At least three people have died in Spain in an incident linked to a massive power cut that shut the country down on Monday, the Civil Guard has told the BBC.

They died in the north-west municipality of Taboadela and were from the same family, according to Spanish media.

Police are reportedly investigating whether carbon monoxide from a faulty electricity generator played a role in their deaths, but the Civil Guard could not provide more details.

Officials are still working to confirm what caused the power cut that triggered chaos across Spain and Portugal on Monday.

The trio who died in Taboadela were a married couple and their adult son, according to the Madrid-based newspaper El Pais.

Their bodies were discovered in their beds by a care worker on Tuesday, El Pais reported.

Other deaths are under investigation, including a woman in Madrid who died in a fire that may have been caused by a candle being used during the blackout, local media reported.

The woman, in her fifties, was found dead on Monday night after a fire broke out in a building in the city's Carabanchel district.

Thirteen people were treated for smoke inhalation, including five who were taken to hospital, according to the city's emergency information office.

Elsewhere, a woman in her forties is reported to have died in Valencia, though there is no clear consensus in Spanish media on the cause of her death.

Local police have suggested the woman, who suffered from a lung condition, died after the ventilator she was using lost power during the outage, according to media reports.

However, El Pais cited regional health sources who said the woman suffered from a number of health conditions and that she died of natural causes.

The blackout caused huge disruption across Spain and Portugal. Andorra and parts of France were also affected.

In Spain and Portugal, traffic lights stopped working, metro systems ground to a halt, and businesses were unable to accept card payments - triggering huge queues at the few cash machines that were still working.

Initially, mobile phone networks also went down, leaving many scrambling for information.

Two cookbook authors have accused TikTok influencer Brooke Bellamy of copying their recipes.

Nagi Maehashi, the Australian founder of popular food website RecipeTin Eats, said Ms Bellamy's cookbook contains recipes with "word-for-word similarities to mine".

Ms Bellamy, who owns the popular Brooki Bakehouse, has rejected her allegations, saying her book contains "100 recipes I have created over many years". One of those in question was created before Ms Maehashi published hers, she claims.

Hours after Ms Maehashi's raised her allegations, US author Sally McKenney also accused Ms Bellamy of plagiarising her vanilla cake recipe.

Ms Maehashi said that a reader pointed out what she described as "remarkable similarities" between her caramel slice recipe and the one in Ms Bellamy's best-selling cookbook Bake with Brooki.

She said she later also discovered similarities between her baklava recipe and Ms Bellamy's, offering a side-by-side comparison in a statement on RecipeTin Eats.

Ms Maehashi is the author of two cookbooks and her website, which she started in 2014, attracts a monthly readership of 45 million page views.

Ms Bellamy is the owner of three Brooki Bakehouse branches, all in Queensland, which were set up in 2022. She is also a popular baker on TikTok with two million followers.

Ms Maehashi said she had contacted Ms Bellamy's publisher, Penguin Random House Australia, adding that they "brought in lawyers and resorted to what felt to me legal intimidation".

"It feels like a blatant exploitation of my work. To see them plagiarised and used in a book for profit, without permission, and without credit, doesn't just feel unfair," she added.

Ms Maehashi has retained her own legal counsel and has written to both Ms Bellamy and Penguin.

Bake with Brooki was published in October 2024 and has since sold A$4.6m (£2.1m; $2.9) worth of copies.

Penguin and Ms Bellamy have both strenuously denied the accusations, with the publisher issuing a response to Ms Maehashi confirming "the recipes in the BWB Book were written by Brooke Bellamy".

Despite maintaining no wrongdoing, Ms Bellamy said she offered to take down the recipes from future reprints "to prevent further aggravation", and that this was communicated "swiftly" to Ms Maehashi.

She added that she had "great respect for Nagi", but has stood by her recipes in a series of Instagram stories.

"Recipe development in today's world is enveloped in inspiration from other cooks, cookbook authors, food bloggers and content creators," she said, adding that the "willingness to share receipes" is what she loves about baking.

Both Ms Maehashi's and Ms Bellamy's cookbooks have been shortlisted for this year's Australian Book Industry Awards.

Ms McKenney, who authors the website Sally's Baking Addiction, accused Ms Bellamy of copying her vanilla cake recipe, which is included in Ms Bellamy's cookbook and YouTube channel.

