To South Koreans weary of the political polarization that led briefly to martial law, President Lee Jae Myung is showing a more human touch than his predecessor. But his biggest challenges lie ahead.
President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea taking questions during a news conference at the Blue House in Seoul last month, after his first 30 days in office.
Watch: How the Trump-Putin summit unfolded in 82 seconds
US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have left Alaska without reaching an agreement for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
After an almost three-hour meeting, the leaders delivered a joint statement to the media before leaving without taking questions.
Three BBC correspondents who are in Anchorage for the summit assess what it means for the US and Russian leaders as well as what happens next in the war in Ukraine.
Meeting dents Trump's reputation as a dealmaker
By North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher
"There's no deal until there's a deal," Donald Trump said early in his post-summit remarks here in Anchorage.
It was a roundabout way of conceding that after several hours of talks, there's no deal. No ceasefire. Nothing tangible to report.
The president said that he and Vladimir Putin made "some great progress", but with little details about what that might be, it's left to the world's imagination.
"We didn't get there," he later said, before exiting the room without taking any questions from the hundreds of gathered reporters.
Trump travelled a long way to only produce such vagaries, even if America's European allies and Ukrainian officials may be relieved he did not offer unilateral concessions or agreements that could have undermined future negotiations.
For the man who likes to tout himself as a peacemaker and a dealmaker, it appears that Trump will leave Alaska with neither.
There are also no indications that a future summit that includes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is forthcoming, Putin's "next time in Moscow" quip about their next meeting notwithstanding.
While Trump had less at stake during these negotiations than Ukraine or Russia, it still will put a dent in his domestic and international prestige after earlier promises that this meeting had only a 25% chance of failure.
What's more, the president had to suffer the apparent indignity of standing silent as Putin started off the press-conference-that-wasn't with extensive opening remarks. It was a marked difference than the normal routine in the Oval Office, when the US president typically holds court while his foreign counterpart looks on without comment.
While Alaska is American territory, Putin seemed more at home in what his officials like to note was once "Russian America" before its 19th Century sale to the US. That may eat at the American president over the comings days, as will press coverage that will present this summit as a flop.
The big question now - one reporters were unable to ask on Friday - is whether Trump will decide to impose his much-threatened new sanctions on Russia as punishment.
The president partially addressed that in the friendly confines of a Fox News interview before flying out, saying that he would consider such a move "maybe in two weeks, three weeks". But given the president promised "severe consequences" if Russia did not move towards a ceasefire, such a unspecific answer may prompt more questions than it answers.
Putin gets his moment in the global spotlight
By Steve Rosenberg, Russia editor
When is a "press conference" not a press conference?
When there are no questions.
There was palpable surprise in the hall when Presidents Putin and Trump left the podium as soon as they'd delivered their statements – without taking any questions.
Members of the Russian delegation, too, left the room swiftly without answering any of the questions journalists were shouting at them.
Clear signs that when it comes to the war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump still have a major difference of opinion.
Donald Trump has been pushing for a Russian ceasefire. Vladimir Putin didn't give it to him.
There was a very different vibe earlier in the day. President Trump had rolled out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin, treating the Kremlin leader as an honoured guest.
Today the Russian president got his moment in the geo-political limelight, sharing the stage with the leader of the world's most powerful country.
But how will Trump react to what happened? He still hasn't managed to persuade Putin to end Russia's war in Ukraine.
Previously he'd threatened a tougher approach to Russia, with ultimatums, deadlines and warnings of more sanctions if Moscow ignored calls for a ceasefire.
He hasn't followed through.
Will he?
Watch: 'If Trump was the president back then there would be no war', says Putin
A sigh of relief from Ukraine - but fear for what's next
By Vitaliy Shevchenko, Russia Editor BBC Monitoring
What just happened in Anchorage may feel anti-climactic for many, but in Kyiv there will be sighs of relief that no "deal" has been announced that would cost Ukraine territory.
People of Ukraine will also know that all of their key deals with Russia have ended up broken, so even if one had been announced here in Anchorage, they would have been sceptical.
Ukrainians will be alarmed, however, that at the joint appearance in front of the media Vladimir Putin yet again spoke of the "root causes" of the conflict and said only their removal would lead to lasting peace.
Translated from Kremlin-speak, this means he is still determined to pursue the original objective of his "special military operation" - which is to dismantle Ukraine as an independent state. Three-and-a-half years of Western efforts have failed to make him change his mind, and that now includes the Alaska summit.
The uncertainty that persists after the meeting is also worrying. What happens next? Will Russia's attacks continue unabated?
