Weeks after she hid from the cameras in the Oval Office, Gretchen Whitmer welcomed the president to her state as he delivered the federal funding she had sought for an air base.
Kyle believed God was looking out for him when he survived a violent farm robbery in South Africa eight years ago with only a black eye and broken ribs. The robbers failed to get the kettle and iron working, so were unable to burn anyone. Then the gun trigger jammed when they tried to shoot Kyle in the spine.
“They specifically said they were coming back for this farm … [that] it was their land,” said the 43-year-old, who did not want to use his full name. “Only afterwards, we found out that the guy that stays on the plot was actually killed … the farmhand … I don’t know what his name was.”
Kyle, a divorced father of three, is one of thousands of white South Africans hoping to take up Donald Trump’s offer of refugee status, to escape crime and what they allege is discrimination against white people.
The Trump administration’s support for these claims, while stopping other new refugee arrivals, has inflamed uncomfortable conversations about how far racial reconciliation still has to go, three decades after the end of white minority rule.
The US president’s offer was a “godsend”, said Kyle, now a salesman working remotely for an overseas company: “I’ve got white children, they’re at the bottom of the hiring list here. So, there is no future for them. And the sad thing is they don’t even know what apartheid is.”
White Afrikaner governments racially segregated every aspect of life from relationships to where people were allowed to live during apartheid, repressing South Africa’s Black majority while keeping the white minority safe and much better off.
South Africa remains deeply unequal, more than 30 years since the system ended. The black South African unemployment rate is 46.1%, for example, compared with 9.2% for white people.
Affirmative action has created a Black elite, but also nurtured feelings of disfranchisement among some white South Africans. Less than two-thirds of white South Africans agreed that apartheid deprived black people of their livelihoods, v three-quarters of Black South Africans, according to the 2023 Reconciliation Barometer, a survey by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, a thinktank.
Kate Lefko-Everett, the report’s author, said: “The level of contact and interaction between South Africans of different race groups has not really changed substantially.”
South Africa’s high violent crime rate – in the last quarter of 2024 there were almost 7,000 murders, according to police figures – affects everyone. But it has also added to a siege mentality among some white people. Almost two-thirds of white people were considering emigrating, compared with 27% of all South Africans, according to 2022 Afrobarometer data.
More than 8,200 people have registered their interest in US refugee status, the New York Times reported in March. The US embassy in Pretoria refused to comment.
Chilly Chomse, a 43-year-old carpenter, said he wanted to claim asylum for the sake of his four daughters.
He moved to Orania, a white, Afrikaner-only town, for work during the Covid-19 pandemic, but said he was not committed like some residents: “Once you leave this Orania premises, you are still in South Africa … you’re not safe and you can’t remain here 24/7 for the rest of your life.”
While some white English-speaking South Africans like Kyle hope the refugee programme will include them too, Trump’s February executive order referred to “ethnic minority Afrikaners”. It claimed a recently signed South African law that allows land expropriation in limited circumstances would enable the government to seize Afrikaners’ property, while state policy was “fuelling disproportionate violence against racially disfavoured landowners” (a longstanding far-right claim).
When Esté Richter, a friend of Chomse’s in Orania, heard about Trump’s refugee policy, she initially did not believe it. “Then I felt that someone has heard us, finally, that someone has heard the cries of Afrikaners,” said Richter, 35, who homeschools her two children and helps her husband with plumbing jobs.
“The main reason why we are looking at the refugee programme is in September 2022 my husband’s father was murdered on his farm,” she said. Richter’s mother-in-law was burned with a hot iron, beaten up and abandoned in the bush, but survived.
The Afrikaner rights group AfriForum met Trump allies in the US during his first term, claiming the South African government was “complicit” in white farmer murders. The group, which has 300,000 members, continues to claim that “Afrikaners are the target”.
Rudolph Zinn, a University of Limpopo professor, noted South African police data on farm attacks – which listed 12 “farming community” murders in the final quarter of 2024 – included black smallholder farms and non-commercial plots.
He said: “It’s definitely not linked to any political motive or a specific race. It’s all about the money.”
Zinn said imprisoned farm robbers he interviewed said they would tailor their language to instil as much fear as possible to get victims to hand over cash and valuables. “If it’s a white victim, then they would say: ‘I hate you because you’ve taken our land.’ But the very same offender would, when it’s a Black victim, say: ‘You’re a coconut, black on the outside, but inside you’re white.’”
Both AfriForum, which promotes staying in South Africa, and the prospective refugees raised the controversial Kill the Boer song as a reason for their fears. A South African court ruled in 2022 that the song, sung by the populist, far-left Economic Freedom Fighters party at political rallies, was not meant literally.
Sam Busa, a 60-year-old business consultant of British descent, wants to claim asylum for herself and her three adult sons. She set up an “Amerikaners” website and social media pages to disseminate information, and gathered 30,000 signatures to thank Trump for offering refugee status.
She said: “We’re in, in my personal opinion, an advanced stage of a genocide potentially unfolding. What that does is it effectively throws out any argument about economic status.”
If last year's general election was all consuming and everywhere, this year's local elections, in truth, are neither.
That is not to denigrate for a moment how much they matter in the places where they are happening, nor the extent to which they will mould the mood of national politics in their aftermath.
So there is a very good chance you are reading this in a part of the country without any contests.
And there is a good chance too, given what I hear from the political parties, that your heart might not be pulsating in ecstasy even if the community centre down the road is morphing into a polling station tomorrow.
I detect a curious paradox right now: anger confronts an expectation of widespread indifference.
Turnout in local elections that do not coincide with a general election are almost always shrivelled.
But what I pick up anecdotally – I've just spent the last few days in Lincolnshire, reporting on the race to be the county's first directly elected mayor – matches what the research group More in Common has picked up in focus groups.
The group's UK Director, Luke Tryl, diagnoses a "despondency or misery about the state of Britain that doesn't feel sustainable".
Put that sentiment, reduced turnout and a splintering of party support in all sorts of directions into the mixer and what you end up with is a wildly unpredictable politics where the margins between victory and defeat could be very narrow indeed.
Or to put it more bluntly: if not many votes in total then go in lots of different directions, two things are likely: the gap between the winner and the runners-up might be rather limited, and the share of the vote needed to win could be very small.
And winning on a small share of the vote raises immediate questions about your mandate.
The elections analyst Sir John Curtice argues in the Telegraph that "the mainstream is dead", five parties have a chance of making real inroads in these contests and what stands out now is that both Labour and the Conservatives are struggling, rather than the conventional dynamic of one being up while the other is down.
The Conservatives have spent weeks talking up how down they feel about these elections.
And senior Labour folk too are cranking up the gloom in the conversations I have with them.
Which then leaves us with Reform UK, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and an often overlooked element of local English democracy – independents.
This is a huge moment for Reform.
One of the standout trends in British politics since the general election last year has been the party's rising support in the opinion polls.
What Thursday will test is the extent to which that translates into real votes in real elections.
The party's talk is big – they say they can win the next general election. The next few days will give us a sense of how or whether, albeit up to four years out from choosing the next government, that is a plausible claim.
When you wake up on Friday morning. if, unlike political nerds, you have actually been to bed, the headlines that will greet you will be about Reform.