"Original receipe creators who put in the work to develop and test recipes deserve credit - especially in a best-selling cookbook," Ms McKenny wrote on Instagram.

Singer Katy Perry has admitted feeling "battered and bruised" by the backlash following her recent space trip, but reassured fans she is OK as would "keep looking to the light".

Writing two weeks after the much-derided Blue Origin voyage, which saw her take an 11-minute flight with five other women, the US star said the "online world" had tried to make her a "human Piñata".

Her comments came after fans paid for a billboard in New York to show their support for her ahead of her world tour.

Responding to a fan account that posted a video of the billboard, Perry said she was "so grateful" for her fans, adding they were "in this beautiful and wild journey together".

Perry has been one of pop's most successful singers over the past two decades, but the narrative around her has become more negative in the past year.

A poorly received album was accompanied by a lead single, Woman's World, which had a music video which many viewed as regressive.

She was then criticised for her part in Jeff Bezos's all-female Blue Origin space flight, during which she sung Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World to her fellow passengers, and held up the setlist for her new tour to an in-flight camera.

Some commentators said it was "tone deaf" for celebrities to be taking part in such a fleeting and expensive trip at a time of economic struggle.

However, singer Lily Allen apologised this week for "being mean" about Perry, saying that although she disagreed with the flight, there was no need to join the "pile on" against the singer.

Some fans showed their support for Perry by clubbing together to pay for a digital billboard message in New York's Times Square for 24 hours.

A Brazillian fan account on Instagram explained fans had done it to "remind her that she is never alone; our love for her is boundless, unwavering, and eternal".

"We're so proud of you and your magical journey and we love you to the moon and back.

"Know that you are safe, seen and celebrated. We'll see you around the world, this is just the beginning."

'Unhinged and unhealed' internet

Perry left a comment expressing her gratitude, telling fans: "I love you guys and have grown up together with you and am so excited to see you all over the world this year!

"Please know I am OK, I have done a lot work around knowing who I am, what is real and what is important to me."

She said she is "not perfect", but rather on a "human journey playing the game of life with an audience of many and sometimes I fall".

"But I get back up and go on and continue to play the game and somehow through my battered and bruised adventure I keep looking to the light and in that light a new level unlocks."

She added: "When the 'online' world tries to make me a human Piñata, I take it with grace and send them love, cause I know so many people are hurting in so many ways and the internet is very much so a dumping ground for unhinged and unhealed."

The singer, whose hits include Roar, Firework and I Kissed A Girl, has just started a world tour, which will run until December and visit the US, Canada, South America, Canada, Europe and the United Arab Emirates.

Perry said she was looking forward to "seeing your faces every night, singing in unison, reading your notes, feeling your warmth".

Police in South Africa are searching for answers after the bodies of three police officers - who had been missing for six days - were found in a river.

Boipelo Senoge, aged 20, Cebekhulu Linda, 24, and 30-year-old Keamogetswe Buys were last seen leaving a petrol station near Johannesburg last Wednesday.

Their bodies were discovered by divers around 70km (43 miles) away in Hennops river, along with the remains of two other unnamed persons.

The police initially said they were investigating a case of "possible hijacking and kidnapping" but on Tuesday said they could not speculate whether or not the deaths were accidental.

The three police officers - all constables - were travellng in a white VW Polo when they went missing, a police statement said.

Their vehicle tracking device and mobile phones have been off since then.

A search team subsequently "spent sleepless nights combing the length and breadth" of the Gauteng, Free State and Limpopo provinces, eventually finding parts of a vehicle "believed to be" a VW Polo, said national police commissioner Fannie Masemola.

A Renault Kangoo van was then found nearby on the banks of Hennops river, in the municipality of Centurion.

The three officers were travelling from Free State to Limpopo, when they were went missing.

Divers searched that part of the river and recovered five bodies between Monday and Tuesday.

Along with the three constables, the divers found the remains of a police admin clerk, who has not been named. The clerk had been driving the Renault van, said Gen Masemola.

He added that the fifth body was decomposed and had not yet been identified.

The police are still looking for the VW Polo that the officers were travelling in.

The search for the missing police officers has been followed closely by the South African public and prayers for the three constables had been circulating across social media.

After the bodies were found, devastated loved ones gathered along the banks of the Hennops river, holding candles.

In an address on Tuesday, Gen Masemola said: "We don't want to speculate at this stage what led to the discovery of these bodies in this river, whether it was an accident or not, our investigation will reveal those aspects once we find their vehicle."