The past few months have seen a succession of Western deadlines that came and went without consequences, and threats that were never carried out. Ukrainians see this as an invitation for Putin to continue his attacks. They may see the apparent lack of progress achieved Anchorage in the same light.
Blackpink are the first K-pop girl band to sell a million albums, and the first to headline Wembley Stadium.
South Korean pop band Blackpink reasserted their position as the world's biggest girl group, with a riotous two-and-a-half hour show at Wembley Stadium.
The quartet – comprised of members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa – became the first K-pop girl band to headline the venue, following in the footsteps of Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift, BTS and Oasis.
They rewarded fans with a high-voltage set, full of delirious hooks and crisp choreography, while highlighting their sisterly bond.
"What an absolute honour to be performing here at Wembley Stadium," said Lisa, dedicating the concert to the 70,000-strong audience. "We're absolutely in awe at all of you guys [for] rocking up and making this possible."
"It's an epic dream," added her bandmate Jennie. "And it still feels a little unreal."
"The last time we were here [in London] was insane but this was just a whole other level," concluded Rosé.
"We're really grateful that you guys stuck around and supported us."
YG Entertainment
The band recently released their rave-flavoured comeback single, Jump
The show was the first of two nights at Wembley Stadium, wrapping up the European leg of the band's Deadline tour, which will see them play 31 dates in 16 cities worldwide.
The trek began in Seoul last month, shrewdly accompanied by a new single, Jump - which set a new milestone on YouTube for the most-watched video in a single day, with 26 million views.
By the end of the run, the band are expected to break their own record for the highest-grossing tour by a female group. They previously snatched that title from the Spice Girls, during their 2022-2023 Born Pink world tour.
Killer choreography
The London show opened in a blaze of laser light and pyrotechnics, with three muscle-flexing pop anthems in a row: Kill This Love, How You Like That and Pink Venom.
The stadium was immediately awash with pink, as the audience flew to their feet and waved lightsticks that flashed in time with the pounding beats.
On stage, the dance moves were intricate and precise. Blackpink lined up in formation, peeling off as each member took a vocal line, before recombining like a 16-limbed pop colossus.
During Playing With Fire, the massive video wall at the back of the stage split into four, allowing for close-ups for all of the members, each followed by their own camera, as they danced around the circular catwalk for the first time.
That segued perfectly into Shut Down (complete with a sample of Paganini's second violin concerto, La Campanella), with killer choreography mirrored flawlessly by hundreds of hardcore fans.
The innovative staging allowed fans to focus on their favourite member, with each receiving their own follow-cam
Deadline is billed as a reunion tour, even though it's only two years since Blackpink last played in London.
Rosé teamed up with Bruno Mars for the global smash APT, Lisa starred in The White Lotus, Jennie went viral for her self-referential club hit Like Jennie and Jisoo took the lead role on K-drama Snowdrop.
As a result, the tour alternates between group and solo sections - with British pop star FKA Twigs making a brief cameo eating a scone during a backstage prelude Rosé's set, for some reason.
But if fans feared that time apart would weaken the band, the tour is proving them wrong.
If anything, the singers' personalities come through stronger now that they've had the opportunity to spread their wings.
Lisa is the rabble-rousing rock star, responsible for Blackpink's signature attitude, which she undercuts with a few well-timed winks to the camera.
New Zealand-born Rosé is the cheerleader, handling most of the on-stage chat, while harbouring secret ambitions to be Taylor Swift, judging by the semi-acoustic ballads she belts out during her solo set.
Jennie could be your cool older sister, all dark sunglasses and leather jackets, as she swats away her choreography like a pesky house fly.
Jisoo, meanwhile, is the most reserved member, saying precious few words but taking the lion's share of the high notes and tricky vocal lines.
Like all the best girl groups, every fan can pick a favourite - or bias, in K-pop parlance - who aligns with their own personality.
So while each solo set has a stand-out moment (Like Jennie is so dynamic it could power a small city; and Rosé's APT is built for a stadium-sized singalong), it's when they come together as the "One True 4" that Blackpink really shine.
"All gas, no brakes," as they put it in their comeback single.
Jisoo / Instagram
Jisoo has been posting candid photographs from behind the scenes of the tour on her Instagram page
Early hits like Whistle and DDU-DU-DDU-DU are treated with the same energy and focus as recent favourites such as Lovesick Girls.
Pretty Savage has some of the night's best staging, with the four singers floating in and out of picture frames, before ending the song at a golden ballet barre; while an effervescent Forever Young feels like a hymn to their friendship.