That is because a lot of the contests where there is an expectation that they could win are being counted overnight.
There is the parliamentary by-election in Runcorn and Helsby near Liverpool and the race to be Lincolnshire's first mayor, for a start.
Later in the day on Friday, the emphasis will shift somewhat, as local authorities particularly but not exclusively in the south of England do their counting, and the Liberal Democrats will be looking to make extensive gains against the Conservatives in particular and we will be able to assess if the Green Party's collection of councillors has grown again.
It is only by Friday teatime that we will have a rounded picture of how all of the parties and the independents contesting these elections have fared.
And then the debate on what it all means will begin.
For generations Sherwen Sergeli and his family have made a living from his village's land, but that's now under threat
Nestled in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan sits the picturesque village of Sergele.
For generations villagers have made a living growing pomegranates, almonds and peaches and foraging in the surrounding forests for wild fruits and spices.
But Sergele, located 16km (10 miles) from the border with Turkey, has become increasingly surrounded by Turkish military bases, which are dotted across the slopes.
One, perched halfway up the western ridge, looms over the village, while another in the east is under construction.
At least seven have been built here over the past two years, including one by a small dam that regulates Sergele's water supply, rendering it off limits to villagers.
"This is 100% a form of occupation of Kurdish [Iraqi Kurdistan] lands," says farmer Sherwan Sherwan Sergeli, 50, who has lost access to some of his land.
"The Turks ruined it."
Phil Caller
Sergele, a village in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, is now on the front line of Turkey's war with the Kurdish militant PKK group
Sergele is now in danger of being dragged into what's known locally as the "Forbidden Zone" - a large strip of land in northern Iraq affected by Turkey's war with the Kurdish militant group the PKK, which launched an insurgency in southern Turkey in 1984.
The Forbidden Zone spans almost the entire length of the Iraqi border with Turkey and is up to 40km (25 miles) deep in places.
Community Peacemaker Teams, a human rights group based in Iraqi Kurdistan, says that hundreds of civilians have been killed by drone and air strikes in and around the Forbidden Zone. According to a 2020 Kurdistan parliamentary report, thousands have been forced off their land and whole villages have been emptied out by the conflict.
Sergele is now effectively on the front line of Turkey's war with the PKK.
When the BBC World Service Eye Investigations team visited the area, Turkish aircraft pummelled the mountains surrounding the village to root out PKK militants, who have long operated from caves and tunnels in northern Iraq.
Much of the land around Sergele had been burned by shelling.
"The more bases they put up, the worse it gets for us," says Sherwan.
Turkey has been rapidly growing its military presence in the Forbidden Zone in recent years, but until now the scale of this expansion was not publicly known.
Using satellite imagery assessed by experts and corroborated with on-the-ground reporting and open-source content, the BBC found that as of December 2024, the Turkish military had built at least 136 fixed military installations across northern Iraq.
Through its vast network of military bases, Turkey now holds de-facto control of more than 2,000 sq km (772 square miles) of Iraqi land, the BBC's analysis found.
Satellite images further reveal that the Turkish military has built at least 660km (410 miles) of roads connecting its facilities. These supply routes have resulted in deforestation and left a lasting imprint on the region's mountains.
While a few of the bases date back to the 1990s, 89% have been constructed since 2018, after which Turkey began significantly expanding its military presence in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The Turkish government didn't respond to the BBC's requests for interviews, but has maintained that its military bases are necessary to push back the PKK, which is designated a terrorist organisation by Ankara and a number of Western nations, including the UK.
Phil Caller
Salam Saeed, whose land is in the shadow of a large Turkish military base, has not been able to cultivate his vineyard for three years
The sub-district capital of Kani Masi, which is only 4km (2.5 miles) from the Iraqi-Turkish border and parts of which are within the Forbidden Zone, may offer a glimpse into Sergele's future.
Once famous for its apple production, few residents remain here now.
Farmer Salam Saeed, whose land is in the shadow of a large Turkish base, hasn't been able to cultivate his vineyard for the past three years.
"The moment you get here, you will have a drone hover over you," he tells the BBC.
"They will shoot you if you stay."
The Turkish military first set up here in the 1990s and has been consolidating its presence since.
Its main military base, featuring concrete blast walls, watch and communication towers and space for armoured personnel carriers to move inside, is much more developed than the smaller outposts around Sergele.
Salam, like some other locals, believes Turkey ultimately wants to claim the territory as its own.
"All they want is for us to leave these areas," he adds.
Phil Caller
Few residents remain in Kani Masi, where a large Turkish military base (pictured) is now present
Little leverage
Near Kani Masi, the BBC saw first-hand how Turkish forces have effectively pushed back the Iraqi border guard, which is responsible for protecting Iraq's international boundaries.
At several locations, the border guards were manning positions well inside Iraqi territory, directly opposite Turkish troops, unable to go right up to the border and potentially risk a clash.
"The posts that you see are Turkish posts," says General Farhad Mahmoud, pointing to a ridge just across a valley, about 10km (6 miles) inside Iraqi territory.
But "we cannot reach the border to know the number of posts", he adds.
Turkey's military expansion in Iraqi Kurdistan - fuelled by its rise as a drone power and growing defence budget - is seen as part of a broader foreign policy shift towards greater interventionism in the region.
Similar to its operations in Iraq, Turkey has also sought to establish a buffer zone along its border with Syria to contain Syrian armed groups allied with the PKK.
In public, Iraq's government has condemned Turkey's military presence in the country. But behind closed doors it has accommodated some of Ankara's demands.
In 2024, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly fight the PKK.
But the document, obtained by the BBC, did not place any limitations on Turkish troops in Iraq.
Iraq depends on Turkey for trade, investment and water security, while its fractured internal politics have further undermined the government's ability to take a strong stance.
Iraq's national government did not respond to the BBC requests for comment.
Meanwhile, the rulers of the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan have a close relationship with Ankara based on mutual interests and have often downplayed the civilian harm due to Turkey's military action.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), an arch enemy of the PKK, dominates the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and has officially been in charge since 2005, when Iraq's constitution granted the region its semi-autonomous status.
The KDP's close ties with Turkey have contributed to the region's economic success and have strengthened its position, both against its regional political rivals and with the Iraqi government in Baghdad, with which it tussles for greater autonomy.
Hoshyar Zebari, a senior member of the KDP's politburo, sought to blame the PKK for Turkey's presence in Iraqi Kurdistan.
"They [the Turkish military] are not harming our people," he told the BBC.
"They are not detaining them. They are not interfering in them going about their business. Their focus, their sole goal is the PKK."
Phil Caller
When Hashem Shaker filed a complaint after surviving an air strike he was detained by Kurdish security forces and held for eight months on suspicion of supporting the PKK - an accusation he and his family deny
The conflict shows no signs of ending, despite the PKK's long-jailed leader Abdulla Ocalan calling in February for his fighters to lay down arms and disband.
Turkey has continued to shell targets across Iraqi Kurdistan, while the PKK claimed responsibility for downing a Turkish drone last month.
And while violent incidents in Turkey have declined since 2016, according to a tally by the NGO Crisis Group, those in Iraq have spiked, with civilians living on the border region facing growing risk of death and displacement.
One of those killed was 24-year-old Alan Ismail, a stage-four cancer patient hit by an air strike in August 2023 while on a trip to the mountains with his cousin, Hashem Shaker.