This marks a significant change in tone from Sunday, when the commissioner said: "We cannot have criminals undermine the authority of the state by kidnapping three police officers. This is just a stern warning to those behind this incident, either you hand yourselves over, or we will fetch you ourselves."

More South Africa stories from the BBC:

• Racially charged row between Musk and South Africa over Starlink
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• What's really driving Trump's fury with South Africa?
• Trapped underground with decaying bodies, miners faced a dark reality

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

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

The Met Police officer who was cleared of murder after shooting Chris Kaba will face a gross misconduct hearing, the police watchdog has said.

Sgt Martyn Blake, an officer in the specialist firearms unit MO19, shot Mr Kaba in the head after he tried to ram his way out of a police vehicle stop in Streatham on 5 September 2022.

Met Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said: "We made strong representations that he should not face any further action due to the extensive evidence tried and tested at court and the not guilty verdict returned by the jury."

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said its decision was "based on examining all the evidence [and] views of all parties".

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

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

The Prince and Princess of Wales are spending their second and final day on the Isle of Mull with children taking part in an outdoor learning session with forest rangers.

William and Catherine celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary on Tuesday as they began an official visit to the island off the west coast of Scotland.

The royal couple were greeted by more than 200 cheering tourists and local residents who had lined the main street of Tobermory.

Their final day of the mini-tour will focus on the natural world, which Catherine has previously described as her family's "sanctuary".

The Royal Foundation's Community Impact Programme is providing funding to safeguard two nature warden roles on Mull and neighbouring Iona.

The couple joined a group of children for a session on nature trails, den building and animal tracking at Ardura Community Forest.

The visit aims to highlight the importance of protecting and championing the natural environment.

Afterwards, William and Catherine will spend private time on Iona after taking the public ferry from Mull.

The couple released a romantic image on their social media accounts on Tuesday evening to mark their 14th anniversary.

They were married at Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011, when tens of thousands of people lining the streets for their wedding procession to Buckingham Palace.

The Duke and Duchess of Rothesay, as they are officially known when in Scotland, met while studying at the University of St Andrews.

Sign up here to get the latest royal stories and analysis every week with our Royal Watch newsletter. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

Why has it been so warm?

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Is this warm spell related to climate change?

Three more concerts by Irish rap band Kneecap have been cancelled in Germany.

It comes after news that footage of the band allegedly calling for MPs to be killed is being assessed by counter-terrorism police.

A ticket site for the gigs in Hamburg, Berlin and Cologne states that the summer shows are no longer going ahead.

A number of politicians have been calling for the band to be uninvited from some UK gigs, with Tory MP Mark Francois saying the group should not be allowed to play Glastonbury in light of the ongoing police investigation.

Speaking on RTÉ's Prime Time on Tuesday, the band's manager said "moral hysteria" had taken hold and that the band are being held to a higher moral standard than politicians.

Daniel Lambert claimed a "concerted campaign" against the group is "solely about de-platforming artists".

"It's about telling the next young band, both through the music industry and through the political class, that you cannot speak about Palestine," he said.

On having gigs cancelled, the band's manager said: "It's not for us to worry, it's for us to have the strength of conviction that we did the right thing."

He added that going to Coachella was the right thing to do, and "all of this has emerged from that".

TV personality Sharon Osbourne called for the band's US work visas to be revoked after their performance at the Coachella music festival in California earlier this month, where they described Israel's military action in Gaza as a US-funded genocide.

Which Kneecap gigs have been cancelled?

Scheduled appearances at Hurricane and Southside festivals, also in Germany, were cancelled last week.

A gig at the Eden Project in Cornwall has also been cancelled.

On Tuesday, an Eden Sessions Limited spokesperson said: "Ticket purchasers will be contacted directly and will be fully refunded."

The band are set to support Fontaines DC at Boucher Playing Fields, Belfast, in August.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show, councillor Jim Rodgers said "serious consideration should be given" on whether the concert should go ahead.

"I've already spoken to some of the council officers and I'm hoping that the necessary action will be taken. We have to lead by example," he said.

"We would be sending out the wrong message if we were to allow this group to go ahead with their event."

A Belfast City Council spokesperson said: "Use of the venue for these events is managed via a legal agreement between the council and the promoter. Events programming remains a matter for the organisers.

"Any matter that an elected member wishes to raise would be considered by the relevant committee and full council."