The band's chemistry is particularly evident during Don't Know What To Do, as Lisa and Rosé deliberately bump into each other on the catwalk and collapse in a fit of giggles.
When the song ends, the band spend several minutes chaotically ad libbing to the crowd as Rosé struggles to tie an errant shoelace.
Then, during a reprise of Jump (surely a contender for song of the summer?) the band ditch their prescribed dance moves and toss their heads back and forth like they're in a Wayne's World parody.
And when Rosé asks Jisoo for her verdict on the night, Blackpink's most reticent member simply holds aloft her thumbs.
"Two thumbs up? That's huge!" her bandmates laugh – then squeeze together for a hug, with all eight of their thumbs raised skywards.
In that moment, Blackpink promise this is more than just a comeback. It's the start of a new chapter.
President Trump gave President Vladimir Putin a warm public reception, effectively ending his diplomatic isolation over the past three years for his invasion of Ukraine. But Mr. Putin did not agree to stop the war.
The chief will remain after a lawsuit challenged the Justice Department’s attempt to install a new leader as part of an effort to put the agency under federal control.
Court-mandated oversight will remain in place for migrant children in custody. Lawyers have reported poor medical care and lack of sunlight and showers.
Few East-West meetings have ended with less clarity than Friday’s Trump-Putin summit in Alaska. What was clear, though, was that Vladimir Putin was well satisfied.
Few East-West meetings have ended with less clarity than Friday’s Trump-Putin summit in Alaska. What was clear, though, was that Vladimir Putin was well satisfied.
Thousands of Afghans brought to safety in the UK have had their personal data exposed, after a Ministry of Defence (MoD) sub-contractor suffered a data breach.
The names, passport information and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) details of up to 3,700 Afghans have potentially been compromised after Inflite The Jet Centre, which provides ground-handling services for flights at London Stansted airport, suffered a cyber-security incident.
It comes just a month after it was a revealed another major data breach in 2022 revealed the details of almost 19,000 people who had asked to come to the UK in order to flee the Taliban.
The government said the incident "has not posed any threat to individuals' safety, nor compromised any government systems".
There is currently no evidence to suggest that any data has been released publicly.
The Afghans affected are believed to have travelled to the UK between January and March 2024, under a resettlement scheme for those who worked with British troops.
An email sent out by the Afghan resettlement team on Friday afternoon warned their families that personal information may have been exposed.
"This may include passport details (including name, date of birth, and passport number) and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) reference numbers," it said.
Those affected also include British military personnel and former Conservative government ministers, the BBC understands.
A government spokesperson said: "We were recently notified that a third party sub-contractor to a supplier experienced a cyber security incident involving unauthorised access to a small number of its emails that contained basic personal information.
"We take data security extremely seriously and are going above and beyond our legal duties in informing all potentially affected individuals."
Inflite The Jet Centre said in a statement it believes "the scope of the incident was limited to email accounts only" and has reported it to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
The BBC has contacted the ICO for comment.
The incident follows a February 2022 incident in which the personal data of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to move to the UK under the Arap scheme was mistakenly leaked by a British official, leading to thousands of Afghans being secretly relocated to the UK.
The leaked spreadsheet contained the names, contact details and some family information of the people potentially at risk of harm from the Taliban.
That incident was made public for the first time in July.
Afzal Khan, the UK's trade envoy to Turkey, has resigned after visiting northern Cyprus
Labour MP Afzal Khan has resigned as the UK's trade envoy to Turkey following criticism of his visit last week to the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
The territory isn't recognised by the UK government as Turkish troops have occupied Cyprus' northern third since the 1974 invasion.
Mr Khan, the MP for Manchester Rusholme, also met with Turkish-Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar - a move which the Cypriot government described as "absolutely condemnable and unacceptable".
Mr Khan told the BBC he paid for the trip himself and was visiting his nephew, alongside receiving an honorary degree from an academic institution.
In a letter to the prime minister today, Mr Khan said he felt it was "best to stand down at this time so not to distract from the hard work the government is doing to secure the best possible trade deals for this country".
But he insisted his visit had been "in a personal capacity during the parliamentary recess" and was "unrelated" to his role as a trade envoy.
He also suggested that 20 British parliamentarians had visited northern Cyprus without attracting similar criticism.
The shadow foreign minister Wendy Morton welcomed the resignation, but said Sir Keir Starmer should have sacked Mr Khan sooner.
Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, also called for the MP's resignation earlier this week.
Christos Karaolis, President of the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK, said that Mr Khan's position "was clearly untenable following his deeply inappropriate and unacceptable visit to occupied northern Cyprus".