The Turkish military has denied carrying out a strike that day, but a police report seen by the BBC attributes the incident to a Turkish drone.
When Hashem filed a complaint in a local court about the attack he was detained by Kurdish security forces and held for eight months on suspicion of supporting the PKK - an accusation he and his family deny.
"It has destroyed us. It's like killing the whole family," says Ismail Chichu, Alan's father.
"They [the Turks] have no rights to kill people in their own country on their own land."
Turkey's Defence Ministry did not respond to the BBC's requests for comment. It has previously told the media that the Turkish armed forces follow international law, and that in the planning and execution of their operations they only target terrorists, while taking care to prevent harm to civilians.
Phil Caller
Ismail Chichu says he wants the Kurdish authorities to acknowledge his son's death and send their condolences
The BBC has seen documents suggesting Kurdish authorities may have acted to help Turkey evade accountability for civilian casualties.
Confidential papers seen by the BBC show a Kurdish court closed the investigation into Alan's killing, saying the perpetrator was unknown.
And his death certificate - issued by Kurdish authorities and seen by the BBC - says he died because of "explosive fragments".
Failing to mention when victims of air strikes have died as a result of violence, rather than an accident, makes it difficult for families to seek justice and compensation, to which they're entitled under both Iraqi and Kurdish law.
"In most of the death certificates, they only wrote 'infijar', which means explosion," says Kamaran Othman from Community Peacemaker Teams.
"It can be anything exploding.
"I think the Kurdish Regional Government doesn't want to make Turkey responsible for what they are doing here."
The KRG said it acknowledged the "tragic loss of civilians resulting from military confrontation between the PKK and Turkish army in the region".
It added that "a number of casualties" had been documented as "civilian martyrs", meaning they have been unjustly killed and entitling them to compensation.
Almost two years after Alan was killed, his family is still waiting, if not for compensation, at least for acknowledgement from the KRG.
"They could at least send their condolences - we don't need their compensation," says Ismail.
"Wills & Kate on love island" reports The Sun as the royal pair make a "romantic getaway" to the Isle of Mull in western Scotland. The trip marks the 14th wedding anniversary of the Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales, who are known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay when in Scotland. The visit includes trying "whisky and haggis in Tobermory", the tabloid writes. Meeting a young girl who also survived cancer, Kate is said to have told her "well done, girl".
Kate is dubbed "lady of the smiles" by the Daily Mail, sharing a photo of her laughing. In parallel, the paper highlights the "notorious hackers" behind the "M&S cyber raid". It reports that "a shadowy group operating under the name Scattered Spider" were to blame for the attack, "which has crippled the retailer for more than a week". The group is "made up of 1,000 mainly British and American youths and young men", according to the Mail.
Former Labour Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair has told Sir Keir Starmer "net zero is doomed", The Daily Telegraph reports. In its top story, the paper says Sir Tony called the current environmental policy solutions "inadequate" and said that they were "increasingly viewed as unaffordable, ineffective or politically toxic".
The Times echoes the Telegraph with Sir Tony's warning. Unlike the Telegraph though, the paper reports on the end to the Canadian election: "Trump will not break us, vows Carney" after his "triumph". Elsewhere on the front page, "pupils say toodle-oo to playing the recorder" as the instrument "risks going the way of the lute and the harpsichord" and falling out of favour.
"Blair blows hole in Labour's net-zero plan" writes The i Paper, highlighting the former PM's comments that plans to stop using fossil fuels will "fail". Sir Tony's alternate solution of "tech such as AI and small nuclear reactors" is something "government insiders insist" Sir Kier agrees on. A small picture of opposition leader Kemi Badenoch features below larger portraits of the two Labour leaders with the caption "Badenoch the blunderer walks into another fine mess". The i also marks 100 days of US President Donald Trump's second presidency saying "Musk is biggest loser of inner circle".
Clapping and grinning amid supporters, Canadian election victor and now Prime Minister Mark Carney makes the front page photo of the Financial Times. The Liberal party leader "capitalised on a patriotic surge in the face of US President Donald Trump's tariffs", it writes. Below, "US trade gap breaks record" as Trump's tariffs trigger a "surge in imports". The deficit between American imports and exports has widened from $92.8bn this time last year to $162bn, the FT reports. It also writes of how the "golden passport" scheme in Malta has been "ruled illegal" by the European Court of Justice.
A large picture of newly elected Carney also features on the front page of The Guardian with the headline "America will never own us". Several stories from the US also make top billing: Trump's trade deal with the UK has been made a "second-order priority" according to officials and the White House has accused Amazon of a "hostile and political act". The tech giant had planned to inform shoppers of the amount Trump's tariffs would cost them "as they shopped", the Guardian writes. The paper also reports on a story of a Ukrainian journalist who reportedly died by torture in a Russian jail.
"Our children are starving" writes the Daily Mirror in block capitals. It draws attention to "mums' desperate plea" as the Israeli blockade on Gaza which cut off aid supplies on 2 March "leaves 65,000 kids suffering from malnutrition". A photo of a young girl in the crush of a crowd with bowls outstretched around her fills the page.
The duo accused of chopping down the 150-year old sycamore on Hadrian's Wall were "on a moronic mission" says Metro. Friends Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers drove 40 minutes to fell the tree, sending each other videos of its downfall afterwards, it writes.
"Women's battle for safe spaces goes on" headlines the Daily Express in reference to the recent Supreme Court judgment that confirmed the term "woman" refers to a biological woman in the 2010 Equality Act. Transgender former judge Victoria McCloud has written to the European Court of Human Rights saying the judgment "violated her civil liberties". Academic Kathleen Stock, who is a "gender critical campaigner", called her a "moron", according to the paper. Also on the front page of the Express, former MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace "did make sex act remark to my male friend".
"Give us sun days off boss" asks the Daily Star as the UK faces "siesta sizzler". Without a day off, the Star writes "we'll call in sick, or, ahem, work from home."
People use candles in the streets of the city Ourense in north-western Spain
The power is out and nothing is working. How am I supposed to get through the day?
That was the question faced by millions of people on Monday across Spain and Portugal during the worst electricity blackout in their history.
We ask people who spent the day without electricity about what helped them get on with life and what outage essentials they were missing.
Cash
EPA
People form a queue at a cash point in Madrid
Paying with phone and card has become the norm, but in cities across Spain and Portugal, queues formed at cash machines - at least the ones that were still working - as shops switched away from card payments.
"We managed to pay for our coffees with card when the outage first started, [but later] we didn't have any cash so we couldn't buy a thing," Ed Rowe, 26, in Madrid told the BBC.
"All the restaurants that were open were cash only."
Grace O'Leary, 32, who also lives in Spain's capital, said she and her mum were counting coins to see if she had enough money to buy wine from a corner shop.
"Cash, apparently, is in fact, king."
Jaime Giorgio, 28, was lucky enough to have some cash on him, which allowed him to buy food and other essentials.
"In Madrid it was quite chaotic, there was no tube and you couldn't take out any cash.
"I had cash, but my flatmate didn't, so I had to lend him money to buy things."
Radio
Buschschluter family
This windup radio allowed the Buschschluters to tune into radio station
The power outage also led to an information blackout, as people spent the day without internet, WhatsApp, calls, and TV.