Who are Kneecap?

Kneecap are an Irish-speaking rap trio who have courted controversy with their provocative lyrics and merchandise.

The group was formed in 2017 by three friends who go by the stage names of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí.

Their rise to fame inspired a semi-fictionalised film starring Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender.

The film won a British Academy of Film Award (Bafta) in February 2025.

'Smear campaign'

Last week, a video emerged of the west Belfast trio at a November 2023 gig appearing to show one person from the band saying: "The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP."

The daughter of the Conservative MP David Amess whose father was stabbed to death at a constituency surgery called for Kneecap to apologise.

In a statement on X, the band said that "an extract of footage, deliberately taken out of all context, is now being exploited and weaponised, as if it were a call to action".

They also called some of the backlash a "smear campaign" and said it was "a transparent effort to derail the real conversation" away from their messages of "love" and support for Palestine.

They added: "To the Amess and Cox families, we send our heartfelt apologies, we never intended to cause you hurt."

On Tuesday, the husband of murdered MP Jo Cox called on Kneecap to give a "real apology".

Brendan Cox, whose wife was killed in June 2016, said this was "only half an apology".

None of the members of Kneecap have been charged with any offences.

The Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate has condemned the arrest of a prominent local journalist by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.

Ali al-Samoudi, who has worked extensively with Western media, was detained during a raid on his son's home in the northern city of Jenin early on Tuesday.

The 58-year-old was interrogated for half an hour at an unknown location and was later transferred to an Israeli hospital due to a deterioration in his health, his son Mohammed said.

The Israeli military said Samoudi was "identified with the [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation" and "suspected in the transfer of funds" to it, without giving any evidence.

His family strongly denied his involvement and said that in his long career he had never previously faced such an accusation.

They said Israeli authorities had not told them the name of the hospital where he was being treated or any other details.

He is expected to be brought before a military court next Tuesday.

The Israeli military separately announced on Tuesday that security forces had detained a total of 24 wanted individuals "involved in the transfer of funds to terrorist organisations", including three from Jenin, during raids across the West Bank.

In May 2022, Samoudi was working with the Palestinian-American Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Aqla when she was shot dead by an Israeli sniper at the entrance to Jenin refugee camp. He was shot and wounded in the back.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Israeli forces have arrested at least 79 journalists in the West Bank and Gaza since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, while Palestinian authorities have arrested five others.

Another 176 journalists, almost all of them Palestinian, have been killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and Lebanon during the war, the organisation says.

Taiwan has condemned Somalia for banning travellers with Taiwanese passports from entering or transiting through the East African country.

The ban took effect on Wednesday following an order issued by Somali aviation authorities last week, Taiwan's foreign ministry said.

Somalia is yet to comment on the ban which comes as Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by China, boosts ties with Somaliland, which broke away from Somalia 34 years ago, but remains mostly unrecognised internationally.

In 2020, Somaliland and Taiwan set up embassies in each other's capitals, angering both China and Somalia.

Somalia's civil aviation authority issued a notice to airlines saying that Taiwanese passports "will no longer be valid for entry into or transit through the Federal Republic of Somalia" from 30 April, Taiwan's foreign ministry said in a statement late on Tuesday.

• Somaliland and Taiwan: Two territories with few friends but each other

"The ministry of foreign affairs has strongly protested Somalia's action made under the instigation of China to restrict the travel freedom and safety of Taiwanese nationals and has demanded that the Somali government immediately revoke the notice," the ministry said.

It condemned Somalia's "misinterpretation" of UN Resolution 2758 by linking it with the "one China" principle.

The ministry urged Taiwanese against traveling to Somalia or Somaliland for their own safety before Somalia reverses the ban, Taiwanese media reported.

Neither Somaliland nor Somalia has commented.

China said it "highly appreciates" the ban, calling it a "legitimate measure" that "reflects Somalia's firm adherence to the one-China principle", Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told journalists on Wednesday, according to the AFP news agency.

Taiwan has its own constitution and holds regular, multiparty elections to choose its own leaders.

China insists Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force if necessary to bring the island under its control.

Following a diplomatic push by China, Taiwan - officially known as the Republic of China - is only recognised by a handful of countries.

Somaliland, which is not recognised by any other sovereign state, unilaterally declared independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, following the collapse of the dictatorial regime in Somalia led by the late General Mohamed Siad Barre.