A Government spokesperson confirmed Mr Khan has left his position as Trade Envoy to the Republic of Türkiye.
Yavar Abbas (left) shakes hands with Quen Camilla at the VJ Day 80th anniversary service
When Capt Yavar Abbas stood on stage in front of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Friday, he wasn't expecting to make headlines.
He was at the official commemoration for the 80th anniversary of VJ - Victory over Japan - Day in Staffordshire as one of the last remaining veterans. Yavar was about to give a short address about his experience on the Asian front. But he decided to go off script.
He told the audience he wished "to salute my brave King who is here with his beloved Queen in spite of the fact that he's under treatment for cancer".
The King and Queen became visibly emotional. Yavar went on to tell the crowd he had been free of cancer too for the past 25 years, receiving a round of applause.
Yavar is 104, and his journey to this moment, which he told to me when I met him earlier this year, is extraordinary.
Getty Images
He was born in Charkhari, a state in British India, in what he describes as a "one-horse town". Officially his birth date is registered in 1921, but Yavar says he was born on 15 December 1920. He was a student when Britain declared war on Nazi Germany on behalf of India in 1939.
From early December 1941, there was a new enemy and a new front. Japan had attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor. Hours later, Japanese forces targeted British colonies in South East Asia. And in just a few months, Japan had taken territory that had been part of the British Empire for more than a century, including Malaya (now Malaysia), Singapore and Burma (now Myanmar).
By mid-1942 Yavar had to make an important decision - fight for the British or for Indian independence. He could not believe how quickly parts of the British Empire had fallen to Japan. There was a palpable fear that India could be next.
"I was not a supporter of British imperialism, in fact I detested it," Yavar tells me. At the time, there was a growing pro-independence movement calling for the British to "Quit India," which was brutally suppressed.
Yavar was aware fighting for the British would mean fighting a war in the name of freedom - while Indians were not free from colonial rule. But, like many Indian nationalists, he did not want Nazism and fascism to prevail.
"I had to choose and hope that if I joined the [British Indian] army, after the war, as they had been promising, I would get independence."
Yavar Abbas/Handout
Yavar as a young man
So Yavar enlisted - and became one of around 2.5 million Indian soldiers to sign up. Initially he joined the 11th Sikh regiment and was posted to a "God-forsaken place" in a remote part of East Bengal, where he spent his days guarding a strategic site - and felt disappointed at the lack of action.
Attitudes among the British officers frustrated him too.
"I found myself in a version of Dad's Army, in the company of white, middle-aged men as my fellow officers, who still considered India to be a crown colony on which they'll have continuing control for the foreseeable future."
One day in the mess, Yavar spotted an advert in The Army Gazette for officers to be trained as combat cameramen. He applied and was soon accepted.
In this role he joined the newly formed British 14th Army, whose aim was to win back territory lost to Japan. The troops of this army were well-trained for jungle warfare, and had better equipment. A multi-national force, in time it would number up to a million soldiers - mostly Indian, but also from other parts of the British Empire - including West and East Africa.
This army felt completely different to Yavar: "It was wonderful camaraderie. There were British and Indians mixing with each other."
Yavar would go on to film on the front lines at many major Allied-Japanese battles of the Burma campaign from 1944. He would travel in his jeep with an assistant, armed with a pistol and a Vinten film camera, a tripod, and many rolls of film. He sent his rushes to Calcutta (now Kolkata), along with dope sheets explaining what the shots were. There they were edited, and the film distributed for propaganda or newsreels.
Yavar was at the siege of Imphal and the battle of Kohima when Japan invaded the strategic north-eastern Indian towns. Japan's aim was to cut off the Allied supply line to China. Repelling Japanese forces at Imphal and Kohima was hugely significant, because success in taking these towns could allow Japan to progress deeper into India and expand its empire.
These battles have been described by some historians as among the most significant of World War Two. British, Gurkha, Indian and African troops decisively halted the offensive into India. Tens of thousands of Japanese forces died. Many killed themselves rather than being taken prisoner in defeat.
Archive Photos/Getty Images
The objective of the 14th Army was to win back British territory lost to Japan
Yavar cannot forget the aftermath of the battles. "It was a horrible sight, Japanese with swords sticking out of their bodies, instead of falling into enemy hands." The British advance to re-take Burma began afterwards.
Yavar was around 30 miles (50km) from Mandalay when he had a brush with death. He tells me how the Japanese put up stiff resistance, and the Allies couldn't advance, so they took cover in shallow trenches. He was in one with a Gurkha unit, but continued to film. He thinks a sniper saw his camera and shot towards him. The Gurkha beside him was hit in the temple and died. Yavar's camera shattered.
"I'm lucky to be alive," he says.
The Battle of Mandalay was a crucial one for the Allies. If they managed to take it, the road to the capital Rangoon (now Yangon), would be open to them. Yavar was in a tank, and decided he needed a better shot of the action. "I just climbed up on top of the trunk and started filming."
The turret opened and he was told by another officer to get down for his own safety. "It was a stupid thing to do, but that's the kind of thing you do when you're young."
Kavita Puri
Dope sheet describing footage from the battle at the Japanese stronghold of Fort Dufferin
The gun battle was intense and the aim was to capture the Japanese stronghold of Fort Dufferin. Yavar filmed the enemy positions being bombed relentlessly from the air.
"They kept on pounding them, pounding them, pounding them," he recalls.
I went to the Imperial War Museum in London and found the footage that Yavar filmed that day. Even without sound, the raw, unedited, black and white images are as dramatic as Yavar described. I returned to his home to show him the footage which he had never seen.
'We didn't achieve anything really': Yavar Abbas looks back at his own film
As he watched it, the events from 80 years all come back and he points at the screen as he remembers.
"That's my shot," he tells me as the British flag is raised in victory over the strategic Fort Dufferin.
He shakes his head watching the images. "It's bizarre to be sitting here and watching all that, and to think that I was in the middle of that."
He says he cannot believe now that 80 years ago he was happy to shoot Japanese forces with his camera, as well as his gun.
"I'm not very proud of that," Yavar says, "but that's how you feel when you are on the front."
Yavar has something to show me, that he had found that morning. He takes out a faded notepad with loose leaves of paper that have yellowed with age. It's his diary from the front line. He had carried an ink pot with him in battle and written in the diary with his fountain pen. He reads out an entry from the day that Fort Dufferin fell on 20 March 1945.
"Thank goodness it is all over and that I'm still alive. I can still hear the noise of shelling not far away. Maybe it is the Japanese guns firing at the Fort. I'll find out tomorrow. Two o'clock in the morning now, and I must go to sleep."
Kavita Puri
Yavar shows the entry from his diary on 20 March 1945, the day Fort Dufferin fell
Yavar wonders aloud how in the midst of battle he found time to sit and write this when he had to be up again at five in the morning.
I ask him if he thinks he is brave. He looks at me as if that is a strange question. "Absolutely not," he says.
On VE Day, 8 May 1945 - when the war ended in Europe - Yavar was in Rangoon filming the recently re-taken capital. However, it was so inconsequential he didn't note it in his diary. Little had changed for him.
The war against Japan was still ongoing. But then, completely unexpectedly months later, America dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan unconditionally surrendered on 15 August 1945, the day that VJ Day is marked each year.
After the war, Yavar was posted with the 268 Indian Brigade as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces under the overall command of US Gen Douglas McArthur. He went to Hiroshima months after the bombing.
Yavar says he saw the wasteland and people with horrific injuries.
"There were no buildings, it was just one tower that was left. Otherwise the whole thing was flat."
It's the first time since we have spoken that Yavar's bearing changes - he has a look of horror as he remembers.
"It still haunts me," he says. "I couldn't believe that human beings could do this to each other. Hiroshima was a terrible experience."
The British did leave India, as Yavar had hoped. In August 1947, India was partitioned and two new states were born: Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.
Yavar was a witness to the bloody aftermath, and was heartbroken at the decision to divide India. Two years later, he came to Britain.
He worked for many years at the BBC as a news cameraman travelling the world. He would go on to be an acclaimed independent film-maker, winning numerous awards.
Yavar Abbas
Yavar worked as a BBC cameraman for many years
VJ Day - on 15 August - is not a day Yavar ever celebrates. Current events weigh heavily on him. Yavar's message, as one of the last remaining survivors of World War Two, is clear.
"War is a crime. War must be banned. I think it's mad. We didn't achieve anything really."
He says at the time he felt he was part of something worthwhile, for the sake of humanity - he doesn't feel that now.
The wars engulfing the world 80 years on - particularly Gaza - are on his mind.
"We seem to have learnt nothing, " Yavar tells me. "The killing of innocent men, women, children, and even babies goes on. And the world, with some honourable exceptions, watches in silence...
"It was all futile, because it's still happening. We haven't learned anything at all."
The actor-turned-governor helped overhaul how California draws political maps. In an interview with The New York Times, he said he would fight to preserve that legacy.
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