"The complete loss of communication was the most confusing and concerning thing... we were only left to speculate as to the cause and piece together news from people in the neighbourhood," said Daniel Clegg from Barcelona.
The 42-year-old said the absence of information led him to looking at the sky to see if planes were still flying.
For Siegfried and Christine Buschschluter, an old windup transistor radio helped tune in to local radio stations to find out what was happening after their phones stopped working and power went off at their rural home outside Spain's capital.
Christine, 82, explained: "You had to keep on winding and winding.
"It was quite a strange situation. I was born in Berlin during the war and it reminded me of those days when my parents tried to get some news - it took me back."
The couple reckon the outage will lead to boom in demand for battery-operated radios.
And it is also on Daniel's shopping list. "Essential kit for back to basics communication and staying informed that I completely neglected to remember."
Tinned food
Jaime Giorgio
Jaime Giorgio walked across Madrid to take essentials to his family
Microwaves, air fryers and some hobs and ovens all demand electricity.
But on Monday food that does not require electricity to heat or prepare it were in demand.
In supermarkets, shoppers formed long queues and panic-bought essentials - echoing scenes from the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We bought a lot of food that wasn't going to go off, like tuna in cans, just in case," says actor Jaime.
"The outage only lasted a day and now we have so much food, but most of it isn't going to go bad, as it is easily preserved."
Lesley Elder, in town Fortuna in south-eastern Spain, said: "Trying to find food you don't need to heat up, that was more difficult than we thought.
"So we ended up having ham and cheese for dinner."
She adds a little gas stove to heat up food in a pan would have been helpful.
Candles and torches
EPA
People turned to candles to light up their homes
Across the Iberian peninsula, people turned to candles to light up dark spaces.
Richard, who lives in the Spanish city of Alcala de Henares, said not a single street light was on when night fell.
"People were finding their way around by torchlight. It was quite surreal seeing the view from my window totally black especially as I live next to a dual carriageway," he said.
"In my spare time, I make candles and luckily I had a few going spare so I could see in the dark."
Sarah Baxter, from Barcelona, said she even used a candle stovetop to heat up food.
"We could heat beans and rice, and bring water to a boil for instant potatoes," she said.
"It was much safer than a propane camping stove inside the apartment."
Although candles and naked flames can pose a fire risk.
Powerbank
Bloomberg via Getty Images
People queued outside shops selling power banks in Madrid
With no power people relied on having battery in their devices.
In Madrid, people queued outside tech shops to get their hands on a power bank.
Luckily for Sarah she had a solar charger that kept her phone charged through ten hours of blackout, and helped her elderly neighbour do the same.
Lesley says her Kindle ran out of battery. "No TV, no Scrabble puzzle on my phone. So having a couple of books would have been helpful," she said.
Ed Rowe
Ed, sitting on his balcony during the blackout, enjoyed being away from his devices
But for others, not having access to the internet and their devices was a relief.
"Everyone relies on technology so much that it's quite a nice reminder you can be more independent," said Ed.
"You don't have to be connected with everyone all the time," said his flatmate Hannah Steiner, 23. "I was having a good time with my flatmates."
Sara Francisco, 24, from Leiria, in central Portugal, said: "I feel this thing that happened was important to make us be more aware and be more conscious about our habits."
The global significance of Mark Carney's election as Canadian Prime Minister is he now sits at the centre of an alternative pole of global economic thinking. Everything but Trump.
There was a half expectation here that Carney would immediately sue for peace with President Trump when the polls closed on the election. It has emphatically not happened.
In the final days of polling, in his victory speech in Ottawa, and in his interview with me, he clearly intends to continue with the approach that has brought him to elected power, with a majority still possible. Even if he falls just short of a majority, two of the other main party leaders have lost their seats, and are likely to sign up to some degree behind a united Canada agenda on issues facing the US.
Underpinning this approach is absolute conviction that the US is making a mistake that will primarily and visibly backfire on itself, its companies, and its consumers. The fact the White House is attacking Amazon for "hostile acts" in publishing tariffs is a cast-iron example of this. President Trump's gun is pointed primarily at his own feet, the thinking goes.
Jordan Peterson, an implacable opponent of Mark Carney, recently lamented on Joe Rogan's podcast that "once Carney is elected, Trump will not have a more seasoned enemy in the West. Carney is very well connected especially in Europe and the UK."
While "enemy" is overstating it, Peterson was right, and additionally Carney is also very adept at understanding the nexus between markets and headlines. He made a number of announcements as PM about rethinking the purchase of US fighter jets, slightly changing the purchases of US government debt, all of which would have quickly focused some minds in the US.
That said, there is significant potential economic damage about to be wrought by these tariffs on a Canadian economy, with three quarters of its exports going to the US. There is no getting away from that.
Carney's answer during the campaign was to accept the US has changed and to diversify. A credible push in that direction might also help any chance of US businesses, Congress, or forces within the administration rowing back on the tariffs.
Carney was abundantly clear to me that he is in no rush to go to the White House or Mar-a-Lago.
"We'll have a partnership on our terms. There's a win-win possibility there, but on our terms, not on their terms," he said.
A key part of that is forging new strategic alliances elsewhere, with Europe, and the UK. "One would assume" that Canada and the UK could do a free trade agreement that has been stalled, he told me. Co-operation on defence and Canada's abundant critical minerals is also on the table. He also dismissed President Trump's territorial ambitions not just for his country, but Greenland and Panama too.
On the campaign trail in his hometown of Edmonton, I heard him say "America's leadership of the global economy is over" and that was a "tragedy". Implicitly, he is saying, with the help of the rest of the G7, he will step up.
And by an incredible quirk of fate, it is he who will host the G7 summit in Alberta in June, just days before the expiry of President Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs pause. Will Trump attend on the land he both tariffs and covets?
All roads lead to Kananaskis in the middle of June.
State officials have detained thousands of Muslims and demolished homes, and activists say that right-wing Hindus are intensifying a demonization campaign.
Several people have died after a shooting at a hair salon in the town of Uppsala, Swedish media have reported.
Police said they have received calls from members of the public who reported that they heard loud bangs that sounded like gunfire close to Vaksala Square in the centre of the city.
The shooting happened on the eve of the Walpurgis spring festival, which brings large crowds onto the streets.
Several people were found with injuries that suggested gunshot wounds, police said.
Officers have cordoned off a large area and an investigation is underway.
Police spokesman Magnus Jansson Klarin was quoted by local media saying they received several reports of bangs in the area.
Swedish public broadcaster SVT said it spoke to a number of witnesses at the scene who told them they heard shots fired.
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People use candles in the streets of the city Ourense in north-western Spain
The power is out and nothing is working. How am I supposed to get through the day?
That was the question faced by millions of people on Monday across Spain and Portugal during the worst electricity blackout in their history.
We ask people who spent the day without electricity about what helped them get on with life and what outage essentials they were missing.
Cash
EPA
People form a queue at a cash point in Madrid
Paying with phone and card has become the norm, but in cities across Spain and Portugal, queues formed at cash machines - at least the ones that were still working - as shops switched away from card payments.
"We managed to pay for our coffees with card when the outage first started, [but later] we didn't have any cash so we couldn't buy a thing," Ed Rowe, 26, in Madrid told the BBC.
"All the restaurants that were open were cash only."
Grace O'Leary, 32, who also lives in Spain's capital, said she and her mum were counting coins to see if she had enough money to buy wine from a corner shop.
"Cash, apparently, is in fact, king."
Jaime Giorgio, 28, was lucky enough to have some cash on him, which allowed him to buy food and other essentials.
"In Madrid it was quite chaotic, there was no tube and you couldn't take out any cash.
"I had cash, but my flatmate didn't, so I had to lend him money to buy things."
Radio
Buschschluter family
This windup radio allowed the Buschschluters to tune into radio station
The power outage also led to an information blackout, as people spent the day without internet, WhatsApp, calls, and TV.
"The complete loss of communication was the most confusing and concerning thing... we were only left to speculate as to the cause and piece together news from people in the neighbourhood," said Daniel Clegg from Barcelona.
The 42-year-old said the absence of information led him to looking at the sky to see if planes were still flying.
For Siegfried and Christine Buschschluter, an old windup transistor radio helped tune in to local radio stations to find out what was happening after their phones stopped working and power went off at their rural home outside Spain's capital.
Christine, 82, explained: "You had to keep on winding and winding.
"It was quite a strange situation. I was born in Berlin during the war and it reminded me of those days when my parents tried to get some news - it took me back."
The couple reckon the outage will lead to boom in demand for battery-operated radios.
And it is also on Daniel's shopping list. "Essential kit for back to basics communication and staying informed that I completely neglected to remember."
Tinned food
Jaime Giorgio
Jaime Giorgio walked across Madrid to take essentials to his family
Microwaves, air fryers and some hobs and ovens all demand electricity.
But on Monday food that does not require electricity to heat or prepare it were in demand.
In supermarkets, shoppers formed long queues and panic-bought essentials - echoing scenes from the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We bought a lot of food that wasn't going to go off, like tuna in cans, just in case," says actor Jaime.
"The outage only lasted a day and now we have so much food, but most of it isn't going to go bad, as it is easily preserved."
Lesley Elder, in town Fortuna in south-eastern Spain, said: "Trying to find food you don't need to heat up, that was more difficult than we thought.
"So we ended up having ham and cheese for dinner."
She adds a little gas stove to heat up food in a pan would have been helpful.
Candles and torches
EPA
People turned to candles to light up their homes
Across the Iberian peninsula, people turned to candles to light up dark spaces.
Richard, who lives in the Spanish city of Alcala de Henares, said not a single street light was on when night fell.
"People were finding their way around by torchlight. It was quite surreal seeing the view from my window totally black especially as I live next to a dual carriageway," he said.
"In my spare time, I make candles and luckily I had a few going spare so I could see in the dark."
Sarah Baxter, from Barcelona, said she even used a candle stovetop to heat up food.
"We could heat beans and rice, and bring water to a boil for instant potatoes," she said.
"It was much safer than a propane camping stove inside the apartment."
Although candles and naked flames can pose a fire risk.
Powerbank
Bloomberg via Getty Images
People queued outside shops selling power banks in Madrid
With no power people relied on having battery in their devices.
In Madrid, people queued outside tech shops to get their hands on a power bank.
Luckily for Sarah she had a solar charger that kept her phone charged through ten hours of blackout, and helped her elderly neighbour do the same.
Lesley says her Kindle ran out of battery. "No TV, no Scrabble puzzle on my phone. So having a couple of books would have been helpful," she said.
Ed Rowe
Ed, sitting on his balcony during the blackout, enjoyed being away from his devices
But for others, not having access to the internet and their devices was a relief.
"Everyone relies on technology so much that it's quite a nice reminder you can be more independent," said Ed.
"You don't have to be connected with everyone all the time," said his flatmate Hannah Steiner, 23. "I was having a good time with my flatmates."
Sara Francisco, 24, from Leiria, in central Portugal, said: "I feel this thing that happened was important to make us be more aware and be more conscious about our habits."
The charges stemmed from a criminal case more than 20 years ago. In the interim, the businessman, David Lee, had repeatedly visited China without issue.
The charges stemmed from a criminal case more than 20 years ago. In the interim, the businessman, David Lee, had repeatedly visited China without issue.
Trump’s comments undermined previous statements by his top aides and were a blunt sign of his administration’s intention to double down and defy the courts.
US President Donald Trump has celebrated the 100th day of his second term in office with a campaign-style speech, touting his achievements and targeting political foes.
Hailing what he called a "revolution of common sense", he told a crowd of supporters in Michigan that he was using his presidency to deliver "profound change".
The Republican mocked his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, and aimed fresh criticism at the US Federal Reserve's chairman, while dismissing opinion polls that show his own popularity slipping.
Trump has delivered a dramatic fall in the number of migrants crossing illegally into the US, but the economy is a political vulnerability as he wages an international trade war.
"We've just gotten started, you haven't seen anything yet," Trump told the crowd on Tuesday in a suburb of Detroit.
Speaking at the hub of America's automative industry, Trump said car firms were "lining up" to open new manufacturing plants in the Midwestern state.
But earlier in the day he softened a key element of his economic plan - tariffs on the import of foreign cars and car parts - after US car-makers warned of the danger of rising prices.
At his rally, Trump also said opinion polls indicating his popularity had slipped were "fake".
According to Gallup, Trump is the only post-World War Two president to have less than half the public's support after 100 days in office, with an approval rating of 44%.
But the majority of Republican voters still firmly back the president. And the rival Democratic Party is also struggling in polling.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) said Trump's first 100 days were a "colossal failure".
"Trump is to blame for the fact that life is more expensive, it's harder to retire, and a 'Trump recession' is at our doorstep," the DNC said.
Trump conducted his own informal poll in Tuesday's remarks, asking the crowd for their favourite Biden nicknames. He also mocked his Democratic predecessor's mental agility and even how he appears in a swim suit, while continuing to insist he was the real victor of the 2020 election, which he lost.
Other targets of his ire included Jerome Powell, head of the US central bank, whom the president said was not doing a good job.
Trump touted progress on immigration – encounters at the southern border have plummeted to just over 7,000, down from 140,000 in March of last year.
On Tuesday the White House also said almost 65,700 immigrants had been deported in his term so far, although that is a slower pace than in the last fiscal year when US authorities deported more than 270,000.
Part of the way through his speech Trump screened a video of deportees being expelled from the US and sent to a mega-prison in El Salvador.
His immigration crackdown has faced a flurry of legal challenges, as has his effort to end the automatic granting of citizenship to anyone born on US soil.
During Tuesday's speech he insisted egg prices had declined 87%, a claim contradicted by the latest government price figures.
Inflation, energy prices and mortgage rates have fallen since Trump took office, although unemployment has risen slightly, consumer sentiment has sagged and the stock market was plunged into turmoil by the tariffs.
Before the speech, Joe DeMonaco, who owns a carpentry business in Michigan, said Trump's patchwork of on-again, off-again import taxes were starting to increase prices, which he will have to pass on to his customers.
"I was hoping... he would approach things a little bit differently seeing that he's a little seasoned coming into a second term," Mr DeMonaco told the BBC. "But we're just treading water and seeing if things get better from here."
But it's clear that Trump's most steadfast supporters stand by him.
"I'm just thrilled," said Teresa Breckinridge, owner of the Silver Skillet Diner in Atlanta, Georgia.
"He's handling things wherever he can, multiple times a day, and he's reporting back to the people… I think the tariffs will end up definitely being in our favour."
Dr Ellie Irwin's sight has been saved after a test pinpointed the cause of her long-lasting eye inflammation
A 29-year-old doctor from Bristol has had her eyesight saved after a "game-changing" test identified a mystery infection that had plagued her health for five years.
Ellie Irwin suffered persistent inflammation in her right eye resulting in blurred vision and underwent intensive treatment to no avail. At one point she even considered having her eye removed.
It was only after Ellie was offered a "last resort" analysis called metagenomics, that she was diagnosed with a rare bacterial infection which was cured with antibiotics.
"It's been transformative," Ellie told the BBC. "I feel so fortunate."
Professor Carlos Pavesio, consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, says Ellie's case is a "breakthrough in the diagnosis of infectious diseases".
"There are many patients we treat with chronic infections for years, but despite multiple tests we cannot identify the bug responsible," he says.
In 2019, while still at medical school, Ellie began suffering from inflammation in her right eye. All tests for infection came back negative and it was assumed she had an autoimmune condition.
Ellie was prescribed steroid eye drops and immunosuppressants, some of which needed to be given by intravenous infusion.
"It was completely dominating my life," Ellie says. "I needed eye drops every single hour and it was difficult to balance that alongside starting work as a junior doctor. My vision was really variable, and I would have some bad days.
"I was on so much medication and going to so many appointments, yet I didn't feel I was getting any better."
The treatment and inflammation led to Ellie developing a cataract that had to be surgically removed, just after she graduated from medical school.
Ellie says she eventually reached "breaking point", and even began considering having her affected eye removed.
"Whilst losing sight in one eye is terrifying," she says, "my biggest fear was that it might spread to my left eye."
Ellie Irwin
Ellie's eye developed a cataract that had to be removed
It was one of Ellie's doctors at Southmead Hospital in Bristol who suggested metagenomics - a last resort test not generally available to patients and only used where standard diagnostic tools have failed to identify or rule out infection.
Metagenomics technology uses cutting-edge genomic sequencing, which can identify all bacteria, funghi or parasites present in a sample by comparing them against a database of millions of pathogens.
A team at Moorfields Eye Hospital arranged for a sample of fluid to be taken from inside Ellie's eye and sent to the metagenomics labs at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) - the only lab in the UK officially recognised to carry out these diagnostic tests for patients, and one of only a few in the world.
Currently, the standard method for detecting bacterial infections is by trying to grow a sample of it in a Petri dish.
For viruses, the most common diagnostic tool is a PCR test. These will be familiar to many from the pandemic, when millions sent off swabs in the post to confirm whether they had Covid.
However, Dr Julianne Brown, principal clinical scientist at the GOSH metagenomics service, says PCR has some drawbacks.
"The trouble with PCR is that you have to think of the viruses that might be causing an infection and do a separate test for each and every one," she says. "So if you've got an infection with something that's unexpected, rare or not previously known, you won't find it."
Dr Brown says metagenomics is "an enormous step up - it's a complete game-changer".
Ellie Irwin
Doctors believe Ellie's eye condition was caused by an infection she caught while swimming in the Amazon
In Ellie's case, metagenomics diagnosed a rare strain of the bacterial infection leptospirosis found in South America.
It is now presumed Ellie picked up the bug swimming in the Amazon river in 2018, while on a trip to Ecuador and Colombia.
Ellie says it was an emotional moment when she was given the results of the test.
"I broke down - I just had to cry. I never imagined that it would come back positive and be for something that was treatable," she says.
"I was given three weeks of antibiotics and within days my vision was clearer and the inflammation subsided."
A single metagenomics test costs around £1,300, which is far more than standard diagnostics. However, as the technology is developed that price is likely to fall rapidly.
Virologist Professor Judy Breuer, who has been developing metagenomics at GOSH and University College London (UCL) for more than a decade, says her team currently receives three or four samples a week from hospitals around the UK for metagenomic testing in addition to those it carries out on its own patients.
These are often samples from parts of the body that are normally sterile sites, where bacteria are not usually found such as the brain, central nervous system, liver and eye.
"In the future, we think metagenomics will become a first line test and be able to diagnose infection in any sample, probably within the same day," she says.
It's also likely to become faster, cheaper and easier to do, explains Dr Brown, meaning it will become available to more patients rather than just a small number who are severely unwell.
Ellie Irwin
Ellie got married in March after her eyesight problems had been resolved
Resolving her eye problems has allowed Ellie to concentrate on her training as a GP and arrange her wedding.
Ellie was married in Newcastle on 29 March, the same day the city celebrated Newcastle United's win in the Carabao Cup.
She says: "We got a shout-out from Ant and Dec and went up on a scissor lift above the Newcastle United fans, which was incredible."
Prof Breuer says she is thrilled with how the treatment is changing lives.
"It is amazing to see the impact it is having for patients like Ellie."
The government has made very little progress in preparing the UK for the growing threats posed by rising temperatures since coming to power, its climate watchdog has warned.
In a highly critical report, the independent Climate Change Committee says progress is "either too slow, has stalled, or is heading in the wrong direction".
From hospitals and care homes to food and water supplies, this could leave the UK vulnerable to serious economic and health impacts in the decades ahead, the CCC warns.
In response, the government pointed to its investment in flood defences, but acknowledged more work was needed.
Floods Minister Emma Hardy told BBC News that preparing for the changing climate was "something we're really committed to".
"We are putting £2.65bn into upgrading, maintaining and building new flood defences.
"But we absolutely know, of course, there's more that needs to be done."
Fuelled by climate change, the UK's weather extremes are intensifying, from the 40C heat of July 2022 to England's wettest 18 months on record between October 2022 to March 2024.
Such events are only likely to become more severe and happen more often, as the planet continues to get hotter due to humanity's emissions of planet-warming gases.
Better preparation can limit the damage by making the country more resilient, but the CCC says this is not happening at anywhere near the required pace.
"We are seeing climate impact happening faster and more intensely and increasing [but] government just doesn't yet seem to be taking it seriously," Baroness Brown, chair of the Adaptation Committee at the CCC, told BBC News.
"The manifesto said it was going to address this issue of resilience and yet, so far, it's done nothing," she added.
"We've heard some warm words… but nothing has come out yet."
None of the 46 areas assessed were found to be making "good" progress in adapting to climate change. Only three had "good" plans and policies in place for the future.
Health is one of the areas that remains most poorly prepared.
The CCC points to the rising number of deaths linked to extreme heat and hospitals themselves being vulnerable to hot weather.
Baroness Brown highlights the case of Guy's and St Thomas', the biggest hospital trust in London, which was hit by a failure to its data centres during the extreme heat of July 2022.
This meant it was unable to operate its appointments system at a time of intense demand, and it had to move to paper appointments.
"We lost thousands of crucial appointments for people for critical tests," she said.
"We're trying to improve the NHS. Unless we take into account that it has to be resilient to the climate, we're going backwards."
Flooding is another challenging area. Plans and policies to ensure places are resilient to river and coastal flooding are found to have worsened since the CCC's previous report.
Watch: 'Everyone get back!' - Video captures moment Tenbury Wells floods
Polly Pearce described how her charity shop flooded.
"It was so quick... [like] a tsunami," she said.
"[The water] came up as high as the panelling right up on the wall... we had all our Christmas stuff ready but lost it."
The main street is studded with empty shops, many reportedly put out of business by the cost of repeated floods.
Shop owners say insurance companies either won't insure their properties or that the premiums are now so high many shop keepers say they simply can't afford it.
And the Environment Agency has said it can't afford the £25m-£30m cost of flood protection for the town.
The government says it is committed to helping residents, however, and that work to improve the flood resilience of properties will begin in the summer.
The CCC notes progress in some other areas of climate adaptation, such as plans to identify risks to businesses and financial institutions.
'A huge mistake'
At the heart of these discussions is the question of cost.
But putting off efforts to prepare the UK for the changing climate in an attempt to save cash would be "a huge mistake" and could increase economic damage in the long run, Baroness Brown said.
"We are very worried about their spending review," she added, in an unusually strong plea from the Committee.
"This is not a tomorrow problem; it's a today problem. If we don't address it today, it becomes a disaster tomorrow."
A freedom of information request submitted by the BBC found there are just 18 members of staff working fully on climate adaptation at the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra).
That's just 0.3% of Defra's nearly 6,600 full-time-equivalent core staff.
Defra said some of these employees also worked on climate adaptation part-time, and the figures don't include those working in other parts of government.
Hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of losing hot water or heating when their old type of electricity meter goes out of action.
Energy companies have said it will be "very, very difficult" to replace all Radio Teleswitching System (RTS) meters with smart meters before the old technology is switched off on 30 June.
Campaigners estimate more than 300,000 homes could lose heating - or have it stuck on constantly - in what energy regulator Ofgem has called "an urgent consumer welfare issue".
The government said the industry had to "work urgently to continue to increase the pace of replacements".
Since the 1980s, RTS meters have used a longwave radio frequency to switch between peak and off peak rates.
The technology is becoming obsolete and energy companies have a deadline to change their customers' meters by 30 June.
At the end of March, there were still 430,000 households using RTS meters for their heating and hot water, according to Energy UK, which represents energy companies.
It said more than 1,000 RTS meters were now being replaced each day.
But based on the 430,000 figure, this daily rate would need to be more like 5,000 to stand a chance of reaching everyone.
Ned Hammond, Energy UK's deputy director for customers, told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours the rate of replacement was rising, but added: "Obviously we'd need to increase from there significantly still to replace all the meters by the end of June."
Asked whether it was impossible to get every RTS meter switched over by 30 June, he said: "I wouldn't want to say impossible - but clearly very, very difficult to get to that point."
Simon Francis, from campaign group the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said the Energy UK figures suggested more than 300,000 households could be left with a meter that doesn't work from 1 July.
He added: "With pressures on the replacement programme growing and with limited engineer availability, especially in rural areas, there's a real risk of prolonged disruption, particularly for vulnerable households."
RTS meters typically control heating and hot water on a separate circuit to the rest of the household's electricity, so things like plug sockets and lights are unlikely to be affected by the switch-off, Ofgem said.
The RTS network was originally planned to be switched off in March 2024, but this was extended to give energy companies more time to get through everyone.
Energy companies are still targeting 30 June "as things stand", Mr Hammond added, and are developing plans for a "managed and very careful phase down of the system", aiming to protect vulnerable customers.
'I don't want a smart meter'
One challenge of changing everyone on to the new system is a distrust of smart meters. The BBC has previously found that smart meters can sometimes give inaccurate readings and can work worse or better depending on where you live.
Jane from Norfolk told the BBC she is on an RTS meter and does not want a smart meter but feels as if she is being forced into getting one. She is currently on an Economy 7 tariff and does not want to switch.
"It's not yet lawful to say I've got to have one. And I really, really don't want one. I'm perfectly happy with the way things are," she said.
Diane Gray, who lives near Cockermouth in Cumbria, uses RTS to control the heating and hot water in her home on an Economy 7 tariff. She wants a smart meter but has been told one won't work in her house.
In December, her supplier wrote to her to say: "At the moment we're not able to install a new meter in your home that works with your current meter's heating set up. Please bear with us. We are working hard on a solution for your meter type."
She's since received another notification that a smart meter will be fitted in early June.
"I've got no idea where it's going to leave us," she told the BBC.
"It is very concerning. Because they're doing it in the summer, come the winter I keep thinking there must be some solution they're going to give us before we need to start using the heating."
US President Donald Trump has celebrated the 100th day of his second term in office with a campaign-style speech, touting his achievements and targeting political foes.
Hailing what he called a "revolution of common sense", he told a crowd of supporters in Michigan that he was using his presidency to deliver "profound change".
The Republican mocked his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, and aimed fresh criticism at the US Federal Reserve's chairman, while dismissing opinion polls that show his own popularity slipping.
Trump has delivered a dramatic fall in the number of migrants crossing illegally into the US, but the economy is a political vulnerability as he wages an international trade war.
"We've just gotten started, you haven't seen anything yet," Trump told the crowd on Tuesday in a suburb of Detroit.
Speaking at the hub of America's automative industry, Trump said car firms were "lining up" to open new manufacturing plants in the Midwestern state.
But earlier in the day he softened a key element of his economic plan - tariffs on the import of foreign cars and car parts - after US car-makers warned of the danger of rising prices.
At his rally, Trump also said opinion polls indicating his popularity had slipped were "fake".
According to Gallup, Trump is the only post-World War Two president to have less than half the public's support after 100 days in office, with an approval rating of 44%.
But the majority of Republican voters still firmly back the president. And the rival Democratic Party is also struggling in polling.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) said Trump's first 100 days were a "colossal failure".
"Trump is to blame for the fact that life is more expensive, it's harder to retire, and a 'Trump recession' is at our doorstep," the DNC said.
Trump conducted his own informal poll in Tuesday's remarks, asking the crowd for their favourite Biden nicknames. He also mocked his Democratic predecessor's mental agility and even how he appears in a swim suit, while continuing to insist he was the real victor of the 2020 election, which he lost.
Other targets of his ire included Jerome Powell, head of the US central bank, whom the president said was not doing a good job.
Trump touted progress on immigration – encounters at the southern border have plummeted to just over 7,000, down from 140,000 in March of last year.
On Tuesday the White House also said almost 65,700 immigrants had been deported in his term so far, although that is a slower pace than in the last fiscal year when US authorities deported more than 270,000.
Part of the way through his speech Trump screened a video of deportees being expelled from the US and sent to a mega-prison in El Salvador.
His immigration crackdown has faced a flurry of legal challenges, as has his effort to end the automatic granting of citizenship to anyone born on US soil.
During Tuesday's speech he insisted egg prices had declined 87%, a claim contradicted by the latest government price figures.
Inflation, energy prices and mortgage rates have fallen since Trump took office, although unemployment has risen slightly, consumer sentiment has sagged and the stock market was plunged into turmoil by the tariffs.
Before the speech, Joe DeMonaco, who owns a carpentry business in Michigan, said Trump's patchwork of on-again, off-again import taxes were starting to increase prices, which he will have to pass on to his customers.
"I was hoping... he would approach things a little bit differently seeing that he's a little seasoned coming into a second term," Mr DeMonaco told the BBC. "But we're just treading water and seeing if things get better from here."
But it's clear that Trump's most steadfast supporters stand by him.
"I'm just thrilled," said Teresa Breckinridge, owner of the Silver Skillet Diner in Atlanta, Georgia.
"He's handling things wherever he can, multiple times a day, and he's reporting back to the people… I think the tariffs will end up definitely being in our favour."
The TikTokers accused of triggering an election scandal
Image source, Cristina Horez
Image caption,
Cristina Horez, an influencer from the Northern city of Iasi
Published
Romanians are returning to the polls this weekend, following the unprecedented cancellation of presidential elections last December which fuelled protests and nationwide turmoil.
Far-right candidate Calin Georgescu's shock victory in the first round of elections was annulled amid accusations of Russian interference, suspicious TikTok accounts and secret payments to online influencers. Moscow denied interfering in the election.
Georgescu is now banned from running, and was detained, facing a criminal investigation including attempting to overthrow constitutional order. He has denied the charges and accused the authorities of "inventing evidence to justify stealing the election".
The leader of Romania's far-right AUR party, George Simion, has been polling as the frontrunner in the first round of the election re-run on Sunday.
He is followed in the polls by Crin Antonescu of the National Liberal Party and independent candidate Nicușor Dan.
At the centre of this unprecedented political crisis are TikTok influencers accused by the Romanian authorities of participating in social media campaigns which artificially boosted Georgescu's online presence. The BBC has spoken to some of them.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Protesters took to the streets in March, after it was announced Georgescu couldn't run in the May elections.
What happened on TikTok?
Pro-Russian independent candidate Calin Georgescu's victory in the first round of elections came as a surprise.
Georgescu was relatively unknown in the months before the election, polling at between 3-5%.
He declared a zero campaign budget, had no campaign office and didn't engage in traditional campaigning.
Instead, he focused on TikTok videos including some showing him riding horses in traditional Romanian outfits, and practising judo. He went viral on TikTok weeks before the election and soared in the polls, ultimately winning almost 23% of the vote.
An independent think tank, Expert Forum, published a report saying Georgescu's explosive rise on TikTok was "created suddenly and artificially - consistent with the way he exploded in the polls".
Authorities say TikTok's algorithm was exploited in the November vote in three different ways: over 100 influencers for hire who posted paid content indirectly promoting Georgescu, thousands of inauthentic accounts whose comments boosted Georgescu on the platform, and finally a "King of TikTok" who supposedly paid thousands of dollars to facilitate the campaign.
The authorities said that one of these campaigns was "identical" to an operation "run by the Russian Federation in Ukraine".
Separately, declassified intelligence documents also stated that Russia carried out "cyberattacks, leaks, and sabotage" in Romania.
But authorities still haven't provided any concrete evidence of Russian interference in the election, frustrating many Romanians.
The Foreign Intelligence Services and Romanian Police declined to comment on ongoing investigations.
Image source, AFP
Image caption,
Calin Georgescu has been barred from running in May's re-run of the election
Influencer campaign
Shortly before the election, a campaign using the hashtag "stability and integrity" flooded Romanian TikTok. Influencers uploaded videos describing what they were looking for in a future president: "stability", "progress", "a patriot".
They did not name a specific candidate.
They had been paid to upload videos with these messages through a marketing platform called FameUp, which allows brands to hire influencers at scale to promote products. But the influencers say they didn't know who paid for it.
FameUp declined to comment to the BBC.
Cristina, an influencer from the city of Iasi, says that when she took the job she felt "there was nothing shady about it". She says "in the back of [her] mind" she thought one of the 14 candidates likely paid for it and she "just thought it was a smart approach. That's not doing any political propaganda. It's just encouraging people to go out and vote".
Some influencers did not mark the posts as paid content. This goes against TikTok rules, where paid political advertising is banned.
While the adverts didn't mention Georgescu's name, influencers we spoke to described a "wave of comments" supporting him that appeared under the videos. Romeo Rusu, a micro-influencer from the city of Constanta with 25,000 followers, said: "Right after I posted the video, within a few seconds, I started receiving dozens of comments. In the end, I received around 300 comments, all backing the independent candidate Calin Georgescu… I was absolutely surprised."
The comments came into focus after TikTok stated in a report it had removed a network of over 27,000 inauthentic accounts that "used fictitious personas to post comments related to the Romanian elections".
It is still not clear who created these bot accounts.
Experts say that flooding unrelated videos with pro-Georgescu comments was a tactic to game TikTok's algorithm and get his name trending, which would in turn push his content into more users' feeds.
A TikTok spokesperson told the BBC that, during the presidential campaign, the company "blocked millions of fake engagement attempts, removed hundreds of thousands of spam accounts, prevented impersonation of political candidates, and disrupted three covert influence networks with limited reach".
"We continue to work closely with local and EU authorities and partner with local organisations to elevate reliable election information," they said.
The uncertainty around the campaign lasted into the new year, until a surprising twist in January.
The Romanian Tax Authority revealed that the #stabilityandintegrity campaign was paid for by the centre-right National Liberal Party (PNL), who were backing their own candidate in the elections.
In response, the PNL told Romanian journalists at news outlet Snoop that their campaign was hijacked to support Georgescu.
Image source, Romeo Rusu
Image caption,
Romeo couldn't understand why he'd been named in declassified documents
'TikTok King'
Then, in March, TikTok influencer Bogdan Peschir was arrested for "corrupting voters through electronic means of communication". Peschir was known across Romania as the "King of TikTok", famous for awarding influencers with TikTok gifts, online tokens worth real money.
The prosecution is reported to have claimed that Peschir paid over $900,000 to over 250 influencers "to induce them to vote for "a certain candidate" in the presidential elections" via TikTok gifts.
His lawyers are reported to have said "none of the donations made by Peschir on TikTok were for electoral purposes".
We spoke to Lucian Elgi, a musician and influencer who admitted being paid thousands of dollars by Peschir via TikTok gifts.
He says he believes these payments were made in support of his work as a musician. Elgi denied that he promoted Georgescu. The BBC could not confirm this, as his videos on TikTok – along with those by others who were paid by Peschir's TikTok handle – have been removed.
Elgi says his content wasn't about the election, but about manele music, a genre of pop-folk music with roots in the Roma community. Several high-profile manele musicians have been accused of taking payments from Peschir to campaign for Georgescu.
Elgi said this content was flooded in pro-Georgescu comments. "It was madness," he says. "Every single post, comments like: Georgescu for President, Georgescu for President, Georgescu for President!"
Much is unknown about the election's annulment. Investigations are ongoing at the European Commission and Romania's highest courts. While Romanians are concerned about the alleged foreign interference, many are outraged that there is still no publicly available evidence undeniably proving Russian interference in the election.
It's painstaking and complex work untangling an influence operation and its effects. Razvan Lutac, the Editor of Romanian news outlet Snoop, fears it could take a very long time to get clarity.
"We have these small pieces now, like a puzzle," he says, "I think that maybe in a year or two years we will have a complete image of why they cancelled the elections."
Additional reporting by Georgiana Tudor and Oana Marocico.
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