Somaliland also holds regular elections, while many parts of Somalia are under the control of the al-Shabab militant group, which is linked to al-Qaeda.

Somalia sees Somaliland as part of its territory and has condemned Ethiopia for striking a deal with the Somaliland authorities to lease one of its ports.

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

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

The Colombian government says 15 police officers and 12 soldiers have been killed over the past two weeks in targeted attacks it blames on armed groups.

President Gustavo Petro accused the Gulf Clan criminal gang and other armed groups of targeting members of the security forces in revenge for the recent killing of several of their leaders.

The government has offered a reward for information leading to the arrest of those behind the attacks.

Petro was elected on a promise to bring "total peace" to Colombia, but on Friday his interior minister acknowledged that the strategy was "not going well", following the breakdown of talks with the Gulf Clan and several other armed groups.

Petro published a list on X of the names of the 15 police officers and 12 soldiers which he said had been "systematically" killed since 15 April.

According to the list, 10 of the police officers were murdered on duty, while five were killed off duty.

Seven of the soldiers on the list all died in a single ambush on Sunday in Guaviare province. The army has blamed that attack on a dissident Farc rebel group.

The Farc, short for Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, signed a peace deal with the government in 2016 and most of its fighters laid down their arms.

But a considerable number of Farc rebels who did not agree with the deal formed dissident groups which have continued to fight the security forces.

In an effort to bring peace to Colombia, Petro's government held talks with some of these dissident groups, as well as with rebels of the National Liberation Army (ELN), and members of the Gulf Clan criminal gang.

But Petro suspended the talks with the ELN in January, accusing it of having "no will for peace".

He also opted not to renew a ceasefire with a dissident Farc rebel group in April.

Talks with the Gulf Clan also stalled after police launched an operation against the group's leader, known as "Chiquito Malo" (Spanish for "Bad Shorty"), in February.

Chiquito Malo escaped unharmed, but days later another senior leader, known as "Terror", and his bodyguards were killed by police.

The Colombian government says that the Gulf Clan ordered its members to kill on- and off-duty police officers and soldiers in revenge for these operations.

Police in South Africa are searching for answers after the bodies of three police officers - who had been missing for six days - were found in a river.

Boipelo Senoge, aged 20, Cebekhulu Linda, 24, and 30-year-old Keamogetswe Buys were last seen leaving a petrol station near Johannesburg last Wednesday.

Their bodies were discovered by divers around 70km (43 miles) away in Hennops river, along with the remains of two other unnamed persons.

The police initially said they were investigating a case of "possible hijacking and kidnapping" but on Tuesday said they could not speculate whether or not the deaths were accidental.

The three police officers - all constables - were travellng in a white VW Polo when they went missing, a police statement said.

Their vehicle tracking device and mobile phones have been off since then.

A search team subsequently "spent sleepless nights combing the length and breadth" of the Gauteng, Free State and Limpopo provinces, eventually finding parts of a vehicle "believed to be" a VW Polo, said national police commissioner Fannie Masemola.

A Renault Kangoo van was then found nearby on the banks of Hennops river, in the municipality of Centurion.

The three officers were travelling from Free State to Limpopo, when they were went missing.

Divers searched that part of the river and recovered five bodies between Monday and Tuesday.

Along with the three constables, the divers found the remains of a police admin clerk, who has not been named. The clerk had been driving the Renault van, said Gen Masemola.

He added that the fifth body was decomposed and had not yet been identified.

The police are still looking for the VW Polo that the officers were travelling in.

The search for the missing police officers has been followed closely by the South African public and prayers for the three constables had been circulating across social media.

After the bodies were found, devastated loved ones gathered along the banks of the Hennops river, holding candles.

In an address on Tuesday, Gen Masemola said: "We don't want to speculate at this stage what led to the discovery of these bodies in this river, whether it was an accident or not, our investigation will reveal those aspects once we find their vehicle."

This marks a significant change in tone from Sunday, when the commissioner said: "We cannot have criminals undermine the authority of the state by kidnapping three police officers. This is just a stern warning to those behind this incident, either you hand yourselves over, or we will fetch you ourselves."

More South Africa stories from the BBC:

• Racially charged row between Musk and South Africa over Starlink
• Is it checkmate for South Africa after Trump threats?
• What's really driving Trump's fury with South Africa?
• Trapped underground with decaying bodies, miners faced a dark reality

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

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica