contradictory positions from the US delegation.

Part of Trump's "maximum pressure" policy toward Tehran, the sanctions announced on Wednesday target entities said by the US to be involved in the illicit trade of Iranian petroleum and petrochemicals.

The US State Department said in a statement: "The Iranian regime continues to fuel conflict in the Middle East, advance its nuclear program, and support its terrorist partners and proxies.

"Today, the United States is taking action to stem the flow of revenue that the regime uses to fund these destabilizing activities."

Media reports in Iran also pointed to Hegseth's post on X earlier on Thursday, which was reposted by Trump's Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff who has been leading the US delegation.

"Message to IRAN: We see your LETHAL support to the Houthis. We know exactly what you are doing. You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing," the post read.

Trump has said that he is looking for a solution that would close Iran's pathways to build a nuclear bomb. But there are those in his administration who are pushing for the complete dismantlement of Iran's nuclear enrichment programme.

They are also pushing for Iran to stop support for its proxies in the region, including the Houthis.

Iran says its programme is peaceful and that it has a right to enrichment. It is hoping for a deal to limit, but not dismantle, its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

After Russia, Iran has been under the most extensive set of sanctions in history – the sanctions that the US has imposed on the country.

President Massoud Pezeshkian has centred Iran's economic policies on the promise of the lifting these sanctions.

Voters across England are heading to the polls to choose councillors and mayors. For plenty of them, it was the perfect excuse to take the dog for a walk too.

Elections are taking place in 23 councils on Thursday, alongside six mayoral races. Voters in the Runcorn and Helsby constituency will also elect their new MP.

BBC News is on hand to keep you up-to-date with the latest developments across all platforms.

Online

Follow all the latest election developments on the BBC News website and app.

A round-the-clock live page will feature the expertise of polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice, with input from BBC News reporters stationed at counts across England.

Check the results in your area as they come in with our easy-to-use postcode lookup tool.

Our Local Elections 2025 page will be continually updated with explainers and detailed analysis from our political correspondents and editors.

TV and streaming

From 23:10 BST on Thursday, Laura Kuenssberg will host an Elections 2025 Special on BBC One, with political editor Chris Mason and correspondent Damian Grammaticas reporting from the count in Runcorn and Helsby. Polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice will be on hand to offer his analysis and insight.

On Friday, BBC Breakfast will take a comprehensive look at the results and will bring you the latest live reaction from the Runcorn and Helsby by-election. At 12:00 BST, Laura Kuenssberg's Election 2025 Special will be back on BBC Two until 14:00 BST. From 14:00 to 16:00 BST, it will continue on BBC One, and will then switch to the BBC News Channel.

On Sunday 4 May, Politics England will bring you the latest developments live from 10:00 BST on BBC One.

All of our coverage will be available for streaming on BBC iPlayer.

Radio and Sounds

BBC News will be providing results on local radio on Thursday night, along with bulletins on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live. On Friday, the Today programme will bring you all the latest analysis from 06:00 BST.

A special edition of Newscast hosted by Adam Fleming and Chris Mason will also be available on the BBC Live News stream on BBC Sounds from 07:00 BST on Friday. Across the weekend, Laura Kuenssberg and Paddy O'Connell will wrap up the rest of the results with episodes on Saturday and Sunday.

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